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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1866-8.txt b/1866-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05bc99e --- /dev/null +++ b/1866-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14682 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, North America, Volume II (of 2), by Anthony +Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: North America, Volume II (of 2) + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: December 29, 1998 [eBook #1866] +Release Date of this revision: February 18, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +E-text prepared by Donald Lainson and revised by Joseph E. Loewenstein, +M.D. + + + +Editorial note: + + Anthony Trollope travelled through the United States from + August, 1861, to May, 1862. He visited all the states that + did not secede except California. This book is partly a + journal of his travels and partly his description of American + customs and culture including industry, education, government, + military affairs, religion, transportation, and even + hotels. To an American of today it provides a revealing and + fascinating picture of life at the time. + + The book was first published in two volumes by Chapman & Hall + in 1862. + + + Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work. + Volume I: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1865 + + + + + +NORTH AMERICA + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Two Volumes + +VOL. II + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. WASHINGTON. + II. CONGRESS. + III. THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. + IV. WASHINGTON TO ST. LOUIS. + V. MISSOURI. + VI. CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD. + VII. THE ARMY OF THE NORTH. + VIII. BACK TO BOSTON. + IX. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + X. THE GOVERNMENT. + XI. THE LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS OF THE UNITED STATES. + XII. THE FINANCIAL POSITION. + XIII. THE POST-OFFICE. + XIV. AMERICAN HOTELS. + XV. LITERATURE. + XVI. CONCLUSION. + APPENDIX A. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. + APPENDIX B. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, ETC. + APPENDIX C. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +WASHINGTON. + + +The site of the present city of Washington was chosen with three +special views; firstly, that being on the Potomac it might have the +full advantage of water-carriage and a sea-port; secondly, that +it might be so far removed from the seaboard as to be safe from +invasion; and, thirdly, that it might be central alike to all the +States. It was presumed when Washington was founded that these three +advantages would be secured by the selected position. As regards the +first, the Potomac affords to the city but few of the advantages +of a sea-port. Ships can come up, but not ships of large burthen. +The river seems to have dwindled since the site was chosen; and at +present it is, I think, evident that Washington can never be great in +its shipping. _Statio benefida carinis_ can never be its motto. As +regards the second point, singularly enough Washington is the only +city of the Union that has been in an enemy's possession since the +United States became a nation. In the war of 1812 it fell into our +hands, and we burnt it. As regards the third point, Washington, from +the lie of the land, can hardly have been said to be centrical at +any time. Owing to the irregularities of the coast it is not easy of +access by railways from different sides. Baltimore would have been +far better. But as far as we can now see, and as well as we can now +judge, Washington will soon be on the borders of the nation to which +it belongs, instead of at its centre. I fear, therefore, that we must +acknowledge that the site chosen for his country's capital by George +Washington has not been fortunate. + +I have a strong idea, which I expressed before in speaking of the +capital of the Canadas, that no man can ordain that on such a spot +shall be built a great and thriving city. No man can so ordain even +though he leave behind him, as was the case with Washington, a +prestige sufficient to bind his successors to his wishes. The +political leaders of the country have done what they could for +Washington. The pride of the nation has endeavoured to sustain +the character of its chosen metropolis. There has been no rival, +soliciting favour on the strength of other charms. The country has +all been agreed on the point since the father of the country first +commenced the work. Florence and Rome in Italy have each their +pretensions; but in the States no other city has put itself forward +for the honour of entertaining Congress. And yet Washington has been +a failure. It is commerce that makes great cities, and commerce has +refused to back the General's choice. New York and Philadelphia, +without any political power, have become great among the cities of +the earth. They are beaten by none except by London and Paris. But +Washington is but a ragged, unfinished collection of unbuilt broad +streets, as to the completion of which there can now, I imagine, be +but little hope. + +Of all places that I know it is the most ungainly and most +unsatisfactory;--I fear I must also say the most presumptuous in its +pretensions. There is a map of Washington accurately laid down; and +taking that map with him in his journeyings a man may lose himself in +the streets, not as one loses oneself in London between Shoreditch +and Russell Square, but as one does so in the deserts of the Holy +Land, between Emmaus and Arimathea. In the first place no one knows +where the places are, or is sure of their existence, and then between +their presumed localities the country is wild, trackless, unbridged, +uninhabited, and desolate. Massachusetts Avenue runs the whole length +of the city, and is inserted on the maps as a full-blown street, +about four miles in length. Go there, and you will find yourself not +only out of town, away among the fields, but you will find yourself +beyond the fields, in an uncultivated, undrained wilderness. Tucking +your trousers up to your knees you will wade through the bogs, you +will lose yourself among rude hillocks, you will be out of the reach +of humanity. The unfinished dome of the Capitol will loom before you +in the distance, and you will think that you approach the ruins of +some western Palmyra. If you are a sportsman, you will desire to +shoot snipe within sight of the President's house. There is much +unsettled land within the States of America, but I think none so +desolate in its state of nature as three-fourths of the ground on +which is supposed to stand the city of Washington. + +The city of Washington is something more than four miles long, and +is something more than two miles broad. The land apportioned to it +is nearly as compact as may be, and it exceeds in area the size +of a parallelogram four miles long by two broad. These dimensions +are adequate for a noble city, for a city to contain a million of +inhabitants. It is impossible to state with accuracy the actual +population of Washington, for it fluctuates exceedingly. The place +is very full during Congress, and very empty during the recess. +By which I mean it to be understood that those streets, which +are blessed with houses, are full when Congress meets. I do not +think that Congress makes much difference to Massachusetts Avenue. +I believe that the city never contains as many as eighty thousand, +and that its permanent residents are less than sixty thousand. + +But, it will be said,--was it not well to prepare for a growing city? +Is it not true that London is choked by its own fatness, not having +been endowed at its birth or during its growth, with proper means for +accommodating its own increasing proportions? Was it not well to lay +down fine avenues and broad streets, so that future citizens might +find a city well prepared to their hand? + +There is no doubt much in such an argument, but its correctness must +be tested by its success. When a man marries it is well that he +should make provision for a coming family. But a Benedict, who early +in his career shall have carried his friends with considerable +self-applause through half-a-dozen nurseries and at the end of twelve +years shall still be the father of one ricketty baby, will incur a +certain amount of ridicule. It is very well to be prepared for good +fortune, but one should limit one's preparation within a reasonable +scope. Two miles by one might perhaps have done for the skeleton +sketch of a new city. Less than half that would contain much more +than the present population of Washington; and there are, I fear, few +towns in the Union so little likely to enjoy any speedy increase. + +Three avenues sweep the whole length of Washington;--Virginia Avenue, +Pennsylvania Avenue, and Massachusetts Avenue. But Pennsylvania +Avenue is the only one known to ordinary men, and the half of that +only is so known. This avenue is the backbone of the city, and those +streets which are really inhabited cluster round that half of it +which runs westward from the Capitol. The eastern end, running from +the front of the Capitol, is again a desert. The plan of the city is +somewhat complicated. It may truly be called "a mighty maze, but not +without a plan." The Capitol was intended to be the centre of the +city. It faces eastward, away from the Potomac,--or rather from the +main branch of the Potomac, and also unfortunately from the main body +of the town. It turns its back upon the chief thoroughfare, upon the +Treasury buildings, and upon the President's house; and indeed upon +the whole place. It was, I suppose, intended that the streets to the +eastward should be noble and populous, but hitherto they have come +to nothing. The building therefore is wrong side foremost, and all +mankind who enter it, senators, representatives, and judges included, +go in at the back-door. Of course it is generally known that in +the Capitol is the Chamber of the Senate, that of the House of +Representatives, and the Supreme Judicial Court of the Union. It may +be said that there are two centres in Washington, this being one and +the President's house the other. At these centres the main avenues +are supposed to cross each other, which avenues are called by the +names of the respective States. At the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue, +New Jersey Avenue, Delaware Avenue, and Maryland Avenue converge. +They come from one extremity of the city to the square of the Capitol +on one side, and run out from the other side of it to the other +extremity of the city. Pennsylvania Avenue, New York Avenue, Vermont +Avenue, and Connecticut Avenue do the same at what is generally +called President's Square. In theory, or on paper, this seems to be a +clear and intelligible arrangement; but it does not work well. These +centre depots are large spaces, and consequently one portion of a +street is removed a considerable distance from the other. It is as +though the same name should be given to two streets, one of which +entered St. James's Park at Buckingham Gate, while the other started +from the Park at Marlborough House. To inhabitants the matter +probably is not of much moment, as it is well known that this portion +of such an avenue and that portion of such another avenue are merely +myths,--unknown lands away in the wilds. But a stranger finds himself +in the position of being sent across the country knee-deep into the +mud, wading through snipe grounds, looking for civilization where +none exists. + +All these avenues have a slanting direction. They are so arranged +that none of them run north and south or east and west; but the +streets, so called, all run in accordance with the points of the +compass. Those from east to west are A Street, B Street, C Street, +and so on,--counting them away from the Capitol on each side, so that +there are two A streets and two B streets. On the map these streets +run up to V Street, both right and left,--V Street North and V Street +South. Those really known to mankind are E, F, G, H, I, and K Streets +North. Then those streets which run from north to south are numbered +First Street, Second Street, Third Street, and so on, on each front +of the Capitol, running to Twenty-fourth or Twenty-fifth Street on +each side. Not very many of these have any existence, or I might +perhaps more properly say, any vitality in their existence. + +Such is the plan of the city, that being the arrangement and those +the dimensions intended by the original architects and founders of +Washington; but the inhabitants have hitherto confined themselves to +Pennsylvania Avenue West, and to the streets abutting from it or near +to it. Whatever address a stranger may receive, however perplexing +it may seem to him, he may be sure that the house indicated is near +Pennsylvania Avenue. If it be not, I should recommend him to pay no +attention to the summons. Even in those streets with which he will +become best acquainted, the houses are not continuous. There will be +a house, and then a blank; then two houses, and then a double blank. +After that a hut or two, and then probably an excellent, roomy, +handsome family mansion. Taken altogether, Washington as a city is +most unsatisfactory, and falls more grievously short of the thing +attempted than any other of the great undertakings of which I have +seen anything in the States. San Jose, the capital of the republic of +Costa Rica, in Central America, has been prepared and arranged as a +new city in the same way. But even San Jose comes nearer to what was +intended than does Washington. + +For myself, I do not believe in cities made after this fashion. +Commerce, I think, must select the site of all large congregations of +mankind. In some mysterious way she ascertains what she wants, and +having acquired that, draws men in thousands round her properties. +Liverpool, New York, Lyons, Glasgow, Venice, Marseilles, Hamburg, +Calcutta, Chicago, and Leghorn, have all become populous, and are or +have been great, because trade found them to be convenient for its +purposes. Trade seems to have ignored Washington altogether. Such +being the case, the Legislature and the Executive of the country +together have been unable to make of Washington anything better than +a straggling congregation of buildings in a wilderness. We are now +trying the same experiment at Ottawa, in Canada, having turned our +back upon Montreal in dudgeon. The site of Ottawa is more interesting +than that of Washington, but I doubt whether the experiment will be +more successful. A new town for art, fashion, and politics has been +built at Munich, and there it seems to answer the expectation of the +builders; but at Munich there is an old city as well, and commerce +had already got some considerable hold on the spot before the new +town was added to it. + +The streets of Washington, such as exist, are all broad. Throughout +the town there are open spaces,--spaces, I mean, intended to be open +by the plan laid down for the city. At the present moment it is +almost all open space. There is also a certain nobility about the +proposed dimensions of the avenues and squares. Desirous of praising +it in some degree, I can say that the design is grand. The thing +done, however, falls so infinitely short of that design, that nothing +but disappointment is felt. And I fear that there is no look-out +into the future which can justify a hope that the design will be +fulfilled. It is therefore a melancholy place. The society into which +one falls there consists mostly of persons who are not permanently +resident in the capital; but of those who were permanent residents I +found none who spoke of their city with affection. The men and women +of Boston think that the sun shines nowhere else;--and Boston Common +is very pleasant. The New Yorkers believe in Fifth Avenue with an +unswerving faith; and Fifth Avenue is calculated to inspire a faith. +Philadelphia to a Philadelphian is the centre of the universe, and +the progress of Philadelphia, perhaps, justifies the partiality. The +same thing may be said of Chicago, of Buffalo, and of Baltimore. But +the same thing cannot be said in any degree of Washington. They who +belong to it turn up their noses at it. They feel that they live +surrounded by a failure. Its grand names are as yet false, and none +of the efforts made have hitherto been successful. Even in winter, +when Congress is sitting, Washington is melancholy;--but Washington +in summer must surely be the saddest spot on earth. + +There are six principal public buildings in Washington, as to which +no expense seems to have been spared, and in the construction of +which a certain amount of success has been obtained. In most of these +this success has been more or less marred by an independent deviation +from recognized rules of architectural taste. These are the Capitol, +the Post-office, the Patent-office, the Treasury, the President's +house, and the Smithsonian Institute. The five first are Grecian, +and the last in Washington is called--Romanesque. Had I been left to +classify it by my own unaided lights, I should have called it bastard +Gothic. + +The Capitol is by far the most imposing; and though there is much +about it with which I cannot but find fault, it certainly is +imposing. The present building was, I think, commenced in 1815, the +former Capitol having been destroyed by the English in the war of +1812-13. It was then finished according to the original plan, with a +fine portico and well-proportioned pediment above it,--looking to the +east. The outer flight of steps, leading up to this from the eastern +approach, is good and in excellent taste. The expanse of the building +to the right and left, as then arranged, was well proportioned, +and, as far as we can now judge, the then existing dome was well +proportioned also. As seen from the east the original building +must have been in itself very fine. The stone is beautiful, being +bright almost as marble, and I do not know that there was any great +architectural defect to offend the eye. The figures in the pediment +are mean. There is now in the Capitol a group apparently prepared for +a pediment, which is by no means mean. I was informed that they were +intended for this position; but they, on the other hand, are too good +for such a place, and are also too numerous. This set of statues +is by Crawford. Most of them are well known, and they are very +fine. They now stand within the old chamber of the Representative +House, and the pity is, that if elevated to such a position as that +indicated, they can never be really seen. There are models of them +all at West Point, and some of them I have seen at other places in +marble. The Historical Society at New York has one or two of them. +In and about the front of the Capitol there are other efforts of +sculpture,--imposing in their size, and assuming, if not affecting, +much in the attitudes chosen. Statuary at Washington runs too much on +two subjects, which are repeated perhaps almost ad nauseam; one is +that of a stiff, steady-looking, healthy, but ugly individual, with +a square jaw and big jowl, which represents the great General; he +does not prepossess the beholder, because he appears to be thoroughly +ill-natured. And the other represents a melancholy, weak figure +without any hair, but often covered with feathers, and is intended +to typify the red Indian. The red Indian is generally supposed to +be receiving comfort; but it is manifest that he never enjoys the +comfort ministered to him. There is a gigantic statue of Washington, +by Greenough, out in the grounds in front of the building. The figure +is seated and holding up one of its arms towards the city. There is +about it a kind of weighty magnificence; but it is stiff, ungainly, +and altogether without life. + +But the front of the original building is certainly grand. The +architect who designed it must have had skill, taste, and nobility of +conception; but even this was spoilt, or rather wasted, by the fact +that the front is made to look upon nothing, and is turned from the +city. It is as though the _façade_ of the London Post-office had been +made to face the Goldsmiths' Hall. The Capitol stands upon the side +of a hill, the front occupying a much higher position than the back; +consequently they who enter it from the back--and everybody does so +enter it--are first called on to rise to the level of the lower floor +by a stiff ascent of exterior steps, which are in no way grand or +imposing, and then, having entered by a mean back-door, are instantly +obliged to ascend again by another flight,--by stairs sufficiently +appropriate to a back entrance, but altogether unfitted for the chief +approach to such a building. It may, of course, be said that persons +who are particular in such matters should go in at the front door and +not at the back; but one must take these things as one finds them. +The entrance by which the Capitol is approached is such as I have +described. There are mean little brick chimneys at the left hand as +one walks in, attached to modern bakeries which have been constructed +in the basement for the use of the soldiers; and there is on +the other hand the road by which waggons find their way to the +underground region with fuel, stationery, and other matters desired +by senators and representatives,--and at present by bakers also. + +In speaking of the front I have spoken of it as it was originally +designed and built. Since that period very heavy wings have been +added to the pile;--wings so heavy that they are or seem to be much +larger than the original structure itself. This, to my thinking, has +destroyed the symmetry of the whole. The wings, which in themselves +are by no means devoid of beauty, are joined to the centre by +passages so narrow that from exterior points of view the light can be +seen through them. This robs the mass of all oneness, of all entirety +as a whole, and gives a scattered straggling appearance where there +should be a look of massiveness and integrity. The dome also has been +raised, a double drum having been given to it. This is unfinished +and should not therefore yet be judged; but I cannot think that the +increased height will be an improvement. This again, to my eyes, +appears to be straggling rather than massive. At a distance it +commands attention, and to one journeying through the desert places +of the city gives that idea of Palmyra which I have before mentioned. + +Nevertheless, and in spite of all that I have said, I have had +pleasure in walking backwards and forwards, and through the grounds +which lie before the eastern front of the Capitol. The space for the +view is ample, and the thing to be seen has points which are very +grand. If the Capitol were finished and all Washington were built +around it, no man would say that the house in which Congress sat +disgraced the city. + +Going west, but not due west, from the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue +stretches in a right line to the Treasury Chambers. The distance is +beyond a mile, and men say, scornfully, that the two buildings have +been put so far apart in order to save the Secretaries who sit in +the bureaux from a too rapid influx of members of Congress. This +statement I by no means indorse; but it is undoubtedly the fact that +both senators and representatives are very diligent in their calls +upon gentlemen high in office. I have been present on some such +occasions, and it has always seemed to me that questions of patronage +have been paramount. This reach of Pennsylvania Avenue is the quarter +for the best shops of Washington,--that is to say, the frequented +side of it is so,--that side which is on your right as you leave the +Capitol. Of the other side the world knows nothing. And very bad +shops they are. I doubt whether there be any town in the world at all +equal in importance to Washington, which is in such respects so ill +provided. The shops are bad and dear. In saying this I am guided by +the opinions of all whom I heard speak on the subject. The same thing +was told me of the hotels. Hearing that the city was very full at the +time of my visit--full to overflowing--I had obtained private rooms +through a friend before I went there. Had I not done so, I might have +lain in the streets, or have made one with three or four others in a +small room at some third-rate inn. There had never been so great a +throng in the town. I am bound to say that my friend did well for me. +I found myself put up at the house of one Wormley, a coloured man, in +I Street, to whose attention I can recommend any Englishman who may +chance to want quarters in Washington. He has an hotel on one side of +the street, and private lodging-houses on the other in which I found +myself located. From what I heard of the hotels I conceived myself +to be greatly in luck. Willard's is the chief of these, and the +everlasting crowd and throng of men with which the halls and passages +of the house were always full, certainly did not seem to promise +either privacy or comfort. But then there are places in which +privacy and comfort are not expected,--are hardly even desired,--and +Washington is one of them. + +The Post-office and the Patent-office lie a little away from +Pennsylvania Avenue in F Street, and are opposite to each other. The +Post-office is certainly a very graceful building. It is square, and +hardly can be said to have any settled front or any grand entrance. +It is not approached by steps, but stands flush on the ground, +alike on each of the four sides. It is ornamented with Corinthian +pilasters, but is not over ornamented. It is certainly a structure +creditable to any city. The streets around it are all unfinished, and +it is approached through seas of mud and sloughs of despond, which +have been contrived, as I imagine, to lessen, if possible, the +crowd of callers, and lighten in this way the overtasked officials +within. That side by which the public in general were supposed to +approach was, during my sojourn, always guarded by vast mountains of +flour-barrels. Looking up at the windows of the building I perceived +also that barrels were piled within, and then I knew that the +Post-office had become a provision depot for the army. The official +arrangements here for the public were so bad as to be absolutely +barbarous. I feel some remorse in saying this, for I was myself +treated with the utmost courtesy by gentlemen holding high positions +in the office,--to which I was specially attracted by my own +connection with the Post-office in England. But I do not think that +such courtesy should hinder me from telling what I saw that was +bad,--seeing that it would not hinder me from telling what I saw that +was good. In Washington there is but one Post-office. There are no +iron pillars or wayside letter-boxes, as are to be found in other +towns of the Union;--no subsidiary offices at which stamps can be +bought and letters posted. The distances of the city are very great, +the means of transit through the city very limited, the dirt of the +city ways unrivalled in depth and tenacity; and yet there is but one +Post-office. Nor is there any established system of letter-carriers. +To those who desire it, letters are brought out and delivered by +carriers who charge a separate porterage for that service; but +the rule is that letters shall be delivered from the window. For +strangers this is of course a necessity of their position; and I +found that when once I had left instructions that my letters should +be delivered, those instructions were carefully followed. Indeed +nothing could exceed the civility of the officials within;--but so +also nothing can exceed the barbarity of the arrangements without. +The purchase of stamps I found to be utterly impracticable. They +were sold at a window in a corner, at which newspapers were also +delivered, to which there was no regular ingress, and from which +there was no egress. It would generally be deeply surrounded by a +crowd of muddy soldiers, who would wait there patiently till time +should enable them to approach the window. The delivery of letters +was almost more tedious, though in that there was a method. The +aspirants stood in a long line, _en cue_, as we are told by Carlyle +that the bread-seekers used to approach the bakers' shops at Paris +during the Revolution. This "cue" would sometimes project out into +the street. The work inside was done very slowly. The clerk had no +facility, by use of a desk or otherwise, for running through the +letters under the initials denominated, but turned letter by letter +through his hand. To one questioner out of ten would a letter +be given. It no doubt may be said in excuse for this that the +presence of the army round Washington caused at that period special +inconvenience; and that plea should of course be taken, were it +not that a very trifling alteration in the management within would +have remedied all the inconvenience. As a building the Washington +Post-office is very good; as the centre of a most complicated and +difficult department, I believe it to be well managed: but as regards +the special accommodation given by it to the city in which it stands, +much cannot, I think, be said in its favour. + +Opposite to that which is, I presume, the back of the Post-office, +stands the Patent-office. This also is a grand building, with a fine +portico of Doric pillars at each of its three fronts. These are +approached by flights of steps, more gratifying to the eye than to +the legs. The whole structure is massive and grand, and, if the +streets round it were finished, would be imposing. The utilitarian +spirit of the nation has, however, done much toward marring the +appearance of the building, by piercing it with windows altogether +unsuited to it, both in number and size. The walls, even under the +porticoes, have been so pierced, in order that the whole space might +be utilized without loss of light; and the effect is very mean. The +windows are small and without ornament,--something like a London +window of the time of George III. The effect produced by a dozen such +at the back of a noble Doric porch, looking down among the pillars, +may be imagined. + +In the interior of this building the Minister of the Interior holds +his court, and of course also the Commissioners of Patents. Here is, +in accordance with the name of the building, a museum of models of +all patents taken out. I wandered through it, gazing with listless +eye, now upon this, and now upon that; but to me, in my ignorance, +it was no better than a large toy-shop. When I saw an ancient +dusty white hat, with some peculiar appendage to it which was +unintelligible, it was no more to me than any other old white hat. +But had I been a man of science, what a tale it might have told! +Wandering about through the Patent-office I also found a hospital for +soldiers. A British officer was with me who pronounced it to be, in +its kind, very good. At any rate it was sweet, airy, and large. In +these days the soldiers had got hold of everything. + +The Treasury Chambers is as yet an unfinished building. The front +to the south has been completed; but that to the north has not been +built. Here at the north stands as yet the old Secretary of State's +office. This is to come down, and the Secretary of State is to be +located in the new building, which will be added to the Treasury. +This edifice will probably strike strangers more forcibly than any +other in the town, both from its position and from its own character. +It stands with its side to Pennsylvania Avenue, but the avenue here +has turned round, and runs due north and south, having taken a twist, +so as to make way for the Treasury and for the President's house, +through both of which it must run had it been carried straight on +throughout. These public offices stand with their side to the street, +and the whole length is ornamented with an exterior row of Ionic +columns raised high above the footway. This is perhaps the prettiest +thing in the city, and when the front to the north has been +completed, the effect will be still better. The granite monoliths +which have been used, and which are to be used, in this building are +very massive. As one enters by the steps to the south there are two +flat stones, one on each side of the ascent, the surface of each +of which is about 20 feet by 18. The columns are, I think, all +monoliths. Of those which are still to be erected, and which now lie +about in the neighbouring streets, I measured one or two--one which +was still in the rough I found to be 32 feet long by 5 feet broad, +and 4½ deep. These granite blocks have been brought to Washington +from the State of Maine. The finished front of this building, looking +down to the Potomac, is very good; but to my eyes this also has been +much injured by the rows of windows which look out from the building +into the space of the portico. + +The President's house--or the White House as it is now called all the +world over--is a handsome mansion fitted for the chief officer of +a great Republic, and nothing more. I think I may say that we have +private houses in London considerably larger. It is neat and pretty, +and with all its immediate outside belongings calls down no adverse +criticism. It faces on to a small garden, which seems to be always +accessible to the public, and opens out upon that everlasting +Pennsylvania Avenue, which has now made another turn. Here in front +of the White House is President's Square, as it is generally called. +The technical name is, I believe, La Fayette Square. The houses round +it are few in number,--not exceeding three or four on each side, but +they are among the best in Washington, and the whole place is neat +and well kept. President's Square is certainly the most attractive +part of the city. The garden of the square is always open, and does +not seem to suffer from any public ill-usage; by which circumstance +I am again led to suggest that the gardens of our London squares +might be thrown open in the same way. In the centre of this one +at Washington, immediately facing the President's house, is an +equestrian statue of General Jackson. It is very bad; but that it +is not nearly as bad as it might be is proved by another equestrian +statue,--of General Washington,--erected in the centre of a small +garden-plat at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, near the bridge +leading to Georgetown. Of all the statues on horseback which I ever +saw, either in marble or bronze, this is by far the worst and most +ridiculous. The horse is most absurd, but the man sitting on the +horse is manifestly drunk. I should think the time must come when +this figure at any rate will be removed. + +I did not go inside the President's house, not having had while +at Washington an opportunity of paying my personal respects to Mr. +Lincoln. I had been told that this was to be done without trouble, +but when I inquired on the subject I found that this was not exactly +the case. I believe there are times when anybody may walk into the +President's house without an introduction; but that, I take it, is +not considered to be the proper way of doing the work. I found that +something like a favour would be incurred, or that some disagreeable +trouble would be given, if I made a request to be presented,--and +therefore I left Washington without seeing the great man. + +The President's house is nice to look at, but it is built on marshy +ground, not much above the level of the Potomac, and is very +unhealthy. I was told that all who live there become subject to fever +and ague, and that few who now live there have escaped it altogether. +This comes of choosing the site of a new city, and decreeing that it +shall be built on this or on that spot. Large cities, especially in +these latter days, do not collect themselves in unhealthy places. Men +desert such localities,--or at least do not congregate at them when +their character is once known. But the poor President cannot desert +the White House. He must make the most of the residence which the +nation has prepared for him. + +Of the other considerable public building of Washington, called the +Smithsonian Institution, I have said that its style was bastard +Gothic; by this I mean that its main attributes are Gothic, but that +liberties have been taken with it, which, whether they may injure its +beauty or no, certainly are subversive of architectural purity. It is +built of red stone, and is not ugly in itself. There is a very nice +Norman porch to it, and little bits of Lombard Gothic have been well +copied from Cologne. But windows have been fitted in with stilted +arches, of which the stilts seem to crack and bend, so narrow are +they and so high. And then the towers with high pinnacled roofs are a +mistake,--unless indeed they be needed to give to the whole structure +that name of Romanesque which it has assumed. The building is used +for museums and lectures, and was given to the city by one James +Smithson, an Englishman. I cannot say that the city of Washington +seems to be grateful, for all to whom I spoke on the subject hinted +that the Institution was a failure. It is to be remarked that nobody +in Washington is proud of Washington, or of anything in it. If the +Smithsonian Institution were at New York or at Boston, one would have +a different story to tell. + +There has been an attempt made to raise at Washington a vast obelisk +to the memory of Washington,--the first in war and first in peace, +as the country is proud to call him. This obelisk is a fair type +of the city. It is unfinished,--not a third of it having as yet +been erected,--and in all human probability ever will remain so. If +finished it would be the highest monument of its kind standing on the +face of the globe,--and yet, after all, what would it be even then as +compared with one of the great pyramids? Modern attempts cannot bear +comparison with those of the old world in simple vastness. But in +lieu of simple vastness, the modern world aims to achieve either +beauty or utility. By the Washington monument, if completed, neither +would be achieved. An obelisk with the proportions of a needle +may be very graceful; but an obelisk which requires an expanse of +flat-roofed, sprawling buildings for its base, and of which the shaft +shall be as big as a cathedral tower, cannot be graceful. At present +some third portion of the shaft has been built, and there it stands. +No one has a word to say for it. No one thinks that money will ever +again be subscribed for its completion. I saw somewhere a box of +plate-glass kept for contributions for this purpose, and looking in +perceived that two half-dollar pieces had been given;--but both of +them were bad. I was told also that the absolute foundation of the +edifice is bad;--that the ground, which is near the river and swampy, +would not bear the weight intended to be imposed on it. + +A sad and saddening spot was that marsh, as I wandered down on it all +alone one Sunday afternoon. The ground was frozen and I could walk +dry-shod, but there was not a blade of grass. Around me on all sides +were cattle in great numbers--steers and big oxen--lowing in their +hunger for a meal. They were beef for the army, and never again I +suppose would it be allowed to them to fill their big maws and chew +the patient cud. There, on the brown, ugly, undrained field, within +easy sight of the President's house, stood the useless, shapeless, +graceless pile of stones. It was as though I were looking on the +genius of the city. It was vast, pretentious, bold, boastful with a +loud voice, already taller by many heads than other obelisks, but +nevertheless still in its infancy,--ugly, unpromising, and false. The +founder of the monument had said, Here shall be the obelisk of the +world! and the founder of the city had thought of his child somewhat +in the same strain. It is still possible that both city and monument +shall be completed; but at the present moment nobody seems to believe +in the one or in the other. For myself I have much faith in the +American character, but I cannot believe either in Washington city or +in the Washington monument. The boast made has been too loud, and the +fulfilment yet accomplished has been too small! + +Have I as yet said that Washington was dirty in that winter of +1861-1862? Or, I should rather ask, have I made it understood that +in walking about Washington one waded as deep in mud as one does in +floundering through an ordinary ploughed field in November? There +were parts of Pennsylvania Avenue which would have been considered +heavy ground by most hunting-men, and through some of the remoter +streets none but light weights could have lived long. This was the +state of the town when I left it in the middle of January. On my +arrival in the middle of December, everything was in a cloud of +dust. One walked through an atmosphere of floating mud; for the dirt +was ponderous and thick, and very palpable in its atoms. Then came +a severe frost and a little snow; and if one did not fall while +walking, it was very well. After that we had the thaw; and Washington +assumed its normal winter condition. I must say that, during the +whole of this time, the atmosphere was to me exhilarating; but I was +hardly out of the doctor's hands while I was there, and he did not +support my theory as to the goodness of the air. "It is poisoned by +the soldiers," he said, "and everybody is ill." But then my doctor +was perhaps a little tinged with southern proclivities. + +On the Virginian side of the Potomac stands a country-house called +Arlington Heights, from which there is a fine view down upon the +city. Arlington Heights is a beautiful spot,--having all the +attractions of a fine park in our country. It is covered with grand +timber. The ground is varied and broken, and the private roads about +sweep here into a dell and then up a brae-side, as roads should do in +such a domain. Below it was the Potomac, and immediately on the other +side stands the city of Washington. Any city seen thus is graceful; +and the white stones of the big buildings when the sun gleams on +them, showing the distant rows of columns, seem to tell something of +great endeavour and of achieved success. It is the place from whence +Washington should be seen by those who wish to think well of the +present city and of its future prosperity. But is it not the case +that every city is beautiful from a distance? + +The house at Arlington Heights is picturesque, but neither large +nor good. It has before it a high Greek colonnade, which seems to +be almost bigger than the house itself. Had such been built in a +city,--and many such a portico does stand in cities through the +States,--it would be neither picturesque nor graceful; but here it is +surrounded by timber, and as the columns are seen through the trees, +they gratify the eye rather than offend it. The place did belong, +and as I think does still belong, to the family of the Lees,--if not +already confiscated. General Lee, who is or would be the present +owner, bears high command in the army of the Confederalists, and +knows well by what tenure he holds, or is likely to hold, his family +property. The family were friends of General Washington, whose seat, +Mount Vernon, stands about twelve miles lower down the river; and +here, no doubt, Washington often stood, looking on the site he had +chosen. If his spirit could stand there now and look around upon the +masses of soldiers by which his capital is surrounded, how would it +address the city of his hopes? When he saw that every foot of the +neighbouring soil was desecrated by a camp, or torn into loathsome +furrows of mud by cannon and army waggons,--that agriculture was +gone, and that every effort both of North and South was concentrated +on the art of killing; when he saw that this was done on the very +spot chosen by himself for the centre temple of an everlasting union, +what would he then say as to that boast made on his behalf by his +countrymen that he was first in war and first in peace? Washington +was a great man, and I believe a good man. I, at any rate, will not +belittle him. I think that he had the firmness and audacity necessary +for a revolutionary leader, that he had honesty to preserve him from +the temptations of ambition and ostentation, and that he had the good +sense to be guided in civil matters by men who had studied the laws +of social life and the theories of free government. He was _justus +et tenax propositi_; and in periods that might well have dismayed +a smaller man, he feared neither the throne to which he opposed +himself, nor the changing voices of the fellow-citizens for whose +welfare he had fought. But sixty or seventy years will not suffice to +give to a man the fame of having been first among all men. Washington +did much, and I for one do not believe that his work will perish. +But I have always found it difficult,--I may say impossible,--to +sound his praises in his own land. Let us suppose that a courteous +Frenchman ventures an opinion among Englishmen that Wellington was a +great general, would he feel disposed to go on with his eulogium when +encountered on two or three sides at once with such observations as +the following:--"I should rather calculate he was; about the first +that ever did live or ever will live. Why, he whipped your Napoleon +everlasting whenever he met him. He whipped everybody out of the +field. There warn't anybody ever lived was able to stand nigh him, +and there won't come any like him again. Sir, I guess our Wellington +never had his likes on your side of the water. Such men can't +grow in a down-trodden country of slaves and paupers." Under such +circumstances the Frenchman would probably be shut up. And when I +strove to speak of Washington I generally found myself shut up also. + +Arlington Heights, when I was at Washington, was the head-quarters of +General M'Dowell, the General to whom is attributed--I believe most +wrongfully--the loss of the battle of Bull's Run. The whole place was +then one camp. The fences had disappeared. The gardens were trodden +into mud. The roads had been cut to pieces, and new tracks made +everywhere through the grounds. But the timber still remained. Some +no doubt had fallen, but enough stood for the ample ornamentation +of the place. I saw placards up, prohibiting the destruction of the +trees, and it is to be hoped that they have been spared. Very little +in this way has been spared in the country all around. + +Mount Vernon, Washington's own residence, stands close over the +Potomac, above six miles below Alexandria. It will be understood that +the capital is on the eastern, or Maryland side of the river, and +that Arlington Heights, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon are in Virginia. +The river Potomac divided the two old colonies, or States as they +afterwards became; but when Washington was to be built, a territory, +said to be ten miles square, was cut out of the two States and was +called the district of Columbia. The greater portion of this district +was taken from Maryland, and on that the city was built. It comprised +the pleasant town of Georgetown, which is now a suburb--and the only +suburb--of Washington. The portion of the district on the Virginian +side included Arlington Heights, and went so far down the river as +to take in the Virginian city of Alexandria. This was the extreme +western point of the district; but since that arrangement was made, +the State of Virginia petitioned to have their portion of Columbia +back again, and this petition was granted. Now it is felt that the +land on both sides of the river should belong to the city, and the +Government is anxious to get back the Virginian section. The city and +the immediate vicinity are freed from all State allegiance, and are +under the immediate rule of the United States Government,--having of +course its own municipality; but the inhabitants have no political +power, as power is counted in the States. They vote for no political +officer, not even for the President, and return no member to +Congress, either as a senator or as a representative. Mount Vernon +was never within the district of Columbia. + +When I first made inquiry on the subject I was told that Mount Vernon +at that time was not to be reached;--that though it was not in the +hands of the rebels, neither was it in the hands of Northerners, and +that therefore strangers could not go there; but this, though it +was told to me and others by those who should have known the facts, +was not the case. I had gone down the river with a party of ladies, +and we were opposite to Mount Vernon; but on that occasion we were +assured we could not land. The rebels, we were told, would certainly +seize the ladies, and carry them off into Secessia. On hearing which +the ladies were of course doubly anxious to be landed. But our stern +commander, for we were on a Government boat, would not listen to +their prayers, but carried us instead on board the "Pensacola," a +sloop-of-war which was now lying in the river, ready to go to sea, +and ready also to run the gauntlet of the rebel batteries which lined +the Virginian shore of the river for many miles down below Alexandria +and Mount Vernon. A sloop-of-war in these days means a large +man-of-war, the guns of which are so big that they only stand on +one deck, whereas a frigate would have them on two decks, and a +line-of-battle ship on three. Of line-of-battle ships there will, I +suppose, soon be none, as the "Warrior" is only a frigate. We went +over the "Pensacola," and I must say she was very nice, pretty, and +clean. I have always found American sailors on their men-of-war to +be clean and nice-looking,--as much so I should say as our own; but +nothing can be dirtier, more untidy, or apparently more ill-preserved +than all the appurtenances of their soldiers. + +We landed also on this occasion at Alexandria, and saw as melancholy +and miserable a town as the mind of man can conceive. Its ordinary +male population, counting by the voters, is 1500, and of these 700 +were in the southern army. The place had been made a hospital for +northern soldiers, and no doubt the site for that purpose had been +well chosen. But let any woman imagine what would be the feelings of +her life while living in a town used as a hospital for the enemies +against whom her absent husband was then fighting! Her own man would +be away ill,--wounded, dying, for what she knew, without the comfort +of any hospital attendance, without physic, with no one to comfort +him; but those she hated, with a hatred much keener than his, were +close to her hand, using some friend's house that had been forcibly +taken, crawling out into the sun under her eyes, taking the bread +from her mouth! Life in Alexandria at this time must have been sad +enough. The people were all secessionists, but the town was held by +the northern party. Through the lines, into Virginia, they could not +go at all. Up to Washington they could not go without a military +pass, not to be obtained without some cause given. All trade was at +an end. In no town at that time was trade very flourishing; but here +it was killed altogether,--except that absolutely necessary trade of +bread. Who would buy boots or coats, or want new saddles, or waste +money on books, in such days as these, in such a town as Alexandria? +And then out of 1500 men, one-half had gone to fight the southern +battles! Among the women of Alexandria secession would have found but +few opponents. + +It was here that a hot-brained young man, named Ellsworth, was killed +in the early days of the rebellion. He was a colonel in the northern +volunteer army, and on entering Alexandria found a secession flag +flying at the chief hotel. Instead of sending up a corporal's guard +to remove it, he rushed up and pulled it down with his own hand. As +he descended, the landlord shot him dead, and one of his soldiers +shot the landlord dead. It was a pity that so brave a lad, who had +risen so high, should fall so vainly; but they have made a hero of +him in America;--have inscribed his name on marble monuments, and +counted him up among their great men. In all this their mistake +is very great. It is bad for a country to have no names worthy of +monumental brass; but it is worse for a country to have monumental +brasses covered with names which have never been made worthy of such +honour. Ellsworth had shown himself to be brave and foolish. Let his +folly be pardoned on the score of his courage, and there, I think, +should have been an end of it. + +I found afterwards that Mount Vernon was accessible, and I rode +thither with some officers from the staff of General Heintzleman, +whose outside pickets were stationed beyond the old place. I +certainly should not have been well pleased had I been forced to +leave the country without seeing the house in which Washington had +lived and died. Till lately this place was owned and inhabited by +one of the family, a Washington, descended from a brother of the +General's; but it has now become the property of the country, under +the auspices of Mr. Everett, by whose exertions was raised the money +with which it was purchased. It is a long house, of two stories, +built, I think, chiefly of wood, with a verandah, or rather long +portico, attached to the front, which looks upon the river. There are +two wings, or sets of outhouses, containing the kitchen and servants' +rooms, which were joined by open wooden verandahs to the main +building; but one of these verandahs has gone, under the influence of +years. By these a semicircular sweep is formed before the front door, +which opens away from the river, and towards the old prim gardens, +in which, we were told, General Washington used to take much delight. +There is nothing very special about the house. Indeed, as a house, it +would now be found comfortless and inconvenient. But the ground falls +well down to the river, and the timber, if not fine, is plentiful +and picturesque. The chief interest of the place, however, is in the +tomb of Washington and his wife. It must be understood that it was a +common practice throughout the States to make a family burying-ground +in any secluded spot on the family property. I have not unfrequently +come across these in my rambles, and in Virginia I have encountered +small, unpretending gravestones under a shady elm, dated as lately as +eight or ten years back. At Mount Vernon there is now a cemetery of +the Washington family; and there, in an open vault--a vault open, but +guarded by iron grating--is the great man's tomb, and by his side +the tomb of Martha his wife. As I stood there alone, with no one +by to irritate me by assertions of the man's absolute supremacy, I +acknowledged that I had come to the final resting-place of a great +and good man,--of a man whose patriotism was, I believe, an honest +feeling, untinged by any personal ambition of a selfish nature. That +he was pre-eminently a successful man may have been due chiefly to +the excellence of his cause, and the blood and character of the +people who put him forward as their right arm in their contest; +but that he did not mar that success by arrogance, or destroy the +brightness of his own name by personal aggrandisement, is due to a +noble nature and to the calm individual excellence of the man. + +Considering the circumstances and history of the place, the position +of Mount Vernon, as I saw it, was very remarkable. It lay exactly +between the lines of the two armies. The pickets of the Northern +army had been extended beyond it, not improbably with the express +intention of keeping a spot so hallowed within the power of the +northern Government. But since the war began it had been in the +hands of the seceders. In fact, it stood there in the middle of the +battle-field, on the very line of division between loyalism and +secession. And this was the spot which Washington had selected as the +heart and centre, and safest rallying homestead of the united nation +which he left behind him. But Washington, when he resolved to found +his capital on the banks of the Potomac, knew nothing of the glories +of the Mississippi. He did not dream of the speedy addition to his +already gathered constellations of those Western stars, of Wisconsin, +Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa; nor did he dream of Texas conquered, +Louisiana purchased, and Missouri and Kansas rescued from the +wilderness. + +I have said that Washington was at that time,--the Christmas of +1861-1862,--a melancholy place. This was partly owing to the +despondent tone in which so many Americans then spoke of their own +affairs. It was not that the northern men thought that they were to +be beaten, or that the southern men feared that things were going bad +with their party across the river; but that nobody seemed to have any +faith in anybody. Maclellan had been put up as the true man--exalted +perhaps too quickly, considering the limited opportunities for +distinguishing himself which fortune had thrown in his way; but now +belief in Maclellan seemed to be slipping away. One felt that it was +so from day to day, though it was impossible to define how or whence +the feeling came. And then the character of the ministry fared still +worse in public estimation. That Lincoln, the President, was honest, +and that Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, was able, was the only +good that one heard spoken. At this time two Jonahs were specially +pointed out as necessary sacrifices, by whose immersion into the +comfortless ocean of private life the ship might perhaps be saved. +These were Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War, and Mr. Welles, the +Secretary of the Navy. It was said that Lincoln, when pressed to rid +his Cabinet of Cameron, had replied, that when a man was crossing a +stream the moment was hardly convenient for changing his horse; but +it came to that at last, that he found he must change his horse, even +in the very sharpest run of the river. Better that than sit an animal +on whose exertions he knew that he could not trust. So Mr. Cameron +went, and Mr. Stanton became Secretary at War in his place. But Mr. +Cameron, though put out of the Cabinet, was to be saved from absolute +disgrace by being sent as Minister to Russia. I do not know that +it would become me here to repeat the accusations made against Mr. +Cameron, but it had long seemed to me that the maintenance in such +a position, at such a time, of a gentleman who had to sustain such +a universal absence of public confidence, must have been most +detrimental to the army and to the Government. + +Men whom one met in Washington were not unhappy about the state of +things, as I had seen men unhappy in the North and in the West. They +were mainly indifferent, but with that sort of indifference which +arises from a break down of faith in anything. "There was the army! +Yes, the army! But what an army! Nobody obeyed anybody. Nobody did +anything! Nobody thought of advancing! There were, perhaps, two +hundred thousand men assembled round Washington; and now the effort +of supplying them with food and clothing was as much as could be +accomplished! But the contractors, in the meantime, were becoming +rich. And then as to the Government! Who trusted it? Who would put +their faith in Seward and Cameron? Cameron was now gone, it was true; +and in that way the whole of the Cabinet would soon be broken up. As +to Congress, what could Congress do? Ask questions which no one would +care to answer, and finally get itself packed up and sent home." The +President and the constitution fared no better in men's mouths. The +former did nothing,--neither harm nor good; and as for the latter, it +had broken down and shown itself to be inefficient. So men ate, and +drank, and laughed, waiting till chaos should come, secure in the +belief that the atoms into which their world would resolve itself, +would connect themselves again in some other form without trouble on +their part. + +And at Washington I found no strong feeling against England and +English conduct towards America. "We men of the world," a Washington +man might have said, "know very well that everybody must take care of +himself first. We are very good friends with you,--of course, and are +very glad to see you at our table whenever you come across the water; +but as for rejoicing at your joys, or expecting you to sympathize +with our sorrows, we know the world too well for that. We are +splitting into pieces, and of course that is gain to you. Take +another cigar." This polite, fashionable, and certainly comfortable +way of looking at the matter had never been attained at New York or +Philadelphia, at Boston or Chicago. The northern provincial world +of the States had declared to itself that those who were not with +it were against it; that its neighbours should be either friends or +foes; that it would understand nothing of neutrality. This was often +mortifying to me, but I think I liked it better on the whole than the +_laisser-aller_ indifference of Washington. + +Everybody acknowledged that society in Washington had been almost +destroyed by the loss of the southern half of the usual sojourners in +the city. The senators and members of Government, who heretofore had +come from the southern States, had no doubt spent more money in the +capital than their northern brethren. They and their families had +been more addicted to social pleasures. They are the descendants of +the old English Cavaliers, whereas the northern men have come from +the old English Roundheads. Or if, as may be the case, the blood +of the races has now been too well mixed to allow of this being +said with absolute truth, yet something of the manners of the old +forefathers has been left. The southern gentleman is more genial, +less dry,--I will not say more hospitable, but more given to enjoy +hospitality than his northern brother; and this difference is quite +as strong with the women as with the men. It may therefore be +understood that secession would be very fatal to the society of +Washington. It was not only that the members of Congress were not +there. As to very many of the representatives, it may be said that +they do not belong sufficiently to Washington to make a part of its +society. It is not every representative that is, perhaps, qualified +to do so. But secession had taken away from Washington those who +held property in the South--who were bound to the South by any ties, +whether political or other; who belonged to the South by blood, +education, and old habits. In very many cases--nay, in most such +cases--it had been necessary that a man should select whether he +would be a friend to the South, and therefore a rebel; or else an +enemy to the South, and therefore untrue to all the predilections and +sympathies of his life. Here has been the hardship. For such people +there has been no neutrality possible. Ladies even have not been able +to profess themselves simply anxious for peace and goodwill, and so +to remain tranquil. They who are not for me are against me, has been +spoken by one side and by the other. And I suppose that in all civil +war it is necessary that it should be so. I heard of various cases +in which father and son had espoused different sides in order that +property might be retained both in the North and in the South. Under +such circumstances it may be supposed that society in Washington +would be considerably cut up. All this made the place somewhat +melancholy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CONGRESS. + + +In the interior of the Capitol much space is at present wasted, but +this arises from the fact of great additions to the original plan +having been made. The two chambers,--that of the Senate and of the +Representatives, are in the two new wings, on the middle, or what we +call the first-floor. The entrance is made under a dome, to a large +circular hall, which is hung around with surely the worst pictures by +which a nation ever sought to glorify its own deeds. There are yards +of paintings at Versailles which are bad enough; but there is nothing +at Versailles comparable in villany to the huge daubs which are +preserved in this hall at the Capitol. It is strange that even +self-laudatory patriotism should desire the perpetuation of such +rubbish. When I was there the new dome was still in progress, and an +ugly column of woodwork, required for internal support and affording +a staircase to the top, stood in this hall. This of course was a +temporary and necessary evil; but even this was hung around with the +vilest of portraits. + +From the hall, turning to the left, if the entrance be made at the +front door, one goes to the new Chamber of Representatives, passing +through that which was the old chamber. This is now dedicated to the +exposition of various new figures by Crawford, and to the sale of +tarts and gingerbread,--of very bad tarts and gingerbread. Let that +old woman look to it, or let the House dismiss her. In fact this +chamber is now but a vestibule to a passage, a second hall as it +were, and thus thrown away. Changes probably will be made which will +bring it into some use, or some scheme of ornamentation. From this +a passage runs to the Representative Chamber, passing between those +tell-tale windows, which, looking to the right and left, proclaim the +tenuity of the building. The windows on one side, that looking to the +east or front, should, I think, be closed. The appearance, both from +the inside and from the outside, would be thus improved. + +The Representative Chamber itself--which of course answers to our +House of Commons--is a handsome, commodious room, admirably fitted +for the purposes required. It strikes one as rather low, but I doubt +if it were higher whether it would be better adapted for hearing. +Even at present it is not perfect in this respect as regards the +listeners in the gallery. It is a handsome, long chamber, lighted by +skylights from the roof, and is amply large enough for the number to +be accommodated. The Speaker sits opposite to the chief entrance, +his desk being fixed against the opposite wall. He is thus brought +nearer to the body of the men before him than is the case with our +Speaker. He sits at a marble table, and the clerks below him are also +accommodated with marble. Every representative has his own arm-chair, +and his own desk before it. This may be done for a house consisting +of about 240 members, but could hardly be contrived with us. These +desks are arranged in a semicircular form, or in a broad horseshoe, +and every member as he sits faces the Speaker. A score or so of +little boys are always running about the floor, ministering to the +members' wishes, carrying up petitions to the chair, bringing water +to long-winded legislators, delivering and carrying out letters, and +running with general messages. They do not seem to interrupt the +course of business, and yet they are the liveliest little boys I +ever saw. When a member claps his hands, indicating a desire for +attendance, three or four will jockey for the honour. On the whole, +I thought the little boys had a good time of it. + +But not so the Speaker. It seemed to me that the amount of work +falling upon the Speaker's shoulders was cruelly heavy. His voice was +always ringing in my ears, exactly as does the voice of the croupier +at a gambling-table who goes on declaring and explaining the results +of the game, and who generally does so in sharp, loud, ringing +tones, from which all interest in the proceeding itself seems +to be excluded. It was just so with the Speaker in the House of +Representatives. The debate was always full of interruptions; but +on every interruption the Speaker asked the gentleman interrupted +whether he would consent to be so treated. "The gentleman from +Indiana has the floor." "The gentleman from Ohio wishes to ask the +gentleman from Indiana a question." "The gentleman from Indiana gives +permission." "The gentleman from Ohio!"--these last words being a +summons to him of Ohio to get up and ask his question. "The gentleman +from Pennsylvania rises to order." "The gentleman from Pennsylvania +is in order." And then the House seems always to be voting, and the +Speaker is always putting the question. "The gentlemen who agree to +the amendment will say, Ay." Not a sound is heard. "The gentlemen who +oppose the amendment will say, No." Again not a sound. "The Ayes have +it," says the Speaker, and then he goes on again. All this he does +with amazing rapidity, and is always at it with the same hard, quick, +ringing, uninterested voice. The gentleman whom I saw in the chair +was very clever, and quite up to the task. But as for dignity--! +Perhaps it might be found that any great accession of dignity would +impede the celerity of the work to be done, and that a closer copy of +the British model might not on the whole increase the efficiency of +the American machine. + +When any matter of real interest occasioned a vote, the ayes and noes +would be given aloud; and then, if there were a doubt arising from +the volume of sound, the Speaker would declare that the "ayes" or the +"noes" would seem to have it! And upon this a poll would be demanded. +In such cases the Speaker calls on two members, who come forth +and stand fronting each other before the chair, making a gangway. +Through this the ayes walk like sheep, the tellers giving them an +accelerating poke when they fail to go on with rapidity. Thus they +are counted, and the noes are counted in the same way. It seemed +to me that it would be very possible in a dishonest legislator to +vote twice on any subject of great interest; but it may perhaps be +the case that there are no dishonest legislators in the House of +Representatives. + +According to a list which I obtained, the present number of members +is 173, and there are 63 vacancies occasioned by secession. New +York returns 33 members, Pennsylvania 25, Ohio 21, Virginia 13, +Massachusetts and Indiana 11, Tennessee and Kentucky 10, South +Carolina 6, and so on, till Delaware, Kansas, and Florida return only +1 each. When the constitution was framed, Pennsylvania returned 8, +and New York only 6; whereas Virginia returned 10, and South Carolina +5. From which may be gathered the relative rate of increase in +population of the Free-soil States and the Slave States. All these +States return two senators each to the other House, Kansas sending +as many as New York. The work in the House begins at 12 noon, and is +not often carried on late into the evening. Indeed this, I think, is +never done till towards the end of the session. + +The Senate House is in the opposite wing of the building, the +position of the one house answering exactly to that of the other. +It is somewhat smaller, but is, as a matter of course, much less +crowded. There are 34 States, and therefore 68 seats and 68 desks +only are required. These also are arranged in a horse-shoe form, +and face the President; but there was a sad array of empty chairs +when I was in Washington, nineteen or twenty seats being vacant in +consequence of secession. In this house the Vice-President of the +United States acts as President, but has by no means so hard a job +of work as his brother on the other side of the way. Mr. Hannibal +Hamlin, from Maine, now fills this chair. I was driven, while in +Washington, to observe something amounting almost to a peculiarity in +the Christian names of the gentlemen who were then administrating the +Government of the country. Mr. Abraham Lincoln was the President, Mr. +Hannibal Hamlin the Vice-President, Mr. Galusha Grow the Speaker of +the Representatives, Mr. Salmon Chase the Secretary of the Treasury, +Mr. Caleb Smith the Attorney-General, Mr. Simon Cameron the Secretary +at War, and Mr. Gideon Welles the Secretary of the Navy. + +In the Senate House, as in the other house, there are very commodious +galleries for strangers, running round the entire chambers, and these +galleries are open to all the world. As with all such places in the +States, a large portion of them is appropriated to ladies. But I came +at last to find that the word lady signified a female or a decently +dressed man. Any arrangement for classes is in America impossible; +the seats intended for gentlemen must as a matter of course be open +to all men; but by giving up to the rougher sex half the amount of +accommodation nominally devoted to ladies, the desirable division +is to a certain extent made. I generally found that I could obtain +admittance to the ladies' gallery if my coat were decent and I had +gloves with me. + +All the adjuncts of both these chambers are rich and in good keeping. +The staircases are of marble, and the outside passages and lobbies +are noble in size and in every way convenient. One knows well the +trouble of getting into the House of Lords and House of Commons, and +the want of comfort which attends one there; and an Englishman cannot +fail to make comparisons injurious to his own country. It would not, +perhaps, be possible to welcome all the world in London as is done in +Washington, but there can be no good reason why the space given to +the public with us should not equal that given in Washington. But, so +far are we from sheltering the public, that we have made our House of +Commons so small, that it will not even hold all its own members. + +I had an opportunity of being present at one of their field-days +in the Senate. Slidell and Mason had just then been sent from Fort +Warren across to England in the Rinaldo. And here I may as well say +what further there is for me to say about those two heroes. I was in +Boston when they were taken, and all Boston was then full of them. I +was at Washington when they were surrendered, and at Washington for +a time their names were the only household words in vogue. To me it +had, from the first, been a matter of certainty that England would +demand the restitution of the men. I had never attempted to argue the +matter on the legal points, but I felt, as though by instinct, that +it would be so. First of all there reached us, by telegram, from Cape +Race, rumours of what the press in England was saying;--rumours of a +meeting in Liverpool, and rumours of the feeling in London. And then +the papers followed, and we got our private letters. It was some days +before we knew what was actually the demand made by Lord Palmerston's +cabinet; and during this time, through the five or six days which +were thus passed, it was clear to be seen that the American feeling +was undergoing a great change--or if not the feeling, at any rate the +purpose. Men now talked of surrendering these Commissioners as though +it were a line of conduct which Mr. Seward might find convenient; and +then men went further, and said that Mr. Seward would find any other +line of conduct very inconvenient. The newspapers, one after another, +came round. That, under all the circumstances, the States Government +behaved well in the matter no one, I think, can deny; but the +newspapers, taken as a whole, were not very consistent and, I think, +not very dignified. They had declared with throats of brass that +these men should never be surrendered to perfidious Albion; but when +it came to be understood that in all probability they would be so +surrendered, they veered round without an excuse, and spoke of their +surrender as of a thing of course. And thus, in the course of about a +week, the whole current of men's minds was turned. For myself, on my +first arrival at Washington, I felt certain that there would be war, +and was preparing myself for a quick return to England; but from the +moment that the first whisper of England's message reached us, and +that I began to hear how it was received and what men said about it, +I knew that I need not hurry myself. One met a minister here, and a +senator there, and anon some wise diplomatic functionary. By none of +these grave men would any secret be divulged; none of them had any +secret ready for divulging. But it was to be read in every look of +the eye, in every touch of the hand, and in every fall of the foot of +each of them, that Mason and Slidell would go to England. + +Then we had, in all the fulness of diplomatic language, Lord +Russell's demand and Mr. Seward's answer. Lord Russell's demand was +worded in language so mild, was so devoid of threat, was so free +from anger, that at the first reading it seemed to ask for nothing. +It almost disappointed by its mildness. Mr. Seward's reply, on the +other hand, by its length of argumentation, by a certain sharpness of +diction to which that gentleman is addicted in his State papers, and +by a tone of satisfaction inherent through it all, seemed to demand +more than he conceded. But, in truth, Lord Russell had demanded +everything, and the United States Government had conceded everything. + +I have said that the American Government behaved well in its mode +of giving the men up, and I think that so much should be allowed to +them on a review of the whole affair. That Captain Wilkes had no +instructions to seize the two men is a known fact. He did seize them +and brought them into Boston harbour, to the great delight of his +countrymen. This delight I could understand, though of course I did +not share it. One of these men had been the parent of the Fugitive +Slave Law; the other had been great in fostering the success of +filibustering. Both of them were hot secessionists, and undoubtedly +rebels. No two men on the continent were more grievous by their +antecedents and present characters to all northern feeling. It is +impossible to deny that they were rebels against the Government of +their country. That Captain Wilkes was not on this account justified +in seizing them is now a matter of history, but that the people of +the loyal States should rejoice in their seizure was a matter of +course. Wilkes was received with an ovation, which as regarded him +was ill-judged and undeserved, but which in its spirit was natural. +Had the President's Government at that moment disowned the deed +done by Wilkes, and declared its intention of giving up the men +unasked, the clamour raised would have been very great, and perhaps +successful. We were told that the American lawyers were against +their doing so; and indeed there was such a shout of triumph that no +ministry in a country so democratic could have ventured to go at once +against it, and to do so without any external pressure. + +Then came the one ministerial blunder. The President put forth his +message, in which he was cunningly silent on the Slidell and Mason +affair; but to his message was appended, according to custom, the +report from Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. In this report +approval was expressed of the deed done by Captain Wilkes. Captain +Wilkes was thus in all respects indemnified, and the blame, if any, +was taken from his shoulders and put on to the shoulders of that +officer who was responsible for the Secretary's letter. It is true +that in that letter the Secretary declared that in case of any future +seizure the vessel seized must be taken into port, and so declared +in animadverting on the fact that Captain Wilkes had not brought the +"Trent" into port. But, nevertheless, Secretary Welles approved of +Captain Wilkes's conduct. He allowed the reasons to be good which +Wilkes had put forward for leaving the ship, and in all respects +indemnified the captain. Then the responsibility shifted itself to +Secretary Welles; but I think it must be clear that the President, in +sending forward that report, took that responsibility upon himself. +That he is not bound to send forward the reports of his Secretaries +as he receives them;--that he can disapprove them and require +alteration, was proved at the very time by the fact that he had in +this way condemned Secretary Cameron's report, and caused a portion +of it to be omitted. Secretary Cameron had unfortunately allowed his +entire report to be printed, and it appeared in a New York paper. +It contained a recommendation with reference to the slave question +most offensive to a part of the Cabinet, and to the majority of Mr. +Lincoln's party. This, by order of the President, was omitted in the +official way. It was certainly a pity that Mr. Welles's paragraph +respecting the "Trent" was not omitted also. The President was dumb +on the matter, and that being so the Secretary should have been dumb +also. + +But when the demand was made the States Government yielded at once, +and yielded without bluster. I cannot say I much admired Mr. Seward's +long letter. It was full of smart special pleading, and savoured +strongly, as Mr. Seward's productions always do, of the personal +author. Mr. Seward was making an effort to place a great State paper +on record, but the _ars celare artem_ was altogether wanting; and, +if I am not mistaken, he was without the art itself. I think he left +the matter very much where he found it. The men however were to be +surrendered, and the good policy consisted in this,--that no delay +was sought, no diplomatic ambiguities were put into request. It was +the opinion of very many that some two or three months might be +gained by correspondence, and that at the end of that time things +might stand on a different footing. If during that time the North +should gain any great success over the South, the States might be in +a position to disregard England's threats. No such game was played. +The illegality of the arrest was at once acknowledged, and the +men were given up,--with a tranquillity that certainly appeared +marvellous after all that had so lately occurred. + +Then came Mr. Sumner's field day. Mr. Charles Sumner is a senator +from Massachusetts, known as a very hot abolitionist and as having +been the victim of an attack made upon him in the Senate House by +Senator Brookes. He was also at the time of which I am writing +Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which position is +as near akin to that of a British minister in Parliament as can +be attained under the existing constitution of the States. It is +not similar, because such chairman is by no means bound to the +Government; but he has ministerial relations, and is supposed to be +specially conversant with all questions relating to foreign affairs. +It was understood that Mr. Sumner did not intend to find fault either +with England or with the Government of his own country as to its +management of this matter; or that, at least, such fault-finding was +not his special object, but that he was desirous to put forth views +which might lead to a final settlement of all difficulties with +reference to the right of international search. + +On such an occasion, a speaker gives himself very little chance of +making a favourable impression on his immediate hearers if he reads +his speech from a written manuscript. Mr. Sumner did so on this +occasion, and I must confess that I was not edified. It seemed to me +that he merely repeated, at greater length, the arguments which I had +heard fifty times during the last thirty or forty days. I am told +that the discourse is considered to be logical, and that it "reads" +well. As regards the gist of it, or that result which Mr. Sumner +thinks to be desirable, I fully agree with him, as I think will all +the civilized world before many years have passed. If international +law be what the lawyers say it is, international law must be altered +to suit the requirements of modern civilization. By those laws, as +they are construed, everything is to be done for two nations at war +with each other; but nothing is to be done for all the nations of the +world that can manage to maintain the peace. The belligerents are to +be treated with every delicacy, as we treat our heinous criminals; +but the poor neutrals are to be handled with unjust rigour, as we +handle our unfortunate witnesses in order that the murderer may, if +possible, be allowed to escape. Two men living in the same street +choose to pelt each other across the way with brickbats, and the +other inhabitants are denied the privileges of the footpath lest they +should interfere with the due prosecution of the quarrel! It is, I +suppose, the truth, that we English have insisted on this right of +search with more pertinacity than any other nation. Now in this case +of Slidell and Mason we have felt ourselves aggrieved, and have +resisted. Luckily for us there was no doubt of the illegality of the +mode of seizure in this instance; but who will say that if Captain +Wilkes had taken the "Trent" into the harbour of New York, in order +that the matter might have been adjudged there, England would have +been satisfied? Our grievance was, that our mail-packet was stopped +on the seas while doing its ordinary beneficent work. And our resolve +is, that our mail-packets shall not be so stopped with impunity. +As we were high-handed in old days in insisting on this right of +search, and as we are high-handed now in resisting a right of search, +it certainly behoves us to see that we be just in our modes of +proceeding. Would Captain Wilkes have been right according to the +existing law if he had carried the "Trent" away to New York? If so, +we ought not to be content with having escaped from such a trouble +merely through a mistake on his part. Lord Russell says that the +"Trent's" voyage was an innocent voyage. That is the fact that should +be established;--not only that the voyage was, in truth, innocent, +but that it should not be made out to be guilty by any international +law. Of its real innocency all thinking men must feel themselves +assured. But it is not only of the seizure that we complain, but of +the search also. An honest man is not to be handled by a policeman +while on his daily work, lest by chance a stolen watch should be +in his pocket. If international law did give such power to all +belligerents, international law must give it no longer. In the +beginning of these matters, as I take it, the object was when two +powerful nations were at war to allow the smaller fry of nations to +enjoy peace and quiet, and to avoid if possible the general scuffle. +Thence arose the position of a neutral. But it was clearly not fair +that any such nation, having proclaimed its neutrality, should, after +that, fetch and carry for either of the combatants to the prejudice +of the other. Hence came the right of search, in order that unjust +falsehood might be prevented. But the seas were not then bridged with +ships as they are now bridged, and the laws as written were, perhaps, +then practical and capable of execution. Now they are impracticable +and not capable of execution. It will not, however, do for us to +ignore them if they exist; and therefore they should be changed. It +is, I think, manifest that our own pretensions as to the right of +search must be modified after this. And now I trust I may finish my +book without again naming Messrs. Slidell and Mason. + +The working of the Senate bears little or no analogy to that of our +House of Lords. In the first place, the senator's tenure there is not +hereditary, nor is it for life. They are elected, and sit for six +years. Their election is not made by the people of their States, but +by the State legislature. The two Houses, for instance, of the State +of Massachusetts meet together and elect by their joint vote to the +vacant seat for their State. It is so arranged that an entirely new +senate is not elected every sixth year. Instead of this a third of +the number is elected every second year. It is a common thing for +senators to be re-elected, and thus to remain in the House for twelve +and eighteen years. In our Parliament the House of Commons has +greater political strength and wider political action than the House +of Lords; but in Congress the Senate counts for more than the House +of Representatives in general opinion. Money bills must originate in +the House of Representatives, but that is, I think, the only special +privilege attaching to the public purse which the lower House enjoys +over the upper. Amendments to such bills can be moved in the Senate; +and all such bills must pass the Senate before they become law. I am +inclined to think that individual members of the Senate work harder +than individual representatives. More is expected of them, and any +prolonged absence from duty would be more remarked in the Senate than +in the other House. In our Parliament this is reversed. The payment +made to members of the Senate is 3000 dollars, or £600, per annum, +and to a representative, £500 per annum. To this is added certain +mileage allowance for travelling backwards and forwards, between +their own State and the Capitol. A senator, therefore, from +California or Oregon has not altogether a bad place; but the halcyon +days of mileage allowances are, I believe, soon to be brought to an +end. It is quite within rule that the senator of to-day should be +the representative of to-morrow. Mr. Crittenden, who was senator +from Kentucky, is now a member of the Lower House from an electoral +district in that State. John Quincy Adams went into the House of +Representatives after he had been President of the United States. + +Divisions in the Senate do not take place as in the House of +Representatives. The ayes and noes are called for in the same way; +but if a poll be demanded, the clerk of the House calls out the names +of the different senators, and makes out lists of the votes according +to the separate answers given by the members. The mode is certainly +more dignified than that pursued in the other House, where during the +ceremony of voting the members look very much like sheep being passed +into their pens. + +I heard two or three debates in the House of Representatives, and +that one especially in which, as I have said before, a chapter was +read out of the book of Joshua. The manner in which the Creator's +name and the authority of His Word was bandied about the house on +that occasion, did not strike me favourably. The question originally +under debate was the relative power of the civil and military +authority. Congress had desired to declare its ascendancy over +military matters; but the army and the Executive generally had +demurred to this,--not with an absolute denial of the rights of +Congress, but with those civil and almost silent generalities with +which a really existing Power so well knows how to treat a nominal +Power. The ascendant wife seldom tells her husband in so many words +that his opinion in the house is to go for nothing; she merely +resolves that such shall be the case, and acts accordingly. An +observer could not but perceive that in those days Congress was +taking upon itself the part, not exactly of an obedient husband, but +of a husband vainly attempting to assert his supremacy. "I have got +to learn," said one gentleman after another, rising indignantly on +the floor, "that the military authority of our generals is above that +of this House." And then one gentleman relieved the difficulty of the +position by branching off into an eloquent discourse against slavery, +and by causing a chapter to be read out of the book of Joshua. + +On that occasion the gentleman's diversion seemed to have the effect +of relieving the House altogether from the embarrassment of the +original question; but it was becoming manifest, day by day, that +Congress was losing its ground, and that the army was becoming +indifferent to its thunders:--that the army was doing so, and +also that ministers were doing so. In the States, the President +and his ministers are not in fact subject to any parliamentary +responsibility. The President may be impeached, but the member of +an opposition does not always wish to have recourse to such an +extreme measure as impeachment. The ministers are not in the houses, +and cannot therefore personally answer questions. Different large +subjects, such as Foreign affairs, Financial affairs, and Army +matters, are referred to Standing Committees in both houses; and +these Committees have relations with the ministers. But they have no +constitutional power over the ministers; nor have they the much more +valuable privilege of badgering a minister hither and thither by +_vivâ voce_ questions on every point of his administration. The +minister sits safe in his office--safe there for the term of the +existing Presidency if he can keep well with the President; and +therefore, even under ordinary circumstances, does not care much for +the printed or written messages of Congress. But under circumstances +so little ordinary as those of 1861-62, while Washington was +surrounded by hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Congress was +absolutely impotent. Mr. Seward could snap his fingers at Congress, +and he did so. He could not snap his fingers at the army; but then he +could go with the army,--could keep the army on his side by remaining +on the same side with the army; and this, as it seemed, he resolved +to do. It must be understood that Mr. Seward was not Prime Minister. +The President of the United States has no Prime Minister,--or +hitherto has had none. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has usually +stood highest in the Cabinet, and Mr. Seward, as holding that +position, was not inclined to lessen its authority. He was gradually +assuming for that position the prerogatives of a Premier, and men +were beginning to talk of Mr. Seward's ministry. It may easily be +understood that at such a time the powers of Congress would be +undefined, and that ambitious members of Congress would rise and +assert on the floor, with that peculiar voice of indignation so +common in parliamentary debate, "that they had got to learn," &c., +&c., &c. It seemed to me that the lesson which they had yet to learn +was then in the process of being taught to them. They were anxious +to be told all about the mischance at Ball's Bluff, but nobody would +tell them anything about it. They wanted to know something of that +blockade on the Potomac; but such knowledge was not good for them. +"Pack them up in boxes, and send them home," one military gentleman +said to me. And I began to think that something of the kind would be +done, if they made themselves troublesome. I quote here the manner in +which their questions, respecting the affair at Ball's Bluff, were +answered by the Secretary of War. "The Speaker laid before the House +a letter from the Secretary at War, in which he says that he has the +honour to acknowledge the receipt of the resolution adopted on the +6th instant, to the effect that the answer of the department to the +resolution passed on the second day of the session, is not responsive +and satisfactory to the House, and requesting a further answer. The +Secretary has now to state that measures have been taken to ascertain +who is responsible for the disastrous movement at Ball's Bluff, but +that it is not compatible with the public interest to make known +those measures at the present time." + +In truth the days are evil for any Congress of debaters, when a great +army is in camp on every side of them. The people had called for the +army, and there it was. It was of younger birth than Congress, and +had thrown its elder brother considerably out of favour, as has been +done before by many a new-born baby. If Congress could amuse itself +with a few set speeches, and a field-day or two, such as those +afforded by Mr. Sumner, it might all be very well,--provided that +such speeches did not attack the army. Over and beyond this, let +them vote the supplies and have done with it. Was it probable that +General Maclellan should have time to answer questions about Ball's +Bluff,--and he with such a job of work on his hands? Congress could +of course vote what committees of military inquiry it might please, +and might ask questions without end; but we all know to what such +questions lead, when the questioner has no power to force an answer +by a penalty. If it might be possible to maintain the semblance of +respect for Congress, without too much embarrassment to military +secretaries, such semblance should be maintained; but if Congress +chose to make itself really disagreeable, then no semblance could be +kept up any longer. That, as far as I could judge, was the position +of Congress in the early months of 1862; and that, under existing +circumstances, was perhaps the only possible position that it could +fill. + +All this to me was very melancholy. The streets of Washington were +always full of soldiers. Mounted sentries stood at the corners of all +the streets with drawn sabres,--shivering in the cold and besmeared +with mud. A military law came out that civilians might not ride +quickly through the street. Military riders galloped over one at +every turn, splashing about through the mud, and reminding one not +unfrequently of John Gilpin. Why they always went so fast, destroying +their horses' feet on the rough stones, I could never learn. But I, +as a civilian, given, as Englishmen are, to trotting, and furnished +for the time with a nimble trotter, found myself harried from time +to time by muddy men with sabres, who would dash after me, rattling +their trappings, and bid me go at a slower pace. There is a building +in Washington, built by private munificence and devoted, according to +an inscription which it bears, "To the Arts." It has been turned into +an army clothing establishment. The streets of Washington, night and +day, were thronged with army waggons. All through the city military +huts and military tents were to be seen, pitched out among the mud +and in the desert places. Then there was the chosen locality of the +teamsters and their mules and horses--a wonderful world in itself; +and all within the city! Here horses and mules lived,--or died,--_sub +dio_, with no slightest apology for a stable over them, eating their +provender from off the waggons to which they were fastened. Here, +there, and everywhere large houses were occupied as the head-quarters +of some officer, or the bureau of some military official. At +Washington and round Washington the army was everything. While this +was so, is it to be conceived that Congress should ask questions +about military matters with success? + +All this, as I say, filled me with sorrow. I hate military +belongings, and am disgusted at seeing the great affairs of a nation +put out of their regular course. Congress to me is respectable. +Parliamentary debates, be they ever so prosy,--as with us, or even +so rowdy, as sometimes they have been with our cousins across the +water,--engage my sympathies. I bow inwardly before a Speaker's +chair, and look upon the elected representatives of any nation as the +choice men of the age. Those muddy, clattering dragoons, sitting at +the corners of the streets with dirty woollen comforters round their +ears, were to me hideous in the extreme. But there at Washington, at +the period of which I am writing, I was forced to acknowledge that +Congress was at a discount, and that the rough-shod generals were the +men of the day. "Pack them up and send them in boxes to their several +States." It would come to that, I thought, or to something like +that unless Congress would consent to be submissive. "I have yet to +learn--!" said indignant members, stamping with their feet on the +floor of the house. One would have said that by that time the lesson +might almost have been understood. + +Up to the period of this civil war Congress has certainly worked well +for the United States. It might be easy to pick holes in it;--to show +that some members have been corrupt, others quarrelsome, and others +again impracticable. But when we look at the circumstances under +which it has been from year to year elected,--when we remember +the position of the newly-populated States from which the members +have been sent, and the absence throughout the country of that old +traditionary class of Parliament men on whom we depend in England; +when we think how recent has been the elevation in life of the +majority of those who are and must be elected,--it is impossible +to deny them praise for intellect, patriotism, good sense, and +diligence. They began but sixty years ago, and for sixty years +Congress has fully answered the purpose for which it was established. +With no antecedents of grandeur, the nation, with its Congress, has +made itself one of the five great nations of the world. And what +living English politician will say even now, with all its troubles +thick upon it, that it is the smallest of the five? When I think of +this, and remember the position in Europe which an American has been +able to claim for himself, I cannot but acknowledge that Congress on +the whole has been conducted with prudence, wisdom, and patriotism. + +The question now to be asked is this,--Have the powers of Congress +been sufficient, or are they sufficient, for the continued +maintenance of free government in the States under the constitution? +I think that the powers given by the existing constitution to +Congress can no longer be held to be sufficient; and that if the +Union be maintained at all, it must be done by a closer assimilation +of its congressional system to that of our Parliament. But to +that matter I must allude again, when speaking of the existing +constitution of the States. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. + + +I have seen various essays purporting to describe the causes of this +civil war between the North and South; but they have generally been +written with the view of vindicating either one side or the other, +and have spoken rather of causes which should, according to the ideas +of their writers, have produced peace, than of those which did, in +the course of events, actually produce war. This has been essentially +the case with Mr. Everett, who in his lecture at New York, on the 4th +of July, 1860, recapitulated all the good things which the North has +done for the South, and who proved--if he has proved anything--that +the South should have cherished the North instead of hating it. And +this was very much the case also with Mr. Motley in his letter to +the "London Times." That letter is good in its way, as is everything +that comes from Mr. Motley, but it does not tell us why the war has +existed. Why is it that eight millions of people have desired to +separate themselves from a rich and mighty empire,--from an empire +which was apparently on its road to unprecedented success, and which +had already achieved wealth, consideration, power, and internal +well-being? + +One would be led to imagine from the essays of Mr. Everett and of Mr. +Motley, that slavery has had little or nothing to do with it. I must +acknowledge it to be my opinion that slavery in its various bearings +has been the single and necessary cause of the war;--that slavery +being there in the South, this war was only to be avoided by a +voluntary division,--secession voluntary both on the part of North +and South;--that in the event of such voluntary secession being not +asked for, or if asked for not conceded, revolution and civil war +became necessary,--were not to be avoided by any wisdom or care on +the part of the North. + +The arguments used by both the gentlemen I have named prove very +clearly that South Carolina and her sister States had no right to +secede under the constitution; that is to say, that it was not open +to them peaceably to take their departure, and to refuse further +allegiance to the President and Congress without a breach of the +laws by which they were bound. For a certain term of years, namely, +from 1781 to 1787, the different States endeavoured to make their +way in the world, simply leagued together by certain articles +of confederation. It was declared that each State retained its +sovereignty, freedom, and independence; and that the said States then +entered severally into a firm league of friendship with each other +for their common defence. There was no President, no Congress taking +the place of our Parliament, but simply a congress of delegates +or ambassadors, two or three from each State, who were to act in +accordance with the policy of their own individual States. It is +well that this should be thoroughly understood, not as bearing +on the question of the present war, but as showing that a loose +confederation, not subversive of the separate independence of the +States, and capable of being partially dissolved at the will of each +separate State, was tried, and was found to fail. South Carolina took +upon herself to act as she might have acted had that confederation +remained in force; but that confederation was an acknowledged +failure. National greatness could not be achieved under it, and +individual enterprise could not succeed under it. Then in lieu of +that, by the united consent of the thirteen States the present +constitution was drawn up and sanctioned, and to that every State +bound itself in allegiance. In that constitution no power of +secession is either named or presumed to exist. The individual +sovereignty of the States had, in the first instance, been thought +desirable. The young republicans hankered after the separate power +and separate name which each might then have achieved; but that dream +had been found vain,--and therefore the States, at the cost of some +fond wishes, agreed to seek together for national power, rather than +run the risks entailed upon separate existence. I append to this +volume the articles of confederation and the constitution of the +United States, as they who desire to look into this matter may be +anxious to examine them without reference to other volumes. The +latter alone is clear enough on the subject, but is strengthened by +the former in proving that under the latter no State could possess +the legal power of seceding. + +But they who created the constitution, who framed the clauses, and +gave to this terribly important work what wisdom they possessed, did +not presume to think that it could be final. The mode of altering the +constitution is arranged in the constitution. Such alterations must +be proposed either by two-thirds of both the houses of the general +Congress, or by the legislatures of two-thirds of the States; +and must, when so proposed, be ratified by the legislatures of +three-fourths of the States.--(Article V.) There can, I think, be no +doubt that any alteration so carried would be valid; even though that +alteration should go to the extent of excluding one or any number +of States from the Union. Any division so made would be made in +accordance with the constitution. + +South Carolina and the southern States no doubt felt that they would +not succeed in obtaining secession in this way, and therefore they +sought to obtain the separation which they wanted by revolution,--by +revolution and rebellion, as Naples has lately succeeded in her +attempt to change her political status; as Hungary is looking to do; +as Poland has been seeking to do any time since her subjection; as +the revolted colonies of Great Britain succeeded in doing in 1776, +whereby they created this great nation which is now undergoing all +the sorrows of a civil war. The name of secession claimed by the +South for this movement is a misnomer. If any part of a nationality +or empire ever rebelled against the government established on behalf +of the whole, South Carolina so rebelled when, on the 20th November, +1860, she put forth her ordinance of so-called secession; and the +other southern States joined in that rebellion when they followed +her lead. As to that fact, there cannot, I think, much longer be any +doubt in any mind. I insist on this especially, repeating perhaps +unnecessarily, opinions expressed in my first volume, because I still +see it stated by English writers that the secession ordinance of +South Carolina should have been accepted as a political act by the +government of the United States. It seems to me that no government +can in this way accept an act of rebellion without declaring its own +functions to be beyond its own power. + +But what if such rebellion be justifiable, or even reasonable? what +if the rebels have cause for their rebellion? For no one will now +deny that rebellion may be both reasonable and justifiable; or that +every subject in the land may be bound in duty to rebel. In such case +the government will be held to have brought about its own punishment +by its own fault. But as government is a wide affair, spreading +itself gradually, and growing in virtue or in vice from small +beginnings,--from seeds slow to produce their fruits,--it is +much easier to discern the incidence of the punishment than the +perpetration of the fault. Government goes astray by degrees, or sins +by the absence of that wisdom which should teach rulers how to make +progress, as progress is made by those whom they rule. The fault may +be absolutely negative and have spread itself over centuries; may +be, and generally has been, attributable to dull good men;--but not +the less does the punishment come at a blow. The rebellion exists +and cannot be put down,--will put down all that opposes it; but the +government is not the less bound to make its fight. That is the +punishment that comes on governing men or on a governing people, that +govern not well or not wisely. + +As Mr. Motley says in the paper to which I have alluded, "No man, on +either side of the Atlantic, with Anglo-Saxon blood in his veins, +will dispute the right of a people, or of any portion of a people, +to rise against oppression, to demand redress of grievances, and in +case of denial of justice to take up arms to vindicate the sacred +principle of liberty. Few Englishmen or Americans will deny that the +source of government is the consent of the governed, or that every +nation has the right to govern itself according to its will. When +the silent consent is changed to fierce remonstrance, revolution is +impending. The right of revolution is indisputable. It is written on +the whole record of our race. British and American history is made +up of rebellion and revolution. Hampden, Pym, and Oliver Cromwell; +Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, all were rebels." Then comes the +question whether South Carolina and the Gulf States had so suffered +as to make rebellion on their behalf justifiable or reasonable; or if +not, what cause had been strong enough to produce in them so strong +a desire for secession,--a desire which has existed for fully half +the term through which the United States has existed as a nation, +and so firm a resolve to rush into rebellion with the object of +accomplishing that which they deemed not to be accomplished on other +terms. + +It must, I think, be conceded that the Gulf States have not suffered +at all by their connection with the northern States; that in lieu +of any such suffering, they owe all their national greatness to the +northern States; that they have been lifted up by the commercial +energy of the Atlantic States and by the agricultural prosperity of +the western States, to a degree of national consideration and respect +through the world at large, which never could have belonged to them +standing alone. I will not trouble my readers with statistics which +few would care to follow, but let any man of ordinary every-day +knowledge turn over in his own mind his present existing ideas of +the wealth and commerce of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, +Pittsburg, and Cincinnati, and compare them with his ideas as to New +Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Richmond, and Memphis. I do +not name such towns as Baltimore and St. Louis, which stand in slave +States, but which have raised themselves to prosperity by northern +habits. If this be not sufficient, let him refer to population tables +and tables of shipping and tonnage. And of those southern towns +which I have named the commercial wealth is of northern creation. +The success of New Orleans as a city can be no more attributed to +Louisianians than can that of the Havana to the men of Cuba, or of +Calcutta to the natives of India. It has been a repetition of the old +story, told over and over again through every century since commerce +has flourished in the world; the tropics can produce,--but the men +from the North shall sow and reap, and garner and enjoy. As the +Creator's work has progressed, this privilege has extended itself to +regions further removed and still further from southern influences. +If we look to Europe, we see that this has been so in Greece, Italy, +Spain, France, and the Netherlands; in England and Scotland; in +Prussia and in Russia; and the Western world shows us the same story. +Where is now the glory of the Antilles? where the riches of Mexico, +and the power of Peru? They still produce sugar, guano, gold, cotton, +coffee, almost whatever we may ask them,--and will continue to do so +while held to labour under sufficient restraint; but where are their +men, where are their books, where are their learning, their art, +their enterprise? I say it with sad regret at the decadence of so +vast a population; but I do say that the southern States of America +have not been able to keep pace with their northern brethren;--that +they have fallen behind in the race, and feeling that the struggle is +too much for them, have therefore resolved to part. + +The reasons put forward by the South for secession have been trifling +almost beyond conception. Northern tariffs have been the first, +and perhaps foremost. Then there has been a plea that the national +exchequer has paid certain bounties to New England fishermen, +of which the South has paid its share,--getting no part of such +bounty in return. There is also a complaint as to the navigation +laws,--meaning, I believe, that the laws of the States increase +the cost of coast traffic by forbidding foreign vessels to engage in +the trade, thereby increasing also the price of goods and confining +the benefit to the North, which carries on the coasting trade of +the country, and doing only injury to the South, which has none +of it. Then last, but not least, comes that grievance as to the +Fugitive Slave Law. The law of the land as a whole,--the law of the +nation,--requires the rendition from free States of all fugitive +slaves. But the free States will not obey this law. They even pass +State laws in opposition to it. "Catch your own slaves," they say, +"and we will not hinder you; at any rate we will not hinder you +officially. Of non-official hindrance you must take your chance. But +we absolutely decline to employ our officers to catch your slaves." +That list comprises, as I take it, the amount of southern official +grievances. Southern people will tell you privately of others. They +will say that they cannot sleep happy in their beds, fearing lest +insurrection should be roused among their slaves. They will tell you +of domestic comfort invaded by northern falsehood. They will explain +to you how false has been Mrs. Beecher Stowe. Ladies will fill your +ears and your hearts too with tales of the daily efforts they make +for the comfort of their "people," and of the ruin to those efforts +which arises from the malice of the abolitionists. To all this you +make some answer with your tongue that is hardly true,--for in such +a matter courtesy forbids the plain truth. But your heart within +answers truly, "Madam,--dear madam, your sorrow is great; but that +sorrow is the necessary result of your position." + +As to those official reasons, in what fewest words I can use I will +endeavour to show that they come to nothing. The tariff--and a +monstrous tariff it then was--was the ground put forward by South +Carolina for secession, when General Jackson was President, and Mr. +Calhoun was the hero of the South. Calhoun bound himself and his +State to take certain steps towards secession at a certain day if +that tariff were not abolished. The tariff was so absurd that Jackson +and his Government were forced to abandon it,--would have abandoned +it without any threat from Calhoun; but under that threat it was +necessary that Calhoun should be defied. General Jackson proposed +a compromise tariff, which was odious to Calhoun,--not on its own +behalf, for it yielded nearly all that was asked, but as being +subversive of his desire for secession. The President, however, +not only insisted on his compromise, but declared his purpose of +preventing its passage into law unless Calhoun himself, as senator, +would vote for it. And he also declared his purpose, not, we may +presume, officially, of hanging Calhoun if he took that step towards +secession which he had bound himself to take in the event of the +tariff not being repealed. As a result of all this Calhoun voted for +the compromise, and secession for the time was beaten down. That was +in 1832, and may be regarded as the commencement of the secession +movement. The tariff was then a convenient reason, a ground to be +assigned with a colour of justice, because it was a tariff admitted +to be bad. But the tariff has been modified again and again since +that; and the tariff existing when South Carolina seceded in 1860 had +been carried by votes from South Carolina. The absurd Morrill tariff +could not have caused secession, for it was passed without a struggle +in the collapse of Congress occasioned by secession. + +The bounty to fishermen was given to create sailors, so that a +marine might be provided for the nation. I need hardly show that +the national benefit would accrue to the whole nation for whose +protection such sailors were needed. Such a system of bounties may +be bad, but if so it was bad for the whole nation. It did not affect +South Carolina otherwise than it affected Illinois, Pennsylvania, or +even New York. + +The navigation laws may also have been bad. According to my thinking +such protective laws are bad; but they created no special hardship +on the South. By any such a theory of complaint all sections of all +nations have ground of complaint against any other section which +receives special protection under any law. The drinkers of beer in +England should secede because they pay a tax, whereas the consumers +of paper pay none. The navigation laws of the States are no doubt +injurious to the mercantile interests of the States. I at least have +no doubt on the subject. But no one will think that secession is +justified by the existence of a law of questionable expediency. Bad +laws will go by the board if properly handled by those whom they +pinch, as the navigation laws went by the board with us in England. + +As to that Fugitive Slave Law, it should be explained that the +grievance has not arisen from the loss of slaves. I have heard it +stated that South Carolina, up to the time of the secession, had +never lost a slave in this way--that is, by northern opposition to +the Fugitive Slave Law; and that the total number of slaves escaping +successfully into the northern States, and there remaining through +the non-operation of this law, did not amount to five in the year. +It has not been a question of property but of feeling. It has been a +political point, and the South has conceived--and probably conceived +truly--that this resolution on the part of northern States to defy +the law with reference to slaves, even though in itself it might +not be immediately injurious to southern property, was an insertion +of the narrow end of the wedge. It was an action taken against +slavery,--an action taken by men of the North against their +fellow-countrymen in the South. Under such circumstances the sooner +such countrymen should cease to be their fellows the better it would +be for them. That, I take it, was the argument of the South; or at +any rate that was its feeling. + +I have said that the reasons given for secession have been trifling, +and among them have so estimated this matter of the Fugitive Slave +Law. I mean to assert that the ground actually put forward is +trifling;--the loss, namely, of slaves to which the South has been +subjected. But the true reason pointed at in this--the conviction, +namely, that the North would not leave slavery alone, and would +not allow it to remain as a settled institution--was by no means +trifling. It has been this conviction on the part of the South, that +the North would not live in amity with slavery, would continue to +fight it under this banner or under that, would still condemn it as +disgraceful to man and rebuke it as impious before God, which has +produced rebellion and civil war--and will ultimately produce that +division for which the South is fighting, and against which the +North is fighting; and which, when accomplished, will give the North +new wings, and will leave the South without political greatness or +commercial success. + +Under such circumstances I cannot think that rebellion on the part +of the South was justified by wrongs endured or made reasonable +by the prospect of wrongs to be inflicted. It is disagreeable, that +having to live with a wife who is always rebuking one for some +special fault; but the outside world will not grant a divorce on that +account, especially if the outside world is well aware that the fault +so rebuked is of daily occurrence. "If you do not choose to be called +a drunkard by your wife," the outside world will say, "it will be +well that you should cease to drink." Ah! but that habit of drinking +when once acquired cannot easily be laid aside. The brain will not +work, the organs of the body will not perform their functions, the +blood will not run. The drunkard must drink till he dies. All that +may be a good ground for divorce, the outside world will say; but +the plea should be put in by the sober wife, not by the intemperate +husband. But what if the husband takes himself off without any +divorce and takes with him also his wife's property, her earnings, +that on which he has lived and his children? It may be a good bargain +still for her, the outside world will say; but she, if she be a woman +of spirit, will not willingly put up with such wrongs. The South +has been the husband drunk with slavery, and the North has been the +ill-used wife. + +Rebellion, as I have said, is often justifiable, but it is, I think, +never justifiable on the part of a paid servant of that Government +against which it is raised. We must at any rate feel that this is +true of men in high places,--as regards those men to whom by reason +of their offices it should specially belong to put down rebellion. +Had Washington been the Governor of Virginia, had Cromwell been a +minister of Charles, had Garibaldi held a marshal's baton under the +Emperor of Austria or the King of Naples, those men would have been +traitors as well as rebels. Treason and rebellion may be made one +under the law, but the mind will always draw the distinction. I, +if I rebel against the Crown, am not on that account necessarily a +traitor. A betrayal of trust is, I take it, necessary to treason. +I am not aware that Jefferson Davis is a traitor; but that Buchanan +was a traitor admits, I think, of no doubt. Under him and with his +connivance, the rebellion was allowed to make its way. Under him and +by his officers arms and ships, and men and money, were sent away +from those points at which it was known that they would be needed +if it were intended to put down the coming rebellion, and to those +points at which it was known that they would be needed if it were +intended to foster the coming rebellion. But Mr. Buchanan had no +eager feeling in favour of secession. He was not of that stuff of +which are made Davis and Toombs and Slidell. But treason was easier +to him than loyalty. Remonstrance was made to him, pointing out the +misfortunes which his action, or want of action, would bring upon the +country. "Not in my time," he answered. "It will not be in my time." +So that he might escape unscathed out of the fire, this chief ruler +of a nation of thirty millions of men was content to allow treason +and rebellion to work their way! I venture to say so much here as +showing how impossible it was that Mr. Lincoln's government, on its +coming into office, should have given to the South,--not what the +South had asked, for the South had not asked,--but what the South had +taken; what the South had tried to filch. Had the South waited for +secession till Mr. Lincoln had been in his chair, I could understand +that England should sympathize with her. For myself I cannot agree to +that scuttling of the ship by the captain on the day which was to see +the transfer of his command to another officer. + +The southern States were driven into rebellion by no wrongs inflicted +on them; but their desire for secession is not on that account matter +for astonishment. It would have been surprising had they not desired +secession. Secession of one kind, a very practical secession, had +already been forced upon them by circumstances. They had become +a separate people, dissevered from the North by habits, morals, +institutions, pursuits, and every conceivable difference in their +modes of thought and action. They still spoke the same language, as +do Austria and Prussia; but beyond that tie of language they had +no bond but that of a meagre political union in their Congress at +Washington. Slavery, as it had been expelled from the North, and as +it had come to be welcomed in the South, had raised such a wall of +difference, that true political union was out of the question. It +would be juster, perhaps, to say that those physical characteristics +of the South which had induced this welcoming of slavery, and those +other characteristics of the North which had induced its expulsion, +were the true causes of the difference. For years and years this +has been felt by both, and the fight has been going on. It has been +continued for thirty years, and almost always to the detriment of +the South. In 1845 Florida and Texas were admitted into the Union as +slave States. I think that no State had then been admitted, as a free +State, since Michigan, in 1836. In 1846 Iowa was admitted as a free +State, and from that day to this Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, +Oregon, and Kansas have been brought into the Union; all as free +States. The annexation of another slave State to the existing Union +had become, I imagine, impossible--unless such object were gained by +the admission of Texas. We all remember that fight about Kansas, and +what sort of a fight it was! Kansas lies alongside of Missouri, a +slave State, and is contiguous to no other State. If the free-soil +party could, in the days of Pierce and Buchanan, carry the day in +Kansas, it is not likely that they would be beaten on any new ground +under such a President as Lincoln. We have all heard in Europe how +southern men have ruled in the White House, nearly from the days of +Washington downwards; or if not southern men, northern men, such as +Pierce and Buchanan, with southern politics; and therefore we have +been taught to think that the South has been politically the winning +party. They have, in truth, been the losing party as regards national +power. But what they have so lost they have hitherto recovered by +political address and individual statecraft. The leading men of the +South have seen their position, and have gone to their work with the +exercise of all their energies. They organized the Democrat party so +as to include the leaders among the northern politicians. They never +begrudged to these assistants a full share of the good things of +official life. They have been aided by the fanatical abolitionism of +the North by which the Republican party has been divided into two +sections. It has been fashionable to be a Democrat, that is, to hold +southern politics, and unfashionable to be a Republican, or to hold +anti-southern politics. In that way the South has lived and struggled +on against the growing will of the population; but at last that will +became too strong, and when Mr. Lincoln was elected, the South knew +that its day was over. + +It is not surprising that the South should have desired secession. It +is not surprising that it should have prepared for it. Since the days +of Mr. Calhoun its leaders have always understood its position with +a fair amount of political accuracy. Its only chance of political +life lay in prolonged ascendancy at Washington. The swelling +crowds of Germans, by whom the western States were being filled, +enlisted themselves to a man in the ranks of abolition. What was +the acquisition of Texas against such hosts as these? An evil day +was coming on the southern politicians, and it behoved them to be +prepared. As a separate nation,--a nation trusting to cotton, having +in their hands, as they imagined, a monopoly of the staple of English +manufacture, with a tariff of their own, and those rabid curses on +the source of all their wealth no longer ringing in their ears, what +might they not do as a separate nation? But as a part of the Union, +they were too weak to hold their own if once their political finesse +should fail them. That day came upon them, not unexpected, in 1860, +and therefore they cut the cable. + +And all this has come from slavery. It is hard enough, for how could +the South have escaped slavery? How, at least, could the South have +escaped slavery any time during these last thirty years? And is it, +moreover, so certain that slavery is an unmitigated evil, opposed +to God's will, and producing all the sorrows which have ever been +produced by tyranny and wrong? It is here, after all, that one comes +to the difficult question. Here is the knot which the fingers of men +cannot open, and which admits of no sudden cutting with the knife. I +have likened the slave-holding States to the drunken husband, and in +so doing have pronounced judgment against them. As regards the state +of the drunken man, his unfitness for partnership with any decent, +diligent, well-to-do wife, his ruined condition, and shattered +prospects, the simile, I think, holds good. But I refrain from +saying, that as the fault was originally with the drunkard in that he +became such, so also has the fault been with the slave States. At any +rate I refrain from so saying here, on this page. That the position +of a slave-owner is terribly prejudicial, not to the slave of whom I +do not here speak, but to the owner;--of so much at any rate I feel +assured. That the position is therefore criminal and damnable, I am +not now disposed to take upon myself to assert. + +The question of slavery in America cannot be handled fully and fairly +by any one who is afraid to go back upon the subject, and take its +whole history since one man first claimed and exercised the right of +forcing labour from another man. I certainly am afraid of any such +task; but I believe that there has been no period yet, since the +world's work began, when such a practice has not prevailed in a large +portion, probably in the largest portion, of the world's work-fields. +As civilization has made its progress, it has been the duty and +delight, as it has also been the interest of the men at the top of +affairs, not to lighten the work of the men below, but so to teach +them that they should recognize the necessity of working without +coercion. Emancipation of serfs and thralls, of bondsmen and slaves, +has always meant this,--that men having been so taught, should then +work without coercion. As men become educated and aware of the nature +of the tenure on which they hold their life, they learn the fact that +work is a necessity for them, and that it is better to work without +coercion than with it. When men have learned this they are fit for +emancipation, but they are hardly fit till they have learned so much. + +In talking or writing of slaves, we always now think of the negro +slave. Of us Englishmen it must at any rate be acknowledged that we +have done what in us lay to induce him to recognize this necessity +for labour. At any rate we acted on the presumption that he would do +so, and gave him his liberty throughout all our lands at a cost which +has never yet been reckoned up in pounds, shillings, and pence. The +cost never can be reckoned up, nor can the gain which we achieved in +purging ourselves from the degradation and demoralization of such +employment. We come into court with clean hands, having done all that +lay with us to do to put down slavery both at home and abroad. But +when we enfranchised the negroes, we did so with the intention, at +least, that they should work as free men. Their share of the bargain +in that respect they have declined to keep, wherever starvation has +not been the result of such resolve on their part; and from the +date of our emancipation, seeing the position which the negroes now +hold with us, the southern States of America have learned to regard +slavery as a permanent institution, and have taught themselves to +regard it as a blessing, and not as a curse. + +Negroes were first taken over to America because the white man +could not work under the tropical heats, and because the native +Indian would not work. The latter people has been, or soon will be, +exterminated,--polished off the face of creation, as the Americans +say,--which fate must, I should say, in the long run attend all +non-working people. As the soil of the world is required for +increasing population, the non-working people must go. And so the +Indians have gone. The negroes under compulsion did work, and work +well; and under their hands vast regions of the western tropics +became fertile gardens. The fact that they were carried up into +northern regions which from their nature did not require such aid, +that slavery prevailed in New York and Massachusetts, does not +militate against my argument. The exact limits of any great movement +will not be bounded by its purpose. The heated wax which you drop +on your letter spreads itself beyond the necessities of your seal. +That these negroes would not have come to the western world without +compulsion, or having come, would not have worked without compulsion, +is, I imagine, acknowledged by all. That they have multiplied in the +western world and have there become a race happier, at any rate in +all the circumstances of their life, than their still untamed kinsmen +in Africa, must also be acknowledged. Who, then, can dare to wish +that all that has been done by the negro immigration should have +remained undone? + +The name of slave is odious to me. If I know myself I would not own +a negro though he could sweat gold on my behoof. I glory in that +bold leap in the dark which England took with regard to her own West +Indian slaves. But I do not see the less clearly the difficulty of +that position in which the southern States have been placed; and I +will not call them wicked, impious, and abominable, because they now +hold by slavery, as other nations have held by it at some period of +their career. It is their misfortune that they must do so now,--now, +when so large a portion of the world has thrown off the system, +spurning as base and profitless all labour that is not free. It is +their misfortune, for henceforth they must stand alone, with small +rank among the nations, whereas their brethren of the North will +still "flame in the forehead of the morning sky." + +When the present constitution of the United States was written,--the +merit of which must probably be given mainly to Madison and Hamilton, +Madison finding the French democratic element, and Hamilton the +English conservative element,--this question of slavery was +doubtless a great trouble. The word itself is not mentioned in +the constitution. It speaks not of a slave, but of a "person held +to service or labour." It neither sanctions nor forbids slavery. +It assumes no power in the matter of slavery; and under it, at +the present moment, all Congress voting together, with the full +consent of the legislatures of thirty-three States, could not +constitutionally put down slavery in the remaining thirty-fourth +State. In fact the constitution ignored the subject. + +But nevertheless Washington, and Jefferson from whom Madison received +his inspiration, were opposed to slavery. I do not know that +Washington ever took much action in the matter, but his expressed +opinion is on record. But Jefferson did so throughout his life. +Before the declaration of independence he endeavoured to make slavery +illegal in Virginia. In this he failed, but long afterwards, when +the United States was a nation, he succeeded in carrying a law by +which the further importation of slaves into any of the States was +prohibited after a certain year--1820. When this law was passed, the +framers of it considered that the gradual abolition of slavery would +be secured. Up to that period the negro population in the States had +not been self-maintained. As now in Cuba, the numbers had been kept +up by new importations, and it was calculated that the race, when +not recruited from Africa, would die out. That this calculation was +wrong we now know, and the breeding-grounds of Virginia have been the +result. + +At that time there were no cotton-fields. Alabama and Mississippi +were outlying territories. Louisiana had been recently purchased, but +was not yet incorporated as a State. Florida still belonged to Spain, +and was all but unpopulated. Of Texas no man had yet heard. Of the +slave States, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia were alone +wedded to slavery. Then the matter might have been managed. But under +the constitution as it had been framed, and with the existing powers +of the separate States, there was not even then open any way by which +slavery could be abolished other than by the separate action of the +States; nor has there been any such way opened since. With slavery +these southern States have grown and become fertile. The planters +have thriven, and the cotton-fields have spread themselves. And then +came emancipation in the British islands. Under such circumstances +and with such a lesson, could it be expected that the southern States +should learn to love abolition? + +It is vain to say that slavery has not caused secession, and that +slavery has not caused the war. That, and that only, has been the +real cause of this conflict, though other small collateral issues may +now be put forward to bear the blame. Those other issues have arisen +from this question of slavery, and are incidental to it and a part of +it. Massachusetts, as we all know, is democratic in its tendencies, +but South Carolina is essentially aristocratic. This difference +has come of slavery. A slave country, which has progressed far in +slavery, must be aristocratic in its nature,--aristocratic and +patriarchal. A large slave-owner from Georgia may call himself a +democrat,--may think that he reveres republican institutions, and +may talk with American horror of the thrones of Europe; but he must +in his heart be an aristocrat. We, in England, are apt to speak of +republican institutions, and of universal suffrage which is perhaps +the chief of them, as belonging equally to all the States. In South +Carolina there is not and has not been any such thing. The electors +for the President there are chosen not by the people, but by the +legislature; and the votes for the legislature are limited by a high +property qualification. A high property qualification is required for +a member of the House of Representatives in South Carolina;--four +hundred freehold acres of land and ten negroes is one qualification. +Five hundred pounds clear of debt is another qualification;--for, +where a sum of money is thus named, it is given in English money. +Russia and England are not more unlike in their political and social +feelings than are the real slave States and the real free-soil +States. The gentlemen from one and from the other side of the line +have met together on neutral ground, and have discussed political +matters without flying frequently at each other's throats, while the +great question on which they differed was allowed to slumber. But the +awakening has been coming by degrees, and now the South had felt that +it was come. Old John Brown, who did his best to create a servile +insurrection at Harper's Ferry, has been canonized through the North +and West, to the amazement and horror of the South. The decision in +the "Dred Scott" case, given by the Chief Justice of the Supreme +Court of the United States, has been received with shouts of +execration through the North and West. The southern gentry have been +Uncle-Tommed into madness. It is no light thing to be told daily +by your fellow-citizens, by your fellow-representatives, by your +fellow-senators, that you are guilty of the one damning sin that +cannot be forgiven. All this they could partly moderate, partly +rebuke, and partly bear as long as political power remained in their +hands; but they have gradually felt that that was going, and were +prepared to cut the rope and run as soon as it was gone. + +Such, according to my ideas, have been the causes of the war. But I +cannot defend the South. As long as they could be successful in their +schemes for holding the political power of the nation, they were +prepared to hold by the nation. Immediately those schemes failed, +they were prepared to throw the nation overboard. In this there +has undoubtedly been treachery as well as rebellion. Had these +politicians been honest,--though the political growth of Washington +has hardly admitted of political honesty,--but had these politicians +been even ordinarily respectable in their dishonesty, they would +have claimed secession openly before Congress, while yet their own +President was at the White House. Congress would not have acceded. +Congress itself could not have acceded under the constitution; but a +way would have been found, had the southern States been persistent in +their demand. A way, indeed, has been found; but it has lain through +fire and water, through blood and ruin, through treason and theft, +and the downfall of national greatness. Secession will, I think, be +accomplished, and the southern Confederation of States will stand +something higher in the world than Mexico and the republics of +Central America. Her cotton monopoly will have vanished, and her +wealth will have been wasted. + +I think that history will agree with me in saying that the northern +States had no alternative but war. What concession could they make? +Could they promise to hold their peace about slavery? And had they +so promised, would the South have believed them? They might have +conceded secession; that is, they might have given all that would +have been demanded. But what individual chooses to yield to such +demands; and if not an individual,--then what people will do so? +But in truth they could not have yielded all that was demanded. Had +secession been granted to South Carolina and Georgia, Virginia would +have been coerced to join those States by the nature of her property, +and with Virginia Maryland would have gone, and Washington, the +capital. What may be the future line of division between the North +and the South I will not pretend to say; but that line will probably +be dictated by the North. It may still be hoped that Missouri, +Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland will go with the North, and be +rescued from slavery. But had secession been yielded, had the +prestige of success fallen to the lot of the South, those States must +have become southern. + +While on this subject of slavery--for in discussing the cause of the +war, slavery is the subject that must be discussed--I cannot forbear +to say a few words about the negroes of the North American States. +The republican party of the North is divided into two sections, of +which one may be called abolitionist, and the other non-abolitionist. +Mr. Lincoln's government presumes itself to belong to the latter, +though its tendencies towards abolition are very strong. The +abolition party is growing in strength daily. It is but a short time +since Wendell Phillips could not lecture in Boston without a guard of +police. Now, at this moment of my writing, he is a popular hero. The +very men who, five years since, were accustomed to make speeches, +strong as words could frame them, against abolition, are now turning +round, and if not preaching abolition, are patting the backs of those +who do so. I heard one of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet declare old John +Brown to be a hero and a martyr. All the Protestant Germans are +abolitionists,--and they have become so strong a political element +in the country that many now declare that no future President can be +elected without their aid. The object is declared boldly. No long +political scheme is asked for, but instant abolition is wanted; +abolition to be declared while yet the war is raging. Let the slaves +of all rebels be declared free; and all slave-owners in the seceding +States are rebels! + +One cannot but ask what abolition means, and to what it would lead. +Any ordinance of abolition now pronounced would not effect the +emancipation of the slaves, but might probably effect a servile +insurrection. I will not accuse those who are preaching this crusade +of any desire for so fearful a scourge on the land. They probably +calculate that an edict of abolition once given would be so much done +towards the ultimate winning of the battle. They are making their +hay while their sun shines. But if they could emancipate those four +million slaves, in what way would they then treat them? How would +they feed them? In what way would they treat the ruined owners of the +slaves, and the acres of land which would lie uncultivated? Of all +subjects with which a man can be called on to deal, it is the most +difficult. But a New England abolitionist talks of it as though no +more were required than an open path for his humanitarian energies. +"I could arrange it all to-morrow morning," a gentleman said to me, +who is well known for his zeal in this cause! + +Arrange it all to-morrow morning,--abolition of slavery having +become a fact during the night! I should not envy that gentleman his +morning's work. It was bad enough with us, but what were our numbers +compared with those of the southern States? We paid a price for the +slaves, but no price is to be paid in this case. The value of the +property would probably be lowly estimated at £100 a piece for men, +women, and children, or four hundred million pounds for the whole +population. They form the wealth of the South; and if they were +bought, what should be done with them? They are like children. Every +slave-owner in the country,--every man who has had ought to do with +slaves,--will tell the same story. In Maryland and Delaware are men +who hate slavery, who would be only too happy to enfranchise their +slaves; but the negroes who have been slaves are not fit for freedom. +In many cases, practically, they cannot be enfranchised. Give them +their liberty, starting them well in the world at what expense you +please, and at the end of six months they will come back upon your +hands for the means of support. Everything must be done for them. +They expect food and clothes, and instruction as to every simple act +of life, as do children. The negro domestic servant is handy at his +own work; no servant more so; but he cannot go beyond that. He does +not comprehend the object and purport of continued industry. If he +have money he will play with it,--will amuse himself with it. If +he have none, he will amuse himself without it. His work is like a +schoolboy's task; he knows it must be done, but never comprehends +that the doing of it is the very end and essence of his life. He is a +child in all things, and the extent of prudential wisdom to which he +ever attains is to disdain emancipation, and cling to the security +of his bondage. It is true enough that slavery has been a curse. +Whatever may have been its effect on the negroes, it has been a +deadly curse upon the white masters. + +The preaching of abolition during the war is to me either the +deadliest of sins or the vainest of follies. Its only immediate +result possible would be servile insurrection. That is so manifestly +atrocious,--a wish for it would be so hellish, that I do not presume +the preachers of abolition to entertain it. But if that be not meant, +it must be intended that an act of emancipation should be carried +throughout the slave States,--either in their separation from the +North, or after their subjection and consequent reunion with the +North. As regards the States while in secession, the North cannot +operate upon their slaves any more than England can operate on +the slaves of Cuba. But if a reunion is to be a precursor of +emancipation, surely that reunion should be first effected. A +decision in the northern and western mind on such a subject cannot +assist in obtaining that reunion,--but must militate against the +practicability of such an object. This is so well understood, that +Mr. Lincoln and his Government do not dare to call themselves +abolitionists.* + + *President Lincoln has proposed a plan for the emancipation of + slaves in the border States, and for compensation to the owners. + His doing so proves that he regards present emancipation in the + Gulf States as quite out of the question. It also proves that he + looks forward to the recovery of the border States for the North, + but that he does not look forward to the recovery of the Gulf + States. + +Abolition, in truth, is a political cry. It is the banner of defiance +opposed to secession. As the differences between the North and +South have grown with years, and have swelled to the proportions of +national antipathy, southern nullification has amplified itself into +secession, and northern free-soil principles have burst into this +growth of abolition. Men have not calculated the results. Charming +pictures are drawn for you of the negro in a state of Utopian bliss, +owning his own hoe and eating his own hog; in a paradise, where +everything is bought and sold, except his wife, his little ones, and +himself. But the enfranchised negro has always thrown away his hoe, +has eaten any man's hog but his own,--and has too often sold his +daughter for a dollar when any such market has been open to him. + +I confess that this cry of abolition has been made peculiarly +displeasing to me by the fact that the northern abolitionist is by +no means willing to give even to the negro who is already free that +position in the world which alone might tend to raise him in the +scale of human beings,--if anything can so raise him and make him fit +for freedom. The abolitionists hold that the negro is the white man's +equal. I do not. I see, or think that I see, that the negro is the +white man's inferior through laws of nature. That he is not mentally +fit to cope with white men,--I speak of the full-blooded negro,--and +that he must fill a position simply servile. But the abolitionist +declares him to be the white man's equal. But yet, when he has him at +his elbow, he treats him with a scorn which even the negro can hardly +endure. I will give him political equality, but not social equality, +says the abolitionist. But even in this he is untrue. A black man may +vote in New York, but he cannot vote under the same circumstances as +a white man. He is subjected to qualifications which in truth debar +him from the poll. A white man votes by manhood suffrage, providing +he has been for one year an inhabitant of his State; but a man of +colour must have been for three years a citizen of the State, and +must own a property qualification of £50 free of debt. But political +equality is not what such men want, nor indeed is it social equality. +It is social tolerance and social sympathy; and these are denied to +the negro. An American abolitionist would not sit at table with a +negro. He might do so in England at the house of an English duchess; +but in his own country the proposal of such a companion would be +an insult to him. He will not sit with him in a public carriage if +he can avoid it. In New York I have seen special street-cars for +coloured people. The abolitionist is struck with horror when he +thinks that a man and a brother should be a slave; but when the man +and the brother has been made free, he is regarded with loathing and +contempt. All this I cannot see with equanimity. There is falsehood +in it from the beginning to the end. The slave as a rule is well +treated,--gets all he wants and almost all he desires. The free negro +as a rule is ill treated, and does not get that consideration which +alone might put him in the worldly position for which his advocate +declares him to be fit. It is false throughout,--this preaching. The +negro is not the white man's equal by nature. But to the free negro +in the northern States this inequality is increased by the white +man's hardness to him. + +In a former book which I wrote some few years since, I expressed an +opinion as to the probable destiny of this race in the West Indies. +I will not now go over that question again. I then divided the +inhabitants of those islands into three classes,--the white, the +black, and the coloured, taking a nomenclature which I found there +prevailing. By coloured men I alluded to mulattoes, and all those of +mixed European and African blood. The word "coloured," in the States, +seems to apply to the whole negro race, whether full-blooded or +half-blooded. I allude to this now because I wish to explain that, in +speaking of what I conceive to be the intellectual inferiority of the +negro race, I allude to those of pure negro descent,--or of descent +so nearly pure as to make the negro element manifestly predominant. +In the West Indies, where I had more opportunity of studying the +subject, I always believed myself able to tell a negro from a +coloured man. Indeed the classes are to a great degree distinct +there, the greater portion of the retail trade of the country being +in the hands of the coloured people. But in the States I have been +able to make no such distinction. One sees generally neither the rich +yellow of the West Indian mulatto, nor the deep oily black of the +West Indian negro. The prevailing hue is a dry, dingy brown,--almost +dusty in its dryness. I have observed but little difference made +between the negro and the half-caste,--and no difference in the +actual treatment. I have never met in American society any man or +woman in whose veins there can have been presumed to be any taint of +African blood. In Jamaica they are daily to be found in society. + +Every Englishman probably looks forward to the accomplishment of +abolition of slavery at some future day. I feel as sure of it as I do +of the final judgment. When or how it shall come I will not attempt +to foretell. The mode which seems to promise the surest success +and the least present or future inconvenience, would be an edict +enfranchising all female children born after a certain date, and all +their children. Under such an arrangement the negro population would +probably die out slowly,--very slowly. What might then be the fate of +the cotton-fields of the Gulf States, who shall dare to say? It may +be that coolies from India and from China will then have taken the +place of the negro there, as they probably will have done also in +Guiana and the West Indies. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WASHINGTON TO ST. LOUIS. + + +Though I had felt Washington to be disagreeable as a city, yet I was +almost sorry to leave it when the day of my departure came. I had +allowed myself a month for my sojourn in the capital, and I had +stayed a month to the day. Then came the trouble of packing up, +the necessity of calling on a long list of acquaintances one after +another, the feeling that bad as Washington might be, I might be +going to places that were worse, a conviction that I should get +beyond the reach of my letters, and a sort of affection which I had +acquired for my rooms. My landlord, being a coloured man, told me +that he was sorry I was going. Would I not remain? Would I come back +to him? Had I been comfortable? Only for so and so or so and so, he +would have done better for me. No white American citizen, occupying +the position of landlord, would have condescended to such comfortable +words. I knew the man did not in truth want me to stay, as a lady +and gentleman were waiting to go in the moment I went out; but I did +not the less value the assurance. One hungers and thirsts after such +civil words among American citizens of this class. The clerks and +managers at hotels, the officials at railway stations, the cashiers +at banks, the women in the shops;--ah! they are the worst of all. An +American woman who is bound by her position to serve you,--who is +paid in some shape to supply your wants, whether to sell you a bit of +soap or bring you a towel in your bedroom at an hotel,--is, I think, +of all human creatures, the most insolent. I certainly had a feeling +of regret at parting with my coloured friend,--and some regret also +as regards a few that were white. + +As I drove down Pennsylvania Avenue, through the slush and mud, and +saw, perhaps for the last time, those wretchedly dirty horse sentries +who had refused to allow me to trot through the streets, I almost +wished that I could see more of them. How absurd they looked, with +a whole kit of rattletraps strapped on their horses' backs behind +them,--blankets, coats, canteens, coils of rope, and, always at the +top of everything else, a tin pot! No doubt these things are all +necessary to a mounted sentry, or they would not have been there; but +it always seemed as though the horse had been loaded gipsy-fashion, +in a manner that I may perhaps best describe as higgledy-piggledy, +and that there was a want of military precision in the packing. The +man would have looked more graceful, and the soldier more warlike, +had the pannikin been made to assume some rigidly fixed position +instead of dangling among the ropes. The drawn sabre, too, never +consorted well with the dirty outside woollen wrapper which generally +hung loose from the man's neck. Heaven knows, I did not begrudge him +his comforter in that cold weather, or even his long, uncombed shock +of hair; but I think he might have been made more spruce, and I am +sure that he could not have looked more uncomfortable. As I went, +however, I felt for him a sort of affection, and wished in my heart +of hearts that he might soon be enabled to return to some more +congenial employment. + +I went out by the Capitol, and saw that also, as I then believed, +for the last time. With all its faults it is a great building, and, +though unfinished, is effective; its very size and pretension give it +a certain majesty. What will be the fate of that vast pile, and of +those other costly public edifices at Washington, should the South +succeed wholly in their present enterprise? If Virginia should ever +become a part of the southern republic, Washington cannot remain the +capital of the northern republic. In such case it would be almost +better to let Maryland go also, so that the future destiny of that +unfortunate city may not be a source of trouble, and a stumbling +block of opprobrium. Even if Virginia be saved, its position will be +most unfortunate. + +I fancy that the railroads in those days must have been doing a very +prosperous business. From New York to Philadelphia, thence on to +Baltimore, and again to Washington, I had found the cars full; so +full that sundry passengers could not find seats. Now, on my return +to Baltimore, they were again crowded. The stations were all crowded. +Luggage-trains were going in and out as fast as the rails could carry +them. Among the passengers almost half were soldiers. I presume that +these were men going on furlough, or on special occasions; for the +regiments were of course not received by ordinary passenger trains. +About this time a return was called for by Congress of all the moneys +paid by the government, on account of the army, to the lines between +New York and Washington. Whether or no it was ever furnished I did +not hear; but it was openly stated that the colonels of regiments +received large gratuities from certain railway companies for the +regiments passing over their lines. Charges of a similar nature +were made against officers, contractors, quartermasters, paymasters, +generals, and cabinet ministers. I am not prepared to say that any +of these men had dirty hands. It was not for me to make inquiries on +such matters. But the continuance and universality of the accusations +were dreadful. When everybody is suspected of being dishonest, +dishonesty almost ceases to be regarded as disgraceful. + +I will allude to a charge made against one member of the Cabinet, +because the circumstances of the case were all acknowledged and +proved. This gentleman employed his wife's brother-in-law to buy +ships, and the agent so employed pocketed about £20,000 by the +transaction in six months. The excuse made was that this profit was +in accordance with the usual practice of the ship-dealing trade, and +that it was paid by the owners who sold, and not by the Government +which bought. But in so vast an agency the ordinary rate of profit on +such business became an enormous sum; and the gentleman who made the +plea must surely have understood that that £20,000 was in fact paid +by the government. It is the purchaser, and not the seller, who in +fact pays all such fees. The question is this,--Should the government +have paid so vast a sum for one man's work for six months? And if +so, was it well that that sum should go into the pocket of a near +relative of the Minister whose special business it was to protect the +government? + +American private soldiers are not pleasant fellow-travellers. They +are loud and noisy, and swear quite as much as the army could +possibly have sworn in Flanders. They are, moreover, very dirty; and +each man, with his long, thick great-coat, takes up more space than +is intended to be allotted to him. Of course I felt that if I chose +to travel in a country while it had such a piece of business on its +hands, I could not expect that everything should be found in exact +order. The matter for wonder, perhaps, was that the ordinary affairs +of life were so little disarranged, and that any travelling at all +was practicable. Nevertheless the fact remains that American private +soldiers are not agreeable fellow-travellers. + +It was my present intention to go due west across the country into +Missouri, skirting, as it were, the line of the war which had now +extended itself from the Atlantic across into Kansas. There were at +this time three main armies,--that of the Potomac, as the army of +Virginia was called, of which Maclellan held the command; that of +Kentucky, under General Buell, who was stationed at Louisville on +the Ohio; and the army on the Mississippi, which had been under +Fremont, and of which General Halleck now held the command. To these +were opposed the three rebel armies of Beauregard, in Virginia; of +Johnston, on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee; and of Price, in +Missouri. There was also a fourth army in Kansas, west of Missouri, +under General Hunter; and while I was in Washington another general, +supposed by some to be the "coming man," was sent down to Kansas to +participate in General Hunter's command. This was General Jim Lane, +who resigned a seat in the Senate in order that he might undertake +this military duty. When he reached Kansas, having on his route made +sundry violent abolition speeches, and proclaimed his intention +of sweeping slavery out of the south-western States, he came to +loggerheads with his superior officer respecting their relative +positions. + +On my arrival at Baltimore, I found the place knee-deep in mud and +slush and half-melted snow. It was then raining hard,--raining dirt, +not water, as it sometimes does. Worse weather for soldiers out in +tents could not be imagined,--nor for men who were not soldiers, +but who nevertheless were compelled to leave their houses. I only +remained at Baltimore one day, and then started again, leaving there +the greater part of my baggage. I had a vague hope,--a hope which +I hardly hoped to realize,--that I might be able to get through to +the South. At any rate I made myself ready for the chance by making +my travelling impediments as light as possible, and started from +Baltimore, prepared to endure all the discomfort which lightness +of baggage entails. My route lay over the Alleghanies by Pittsburg +and Cincinnati, and my first stopping-place was at Harrisburg, the +political capital of Pennsylvania. There is nothing special at +Harrisburg to arrest any traveller; but the local legislature of +the State was then sitting, and I was desirous of seeing the Senate +and Representatives of at any rate one State, during its period of +vitality. + +In Pennsylvania the General Assembly, as the joint legislature is +called, sits every year, commencing their work early in January, and +continuing till it be finished. The usual period of sitting seems to +be about ten weeks. In the majority of States, the legislature only +sits every other year. In this State it sits every year, and the +representatives are elected annually. The senators are elected for +three years, a third of the body being chosen each year. The two +chambers were ugly, convenient rooms, arranged very much after the +fashion of the halls of Congress at Washington. Each member had his +own desk, and his own chair. They were placed in the shape of a +horse-shoe, facing the chairman, before whom sat three clerks. In +neither house did I hear any set speech. The voices of the Speaker +and of the clerks of the houses were heard more frequently than +those of the members; and the business seemed to be done in a dull, +serviceable, methodical manner, likely to be useful to the country, +and very uninteresting to the gentlemen engaged. Indeed at Washington +also, in Congress, it seemed to me that there was much less of set +speeches than in our House of Commons. With us there are certain +men whom it seems impossible to put down, and by whom the time of +Parliament is occupied from night to night, with advantage to no one +and with satisfaction to none but themselves. I do not think that the +evil prevails to the same extent in America, either in Congress or in +the State legislatures. As regards Washington, this good result may +be assisted by a salutary practice which, as I was assured, prevails +there. A member gets his speech printed at the Government cost, and +sends it down free by post to his constituents, without troubling +either the house with hearing it, or himself with speaking it. I +cannot but think that the practice might be copied with success on +our side of the water. + +The appearance of the members of the legislature of Pennsylvania did +not impress me very favourably. I do not know why we should wish a +legislator to be neat in his dress, and comely, in some degree, in +his personal appearance. There is no good reason, perhaps, why they +should have cleaner shirts than their outside brethren, or have been +more particular in the use of soap and water, and brush and comb. +But I have an idea that if ever our own Parliament becomes dirty, it +will lose its prestige; and I cannot but think that the Parliament +of Pennsylvania would gain an accession of dignity by some slightly +increased devotion to the Graces. I saw in the two houses but one +gentleman, a senator, who looked like a Quaker; but even he was a +very untidy Quaker. + +I paid my respects to the Governor, and found him briskly employed +in arranging the appointments of officers. All the regimental +appointments to the volunteer regiments,--and that is practically +to the whole body of the army,*--are made by the State in which the +regiments are mustered. When the affair commenced, the captains and +lieutenants were chosen by the men; but it was found that this would +not do. When the skeleton of a State militia only was required, such +an arrangement was popular and not essentially injurious; but now +that war had become a reality, and that volunteers were required to +obey discipline, some other mode of promotion was found necessary. +As far as I could understand, the appointments were in the hands of +the State Governor, who however was expected in the selection of +the superior officers to be guided by the expressed wishes of the +regiment, when no objection existed to such a choice. In the present +instance the Governor's course was very thorny. Certain unfinished +regiments were in the act of being amalgamated;--two perfect +regiments being made up from perhaps five imperfect regiments, and +so on. But though the privates had not been forthcoming to the full +number for each expected regiment, there had been no such dearth +of officers, and consequently the present operation consisted in +reducing their number. + + *The army at this time consisted nominally of 660,000 men, of + whom only 20,000 were regulars. + +Nothing can be much uglier than the State House at Harrisburg, but +it commands a magnificent view of one of the valleys into which the +Alleghany mountains is broken. Harrisburg is immediately under the +range, probably at its finest point, and the railway running west +from the town to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Chicago passes right +over the chain. The line has been magnificently engineered, and the +scenery is very grand. I went over the Alleghanies in mid-winter when +they were covered with snow, but even when so seen they were very +fine. The view down the valley from Altoona, a point near the summit, +must in summer be excessively lovely. I stopped at Altoona one night +with the object of getting about among the hills, and making the best +of the winter view; but I found it impossible to walk. The snow had +become frozen and was like glass. I could not progress a mile in any +way. With infinite labour I climbed to the top of one little hill, +and when there became aware that the descent would be very much more +difficult. I did get down, but should not choose to describe the +manner in which I accomplished the descent. + +In running down the mountains to Pittsburg an accident occurred which +in any other country would have thrown the engine off the line, and +have reduced the carriages behind the engine to a heap of ruins. But +here it had no other effect than that of delaying us for three or +four hours. The tire of one of the heavy driving wheels flew off, and +in the shock the body of the wheel itself was broken, one spoke and a +portion of the circumference of the wheel was carried away, and the +steam-chamber was ripped open. Nevertheless the train was pulled up, +neither the engine nor any of the carriages got off the line, and +the men in charge of the train seemed to think very lightly of the +matter. I was amused to see how little was made of the affair by +any of the passengers. In England a delay of three hours would in +itself produce a great amount of grumbling, or at least many signs +of discomfort and temporary unhappiness. But here no one said a word. +Some of the younger men got out and looked at the ruined wheel; but +most of the passengers kept their seats, chewed their tobacco, and +went to sleep. In all such matters an American is much more patient +than an Englishman. To sit quiet, without speech, and ruminate in +some contorted position of body comes to him by nature. On this +occasion I did not hear a word of complaint--nor yet a word of +surprise or thankfulness that the accident had been attended with no +serious result. "I have got a furlough for ten days," one soldier +said to me. "And I have missed every connection all through from +Washington here. I shall have just time to turn round and go back +when I get home." But he did not seem to be in any way dissatisfied. +He had not referred to his relatives when he spoke of "missing his +connections," but to his want of good fortune as regarded railway +travelling. He had reached Baltimore too late for the train on to +Harrisburg, and Harrisburg too late for the train on to Pittsburg. +Now he must again reach Pittsburg too late for his further journey. +But nevertheless he seemed to be well pleased with his position. + +Pittsburg is the Merthyr-Tydvil of Pennsylvania,--or perhaps I should +better describe it as an amalgamation of Swansea, Merthyr-Tydvil, and +South Shields. It is without exception the blackest place which I +ever saw. The three English towns which I have named are very dirty, +but all their combined soot and grease and dinginess do not equal +that of Pittsburg. As regards scenery it is beautifully situated, +being at the foot of the Alleghany mountains, and at the juncture +of the two rivers Monongahela and Alleghany. Here, at the town, +they come together and form the river Ohio. Nothing can be more +picturesque than the site; for the spurs of the mountains come down +close round the town, and the rivers are broad and swift, and can +be seen for miles from heights which may be reached in a short walk. +Even the filth and wondrous blackness of the place are picturesque +when looked down upon from above. The tops of the churches are +visible, and some of the larger buildings may be partially traced +through the thick, brown, settled smoke. But the city itself is +buried in a dense cloud. The atmosphere was especially heavy when +I was there, and the effect was probably increased by the general +darkness of the weather. The Monongahela is crossed by a fine bridge, +and on the other side the ground rises at once, almost with the +rapidity of a precipice; so that a commanding view is obtained down +upon the town and the two rivers and the different bridges, from a +height immediately above them. I was never more in love with smoke +and dirt than when I stood here and watched the darkness of night +close in upon the floating soot which hovered over the housetops of +the city. I cannot say that I saw the sun set, for there was no sun. +I should say that the sun never shone at Pittsburg,--as foreigners +who visit London in November declare that the sun never shines there. + +Walking along the river-side I counted thirty-two steamers, all +beached upon the shore with their bows towards the land,--large +boats, capable probably of carrying from one to two hundred +passengers each, and about 300 tons of merchandise. On inquiry I +found that many of these were not now at work. They were resting +idle, the trade down the Mississippi below St. Louis having been +cut off by the war. Many of them, however, were still running, +the passage down the river being open to Wheeling in Virginia, to +Portsmouth, Cincinnati and the whole of South Ohio, to Louisville +in Kentucky, and to Cairo in Illinois, where the Ohio joins the +Mississippi. The amount of traffic carried on by these boats while +the country was at peace within itself was very great, and conclusive +as to the increasing prosperity of the people. It seems that +everybody travels in America, and that nothing is thought of +distance. A young man will step into a car and sit beside you, with +that easy, careless air which is common to a railway passenger +in England who is passing from one station to the next; and on +conversing with him you will find that he is going seven or eight +hundred miles. He is supplied with fresh newspapers three or four +times a day as he passes by the towns at which they are published; he +eats a large assortment of gum-drops and apples, and is quite as much +at home as in his own house. On board the river boats it is the same +with him, with this exception, that when there he can get whisky when +he wants it. He knows nothing of the ennui of travelling, and never +seems to long for the end of his journey, as travellers do with us. +Should his boat come to grief upon the river, and lie by for a day or +a night, it does not in the least disconcert him. He seats himself +upon three chairs, takes a bite of tobacco, thrusts his hands into +his trousers pockets and revels in an elysium of his own. + +I was told that the stockholders in these boats were in a bad way at +the present time. There were no dividends going. The same story was +repeated as to many and many an investment. Where the war created +business, as it had done on some of the main lines of railroad and +in some special towns, money was passing very freely; but away from +this, ruin seemed to have fallen on the enterprise of the country. +Men were not broken-hearted, nor were they even melancholy; but they +were simply ruined. That is nothing in the States, so long as the +ruined man has the means left to him of supplying his daily wants +till he can start himself again in life. It is almost the normal +condition of the American man in business; and therefore I am +inclined to think that when this war is over, and things begin to +settle themselves into new grooves, commerce will recover herself +more quickly there than she would do among any other people. It is so +common a thing to hear of an enterprise that has never paid a dollar +of interest on the original outlay,--of hotels, canals, railroads, +banks, blocks of houses, &c., that never paid even in the happy days +of peace,--that one is tempted to disregard the absence of dividends, +and to believe that such a trifling accident will not act as any +check on future speculation. In no country has pecuniary ruin been +so common as in the States; but then in no country is pecuniary ruin +so little ruinous. "We are a recuperative people," a west-country +gentleman once said to me. I doubted the propriety of his word, but +I acknowledged the truth of his assertion. + +Pittsburg and Alleghany, which latter is a town similar in its nature +to Pittsburg on the other side of the river of the same name, regard +themselves as places apart; but they are in effect one and the same +city. They live under the same blanket of soot, which is woven by the +joint efforts of the two places. Their united population is 135,000, +of which Alleghany owns about 50,000. The industry of the towns is of +that sort which arises from a union of coal and iron in the vicinity. +The Pennsylvanian coalfields are the most prolific in the Union; +and Pittsburg is therefore great, exactly as Merthyr-Tydvil and +Birmingham are great. But the foundry-work at Pittsburg is more +nearly allied to the heavy, rough works of the Welsh coal metropolis +than to the finish and polish of Birmingham. + +"Why cannot you consume your own smoke?" I asked a gentleman there. +"Fuel is so cheap that it would not pay," he answered. His idea of +the advantage of consuming smoke was confined to the question of its +paying as a simple operation in itself. The consequent cleanliness +and improvement in the atmosphere had not entered into his +calculations. Any such result might be a fortuitous benefit, but was +not of sufficient importance to make any effort in that direction +expedient on its own account. "Coal was burned," he said, "in the +foundries at something less than two dollars a ton; while that was +the case, it could not answer the purpose of any iron-founder to put +up an apparatus for the consumption of smoke." I did not pursue the +argument any further, as I perceived that we were looking at the +matter from two different points of view. + +Everything in the hotel was black; not black to the eye, for the eye +teaches itself to discriminate colours even when loaded with dirt, +but black to the touch. On coming out of a tub of water my foot took +an impress from the carpet exactly as it would have done had I trod +barefooted on a path laid with soot. I thought that I was turning +negro upwards, till I put my wet hand upon the carpet, and found that +the result was the same. And yet the carpet was green to the eye,--a +dull, dingy green, but still green. "You shouldn't damp your feet," +a man said to me, to whom I mentioned the catastrophe. Certainly +Pittsburg is the dirtiest place I ever saw, but it is, as I said +before, very picturesque in its dirt when looked at from above the +blanket. + +From Pittsburg I went on by train to Cincinnati, and was soon in the +State of Ohio. I confess that I have never felt any great regard for +Pennsylvania. It has always had in my estimation a low character for +commercial honesty, and a certain flavour of pretentious hypocrisy. +This probably has been much owing to the acerbity and pungency of +Sydney Smith's witty denunciations against the drab-coloured State. +It is noted for repudiation of its own debts, and for sharpness in +exaction of its own bargains. It has been always smart in banking. It +has given Buchanan as a President to the country, and Cameron as a +Secretary at War to the Government! When the battle of Bull's Run was +to be fought, Pennsylvanian soldiers were the men who, on that day, +threw down their arms because the three months' term for which they +had been enlisted was then expired! Pennsylvania does not in my mind +stand on a par with Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, +or Virginia. We are apt to connect the name of Benjamin Franklin +with Pennsylvania, but Franklin was a Boston man. Nevertheless, +Pennsylvania is rich and prosperous. Indeed it bears all those marks +which Quakers generally leave behind them. + +I had some little personal feeling in visiting Cincinnati, because my +mother had lived there for some time, and had there been concerned in +a commercial enterprise, by which no one, I believe, made any great +sum of money. Between thirty and forty years ago she built a bazaar +in Cincinnati, which I was assured by the present owner of the house, +was at the time of its erection considered to be the great building +of the town. It has been sadly eclipsed now, and by no means rears +its head proudly among the great blocks around it. It had become +a "Physico-medical Institute" when I was there, and was under +the dominion of a quack doctor on one side, and of a college of +rights-of-women female medical professors on the other. "I believe, +sir, no man or woman ever yet made a dollar in that building; and as +for rent, I don't even expect it." Such was the account given of the +unfortunate bazaar by the present proprietor. + +Cincinnati has long been known as a great town,--conspicuous among +all towns for the number of hogs which are there killed, salted, and +packed. It is the great hog metropolis of the western States; but +Cincinnati has not grown with the rapidity of other towns. It has +now 170,000 inhabitants, but then it got an early start. St. Louis, +which is west of it again, near the confluence of the Missouri and +Mississippi, has gone ahead of it. Cincinnati stands on the Ohio +river, separated by a ferry from Kentucky, which is a slave State. +Ohio itself is a free-soil State. When the time comes for arranging +the line of division, if such time shall ever come, it will be very +hard to say where northern feeling ends and where southern wishes +commence. Newport and Covington, which are in Kentucky, are suburbs +of Cincinnati; and yet in these places slavery is rife. The domestic +servants are mostly slaves, though it is essential that those so kept +should be known as slaves who will not run away. It is understood +that a slave who escapes into Ohio will not be caught and given up by +the intervention of the Ohio police; and from Covington or Newport +any slave can escape into Ohio with ease. But when that division +takes place, no river like the Ohio can form the boundary between +the divided nations. Such rivers are the highways, round which in +this country people have clustered themselves. A river here is not +a natural barrier, but a connecting street. It would be as well to +make a railway a division, or the centre line of a city a national +boundary. Kentucky and Ohio States are joined together by the Ohio +river, with Cincinnati on one side and Louisville on the other; and +I do not think that man's act can upset these ties of nature. But +between Kentucky and Tennessee there is no such bond of union. There +a mathematical line has been simply drawn, a continuation of that +line which divides Virginia from North Carolina, to which two latter +States Kentucky and Tennessee belonged when the thirteen original +States first formed themselves into a union. But that mathematical +line has offered no peculiar advantages to population. No great towns +cluster there, and no strong social interests would be dissevered +should Kentucky throw in her lot with the North, and Tennessee with +the South; but Kentucky owns a quarter of a million of slaves, and +those slaves must either be emancipated or removed before such a +junction can be firmly settled. + +The great business of Cincinnati is hog-killing now, as it used to +be in the old days of which I have so often heard. It seems to be an +established fact, that in this portion of the world the porcine genus +are all hogs. One never hears of a pig. With us a trade in hogs and +pigs is subject to some little contumely. There is a feeling, which +has perhaps never been expressed in words, but which certainly +exists, that these animals are not so honourable in their bearings +as sheep and oxen. It is a prejudice which by no means exists in +Cincinnati. There hog killing and salting and packing are very +honourable, and the great men in the trade are the merchant princes +of the city. I went to see the performance, feeling it to be a duty +to inspect everywhere that which I found to be of most importance; +but I will not describe it. There were a crowd of men operating, +and I was told that the point of honour was to "put through" a hog +a minute. It must be understood that the animal enters upon the +ceremony alive, and comes out in that cleanly, disembowelled guise in +which it may sometimes be seen hanging up previous to the operation +of the pork-butcher's knife. To one special man was appointed a +performance which seemed to be specially disagreeable, so that he +appeared despicable in my eyes; but when on inquiry I learned that he +earned five dollars, or a pound sterling, a day, my judgment as to +his position was reversed. And after all what matters the ugly nature +of such an occupation when a man is used to it? + +Cincinnati is like all other American towns, with second, third, and +fourth streets, seventh, eighth, and ninth streets, and so on. Then +the cross-streets are named chiefly from trees. Chesnut, walnut, +locust, &c. I do not know whence has come this fancy for naming +streets after trees in the States, but it is very general. The +town is well built, with good fronts to many of the houses, with +large shops and larger stores;--of course also with an enormous +hotel, which has never paid anything like a proper dividend to the +speculator who built it. It is always the same story. But these towns +shame our provincial towns by their breadth and grandeur. I am afraid +that speculators with us are trammelled by an "ignorant impatience of +ruin." I should not myself like to live in Cincinnati or in any of +these towns. They are slow, dingy, and uninteresting; but they all +possess an air of substantial, civic dignity. It must however be +remembered that the Americans live much more in towns than we do. +All with us that are rich and aristocratic and luxurious live in the +country, frequenting the metropolis for only a portion of the year. +But all that are rich and aristocratic and luxurious in the States +live in the towns. Our provincial towns are not generally chosen as +the residences of our higher classes. + +Cincinnati has 170,000 inhabitants, and there are 14,000 children +at the free schools,--which is about one in twelve of the whole +population. This number gives the average of scholars throughout +the year ended 30th June, 1861. But there are other schools in +Cincinnati,--parish schools and private schools, and it is stated to +me that there were in all 32,000 children attending school in the +city throughout the year. The education at the State schools is very +good. Thirty-four teachers are employed, at an average salary of £92 +each, ranging from £260 to £60 per annum. It is in this matter of +education that the cities of the free States of America have done so +much for the civilization and welfare of their population. This fact +cannot be repeated in their praise too often. Those who have the +management of affairs, who are at the top of the tree, are desirous +of giving to all an opportunity of raising themselves in the scale of +human beings. I dislike universal suffrage; I dislike vote by ballot; +I dislike above all things the tyranny of democracy. But I do like +the political feeling--for it is a political feeling--which induces +every educated American to lend a hand to the education of his +fellow-citizens. It shows, if nothing else does so, a germ of truth +in that doctrine of equality. It is a doctrine to be forgiven when +he who preaches it is in truth striving to raise others to his own +level;--though utterly unpardonable when the preacher would pull down +others to his level. + +Leaving Cincinnati I again entered a slave State, namely, Kentucky. +When the war broke out Kentucky took upon itself to say that it would +be neutral, as if neutrality in such a position could by any means +have been possible! Neutrality on the borders of secession, on +the battle-field of the coming contest, was of course impossible. +Tennessee, to the south, had joined the South by a regular secession +ordinance. Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana to the north were of course +true to the Union. Under these circumstances it became necessary that +Kentucky should choose her side. With the exception of the little +State of Delaware, in which from her position secesssion would have +been impossible, Kentucky was, I think, less inclined to rebellion, +more desirous of standing by the North, than any other of the slave +States. She did all she could, however, to put off the evil day of so +evil a choice. Abolition within her borders was held to be abominable +as strongly as it was so held in Georgia. She had no sympathy and +could have none with the teachings and preachings of Massachusetts. +But she did not wish to belong to a Confederacy of which the northern +States were to be the declared enemy, and be the border State of the +South under such circumstances. She did all she could for personal +neutrality. She made that effort for general reconciliation of which +I have spoken as the Crittenden compromise. But compromises and +reconciliation were not as yet possible, and therefore it was +necessary that she should choose her part. Her Governor declared +for secession; and at first also her legislature was inclined to +follow the Governor. But no overt act of secession by the State +was committed, and at last it was decided that Kentucky should be +declared to be loyal. It was in fact divided. Those on the southern +border joined the secessionists, whereas the greater portion of the +State, containing Frankfort the capital and the would-be secessionist +Governor who lived there, joined the North. Men in fact became +unionists or secessionists, not by their own conviction, but through +the necessity of their positions; and Kentucky, through the necessity +of her position, became one of the scenes of civil war. + +I must confess that the difficulty of the position of the whole +country seems to me to have been under-estimated in England. In +common life it is not easy to arrange the circumstances of a divorce +between man and wife, all whose belongings and associations have for +many years been in common. Their children, their money, their house, +their friends, their secrets, have been joint property and have +formed bonds of union. But yet such quarrels may arise, such mutual +antipathy, such acerbity and even ill-usage, that all who know them +admit that a separation is needed. So it is here in the States. +Free-soil and slave-soil could, while both were young and unused to +power, go on together,--not without many jars and unhappy bickerings; +but they did go on together. But now they must part; and how shall +the parting be made? With which side shall go this child, and who +shall remain in possession of that pleasant homestead? Putting +secession aside, there were in the United States two distinct +political doctrines, of which the extremes were opposed to each other +as pole is opposed to pole. We have no such variance of creed, no +such radical difference as to the essential rules of life between +parties in our country. We have no such cause for personal rancour +in our Parliament as has existed for some years past in both Houses +of Congress. These two extreme parties were the slave-owners of the +South and the abolitionists of the North and West. Fifty years ago +the former regarded the institution of slavery as a necessity of +their position,--generally as an evil necessity,--and generally also +as a custom to be removed in the course of years. Gradually they have +learned to look upon slavery as good in itself, and to believe that +it has been the source of their wealth and the strength of their +position. They have declared it to be a blessing inalienable,--that +should remain among them for ever,--as an inheritance not to be +touched, and not to be spoken of with hard words. Fifty years ago +the abolitionists of the North differed only in opinion from the +slave-owners of the South in hoping for a speedier end to this stain +upon the nation; and in thinking that some action should be taken +towards the final emancipation of the bondsmen. But they also have +progressed; and as the southern masters have called the institution +blessed, they have called it accursed. Their numbers have increased, +and with their numbers their power and their violence. In this way +two parties have been formed who could not look on each other without +hatred. An intermediate doctrine has been held by men who were nearer +in their sympathies to the slave-owners than to the abolitionists; +but who were not disposed to justify slavery as a thing apart. These +men have been aware that slavery has existed in accordance with the +constitution of their country, and have been willing to attach the +stain which accompanies the institution to the individual State +which entertains it, and not to the national Government, by which +the question has been constitutionally ignored. The men who have +participated in the Government have naturally been inclined towards +the middle doctrine; but as the two extremes have retreated further +from each other, the power of this middle-class of politicians has +decreased. Mr. Lincoln, though he does not now declare himself an +abolitionist, was elected by the abolitionists; and when, as a +consequence of that election, secession was threatened, no step which +he could have taken would have satisfied the South which had opposed +him, and been at the same time true to the North which had chosen +him. But it was possible that his Government might save Maryland, +Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. As Radicals in England become +simple Whigs when they are admitted into public offices, so did Mr. +Lincoln with his government become anti-abolitionist when he entered +on his functions. Had he combated secession with emancipation of +the slaves, no slave State would or could have held by the Union. +Abolition for a lecturer may be a telling subject. It is easy to +bring down rounds of applause by tales of the wrongs of bondage. But +to men in office, abolition was too stern a reality. It signified +servile insurrection, absolute ruin to all southern slave-owners, and +the absolute enmity of every slave State. + +But that task of steering between the two has been very difficult. I +fear that the task of so steering with success is almost impossible. +In England it is thought that Mr. Lincoln might have maintained the +Union by compromising matters with the South,--or if not so, that he +might have maintained peace by yielding to the South. But no such +power was in his hands. While we were blaming him for opposition to +all southern terms, his own friends in the North were saying that +all principle and truth was abandoned for the sake of such States as +Kentucky and Missouri. "Virginia is gone; Maryland cannot go. And +slavery is endured and the new virtue of Washington is made to tamper +with the evil one, in order that a show of loyalty may be preserved +in one or two States which after all are not truly loyal!" That is +the accusation made against the government by the abolitionists; and +that made by us on the other side is the reverse. I believe that +Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to fight, and that he was right +also not to fight with abolition as his battle-cry. That he may be +forced by his own friends into that cry, is, I fear, still possible. +Kentucky at any rate did not secede in bulk. She still sent her +senators to Congress, and allowed herself to be reckoned among +the stars in the American firmament. But she could not escape the +presence of the war. Did she remain loyal or did she secede, that was +equally her fate. + +The day before I entered Kentucky a battle was fought in that State, +which gave to the northern arms their first actual victory. It was at +a place called Mill Spring, near Somerset, towards the south of the +State. General Zollicoffer, with a Confederate army, numbering, it +was supposed, some eight thousand men, had advanced upon a smaller +Federal force, commanded by General Thomas, and had been himself +killed, while his army was cut to pieces and dispersed; the cannon +of the Confederates were taken, and their camp seized and destroyed. +Their rout was complete; but in this instance again the advancing +party had been beaten, as had, I believe, been the case in all the +actions hitherto fought throughout the war. Here, however, had been +an actual victory, and it was not surprising that in Kentucky loyal +men should rejoice greatly, and begin to hope that the Confederates +would be beaten out of the State. Unfortunately, however, General +Zollicoffer's army had only been an offshoot from the main rebel army +in Kentucky. Buell, commanding the Federal troops at Louisville, and +Sydney Johnston, the Confederate General, at Bowling Green, as yet +remained opposite to each other, and the work was still to be done. + +I visited the little towns of Lexington and Frankfort, in Kentucky. +At the former I found in the hotel to which I went seventy-five +teamsters belonging to the army. They were hanging about the great +hall when I entered, and clustering round the stove in the middle +of the chamber;--a dirty, rough, quaint set of men, clothed in a +wonderful variety of garbs, but not disorderly or loud. The landlord +apologized for their presence, alleging that other accommodation +could not be found for them in the town. He received, he said, a +dollar a day for feeding them, and for supplying them with a place in +which they could lie down. It did not pay him,--but what could he do? +Such an apology from an American landlord was in itself a surprising +fact. Such high functionaries are, as a rule, men inclined to tell +a traveller that if he does not like the guests among whom he finds +himself, he may go elsewhere. But this landlord had as yet filled the +place for not more than two or three weeks, and was unused to the +dignity of his position. While I was at supper, the seventy-five +teamsters were summoned into the common eating-room by a loud gong, +and sat down to their meal at the public table. They were very dirty; +I doubt whether I ever saw dirtier men; but they were orderly and +well-behaved, and but for their extreme dirt might have passed as the +ordinary occupants of a well-filled hotel in the West. Such men, in +the States, are less clumsy with their knives and forks, less astray +in an unused position, more intelligent in adapting themselves to a +new life than are Englishmen of the same rank. It is always the same +story. With us there is no level of society. Men stand on a long +staircase, but the crowd congregates near the bottom, and the lower +steps are very broad. In America men stand upon a common platform, +but the platform is raised above the ground, though it does not +approach in height the top of our staircase. If we take the average +altitude in the two countries, we shall find that the American heads +are the more elevated of the two. I conceived rather an affection for +those dirty teamsters; they answered me civilly when I spoke to them, +and sat in quietness, smoking their pipes, with a dull and dirty, but +orderly demeanour. + +The country about Lexington is called the Blue Grass Region, and +boasts itself as of peculiar fecundity in the matter of pasturage. +Why the grass is called blue, and or in what way or at what period +it becomes blue, I did not learn; but the country is very lovely and +very fertile. Between Lexington and Frankfort a large stock farm, +extending over three thousand acres, is kept by a gentleman, who +is very well known as a breeder of horses, cattle, and sheep. He +has spent much money on it, and is making for himself a Kentucky +elysium. He was kind enough to entertain me for a while, and showed +me something of country life in Kentucky. A farm in that part of the +State depends, and must depend, chiefly on slave-labour. The slaves +are a material part of the estate, and as they are regarded by the +law as real property--being actually adstricti glebæ--an inheritor +of land has no alternative but to keep them. A gentleman in Kentucky +does not sell his slaves. To do so is considered to be low and +mean, and is opposed to the aristocratic traditions of the country. +A man who does so willingly, puts himself beyond the pale of +good-fellowship with his neighbours. A sale of slaves is regarded +as a sign almost of bankruptcy. If a man cannot pay his debts, his +creditors can step in and sell his slaves; but he does not himself +make the sale. When a man owns more slaves than he needs, he hires +them out by the year; and when he requires more than he owns, he +takes them on hire by the year. Care is taken in such hirings not to +remove a married man away from his home. The price paid for a negro's +labour at the time of my visit was about a hundred dollars, or twenty +pounds, for the year; but this price was then extremely low in +consequence of the war disturbances. The usual price had been about +fifty or sixty per cent. above this. The man who takes the negro on +hire feeds him, clothes him, provides him with a bed, and supplies +him with medical attendance. I went into some of their cottages on +the estate which I visited, and was not in the least surprised to +find them preferable in size, furniture, and all material comforts +to the dwellings of most of our own agricultural labourers. Any +comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky slave and an +English ditcher and delver would be preposterous. The Kentucky slave +never wants for clothing fitted to the weather. He eats meat twice +a day, and has three good meals; he knows no limit but his own +appetite; his work is light; he has many varieties of amusement; +he has instant medical assistance at all periods of necessity for +himself, his wife, and his children. Of course he pays no rent, fears +no baker, and knows no hunger. I would not have it supposed that +I conceive slavery with all these comforts to be equal to freedom +without them; nor do I conceive that the negro can be made equal to +the white man. But in discussing the condition of the negro, it is +necessary that we should understand what are the advantages of which +abolition would deprive him, and in what condition he has been placed +by the daily receipt of such advantages. If a negro slave wants new +shoes, he asks for them, and receives them, with the undoubting +simplicity of a child. Such a state of things has its picturesquely +patriarchal side; but what would be the state of such a man if he +were emancipated to-morrow? + +The natural beauty of the place which I was visiting was very great. +The trees were fine and well-scattered over the large, park-like +pastures, and the ground was broken on every side into hills. There +was perhaps too much timber, but my friend seemed to think that that +fault would find a natural remedy only too quickly. "I do not like to +cut down trees if I can help it," he said. After that I need not say +that my host was quite as much an Englishman as an American. To the +purely American farmer a tree is simply an enemy to be trodden under +foot, and buried underground, or reduced to ashes and thrown to the +winds with what most economical despatch may be possible. If water +had been added to the landscape here it would have been perfect, +regarding it as ordinary English park-scenery. But the little rivers +at this place have a dirty trick of burying themselves under the +ground. They go down suddenly into holes, disappearing from the upper +air, and then come up again at the distance of perhaps half a mile. +Unfortunately their periods of seclusion are more prolonged than +those of their upper-air distance. There were three or four such +ascents and descents about the place. + +My host was a breeder of race-horses, and had imported sires from +England; of sheep also, and had imported famous rams; of cattle too, +and was great in bulls. He was very loud in praise of Kentucky and +its attractions, if only this war could be brought to an end. But I +could not obtain from him an assurance that the speculation in which +he was engaged had been profitable. Ornamental farming in England +is a very pretty amusement for a wealthy man, but I fancy,--without +intending any slight on Mr. Mechi,--that the amusement is expensive. +I believe that the same thing may be said of it in a slave State. + +Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky, and is as quietly dull a little +town as I ever entered. It is on the river Kentucky, and as the +grounds about it on every side rise in wooded hills, it is a very +pretty place. In January it was very pretty, but in summer it must +be lovely. I was taken up to the cemetery there by a path along the +river, and am inclined to say that it is the sweetest resting-place +for the dead that I have ever visited. Daniel Boone lies there. +He was the first white man who settled in Kentucky; or rather, +perhaps, the first who entered Kentucky with a view to a white man's +settlement. Such frontier men as was Daniel Boone never remained long +contented with the spots they opened. As soon as he had left his mark +in that territory he went again further west over the big rivers into +Missouri, and there he died. But the men of Kentucky are proud of +Daniel Boone, and so they have buried him in the loveliest spot they +could select, immediately over the river. Frankfort is worth a visit, +if only that this grave and graveyard may be seen. The legislature of +the State was not sitting when I was there, and the grass was growing +in the streets. + +Louisville is the commercial city of the State, and stands on the +Ohio. It is another great town, like all the others, built with high +stores, and great houses and stone-faced blocks. I have no doubt that +all the building speculations have been failures, and that the men +engaged in them were all ruined. But there, as the result of their +labour, stands a fair great city on the southern banks of the Ohio. +Here General Buell held his head-quarters, but his army lay at a +distance. On my return from the West I visited one of the camps of +this army, and will speak of it as I speak of my backward journey. I +had already at this time begun to conceive an opinion that the armies +in Kentucky and in Missouri would do at any rate as much for the +northern cause as that of the Potomac, of which so much more had been +heard in England. + +While I was at Louisville the Ohio was flooded. It had begun to rise +when I was at Cincinnati, and since then had gone on increasing +hourly, rising inch by inch up into the towns upon its bank. I +visited two suburbs of Louisville, both of which were submerged, as +to the streets and ground-floors of the houses. At Shipping Port, +one of these suburbs, I saw the women and children clustering in the +up-stairs room, while the men were going about in punts and wherries, +collecting drift wood from the river for their winter's firing. In +some places bedding and furniture had been brought over to the high +ground, and the women were sitting, guarding their little property. +That village, amidst the waters, was a sad sight to see; but I heard +no complaints. There was no tearing of hair and no gnashing of teeth; +no bitter tears or moans of sorrow. The men who were not at work +in the boats stood loafing about in clusters, looking at the still +rising river; but each seemed to be personally indifferent to the +matter. When the house of an American is carried down the river, he +builds himself another;--as he would get himself a new coat when his +old coat became unserviceable. But he never laments or moans for such +a loss. Surely there is no other people so passive under personal +misfortune! + +Going from Louisville up to St. Louis, I crossed the Ohio river and +passed through parts of Indiana and of Illinois, and striking the +Mississippi opposite St. Louis, crossed that river also, and then +entered the State of Missouri. The Ohio was, as I have said, flooded, +and we went over it at night. The boat had been moored at some +unaccustomed place. There was no light. The road was deep in mud up +to the axle-tree, and was crowded with waggons and carts, which in +the darkness of the night seemed to have stuck there. But the man +drove his four horses through it all, and into the ferry-boat, over +its side. There were three or four such omnibuses, and as many +waggons, as to each of which I predicted in my own mind some fatal +catastrophe. But they were all driven on to the boat in the dark, +the horses mixing in through each other in a chaos which would have +altogether incapacitated any English coachman. And then the vessel +laboured across the flood, going sideways, and hardly keeping her +own against the stream. But we did get over, and were all driven +out again, up to the railway station in safety. On reaching the +Mississippi about the middle of the next day, we found it frozen +over, or rather covered from side to side with blocks of ice which +had forced its way down the river, so that the steam ferry could not +reach its proper landing. I do not think that we in England would +have attempted the feat of carrying over horses and carriages under +stress of such circumstances. But it was done here. Huge plankings +were laid down over the ice, and omnibuses and waggons were driven +on. In getting out again, these vehicles, each with four horses, had +to be twisted about, and driven in and across the vessel, and turned +in spaces to look at which would have broken the heart of an English +coachman. And then with a spring they were driven up a bank as steep +as a ladder! Ah me! under what mistaken illusions have I not laboured +all the days of my youth, in supposing that no man could drive four +horses well but an English stage-coachman? I have seen performances +in America,--and in Italy and France also, but above all in +America,--which would have made the hair of any English professional +driver stand on end. + +And in this way I entered St. Louis. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MISSOURI. + + +Missouri is a slave State lying to the west of the Mississippi and to +the north of Arkansas. It forms a portion of the territory ceded by +France to the United States in 1803. Indeed, it is difficult to say +how large a portion of the continent of North America is supposed to +be included in that territory. It contains the States of Louisiana, +Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas, as also the present Indian territory; +but it also is said to have contained all the land lying back from +them to the Rocky Mountains, Utah, Nebraska, and Dacotah, and forms +no doubt the widest dominion ever ceded by one nationality to +another. + +Missouri lies exactly north of the old Missouri compromise line, +that is, 36 30 north. When the Missouri compromise was made it was +arranged that Missouri should be a slave State, but that no other +State north of the 36 30 line should ever become slave soil. Kentucky +and Virginia, as also of course Maryland and Delaware, four of the +old slave States, were already north of that line; but the compromise +was intended to prevent the advance of slavery in the north-west. The +compromise has been since annulled, on the ground, I believe, that +Congress had not constitutionally the power to declare that any soil +should be free, or that any should be slave soil. That is a question +to be decided by the States themselves, as each individual State may +please. So the compromise was repealed. But slavery has not on that +account advanced. The battle has been fought in Kansas, and after a +long and terrible struggle, Kansas has come out of the fight as a +free State. Kansas is in the same parallel of latitude as Virginia, +and stretches west as far as the Rocky Mountains. + +When the census of the population of Missouri was taken in 1860, the +slaves amounted to 10 per cent. of the whole number. In the Gulf +States the slave population is about 45 per cent. of the whole. In +the three border States of Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland, the +slaves amount to 30 per cent. of the whole population. From these +figures it will be seen that Missouri, which is comparatively a new +slave State, has not gone a-head with slavery as the old slave States +have done, although from its position and climate, lying as far south +as Virginia, it might seem to have had the same reasons for doing so. +I think there is every reason to believe that slavery will die out in +Missouri. The institution is not popular with the people generally; +and as white labour becomes abundant,--and before the war it was +becoming abundant,--men recognize the fact that the white man's +labour is the more profitable. The heat in this State, in midsummer, +is very great, especially in the valleys of the rivers. At St. Louis, +on the Mississippi, it reaches commonly to 90 degrees, and very +frequently goes above that. The nights moreover are nearly as hot as +the days; but this great heat does not last for any very long period, +and it seems that white men are able to work throughout the year. If +correspondingly severe weather in winter affords any compensation to +the white man for what of heat he endures during the summer, I can +testify that such compensation is to be found in Missouri. When I was +there we were afflicted with a combination of snow, sleet, frost, and +wind, with a mixture of ice and mud, that makes me regard Missouri as +the most inclement land into which I ever penetrated. + +St. Louis, on the Mississippi, is the great town of Missouri, and is +considered by the Missourians to be the star of the West. It is not +to be beaten in population, wealth, or natural advantages by any +other city so far west; but it has not increased with such rapidity +as Chicago, which is considerably to the north of it on Lake +Michigan. Of the great western cities I regard Chicago as the most +remarkable, seeing that St. Louis was a large town before Chicago had +been founded. + +The population of St. Louis is 170,000. Of this number only 2000 are +slaves. I was told that a large proportion of the slaves of Missouri +are employed near the Missouri river in breaking hemp. The growth of +hemp is very profitably carried on in that valley, and the labour +attached to it is one which white men do not like to encounter. +Slaves are not generally employed in St. Louis for domestic service, +as is done almost universally in the towns of Kentucky. This work +is chiefly in the hands of Irish and Germans. Considerably above +one-third of the population of the whole city is made up of these two +nationalities. So much is confessed; but if I were to form an opinion +from the language I heard in the streets of the town, I should say +that nearly every man was either an Irishman or a German. + +St. Louis has none of the aspects of a slave city. I cannot say that +I found it an attractive place, but then I did not visit it at an +attractive time. The war had disturbed everything, given a special +colour of its own to men's thoughts and words, and destroyed all +interest except that which might proceed from itself. The town is +well built, with good shops, straight streets, never-ending rows of +excellent houses, and every sign of commercial wealth and domestic +comfort,--of commercial wealth and domestic comfort in the past, for +there was no present appearance either of comfort or of wealth. The +new hotel here was to be bigger than all the hotels of all other +towns. It is built, and is an enormous pile, and would be handsome +but for a terribly ambitious Grecian doorway. It is built, as far +as the walls and roof are concerned, but in all other respects is +unfinished. I was told that the shares of the original stockholders +were now worth nothing. A shareholder, who so told me, seemed to +regard this as the ordinary course of business. + +The great glory of the town is the "levée," as it is called, or the +long river beach up to which the steamers are brought with their bows +to the shore. It is an esplanade looking on to the river, not built +with quays or wharves, as would be the case with us, but with a +sloping bank running down to the water. In the good days of peace a +hundred vessels were to be seen here, each with its double funnels. +The line of them seemed to be never ending even when I was there, but +then a very large proportion of them were lying idle. They resemble +huge wooden houses, apparently of frail architecture, floating upon +the water. Each has its double row of balconies running round it, and +the lower or ground floor is open throughout. The upper stories are +propped and supported on ugly sticks and ricketty-looking beams; so +that the first appearance does not convey any great idea of security +to a stranger. They are always painted white and the paint is +always very dirty. When they begin to move, they moan and groan in +melancholy tones which are subversive of all comfort; and as they +continue on their courses they puff and bluster, and are for ever +threatening to burst and shatter themselves to pieces. There they lie +in a continuous line nearly a mile in length along the levée of St. +Louis, dirty, dingy, and now, alas, mute. They have ceased to groan +and puff, and if this war be continued for six months longer, will +become rotten and useless as they lie. + +They boast at St. Louis that they command 46,000 miles of navigable +river water, counting the great rivers up and down from that place. +These rivers are chiefly the Mississippi, the Missouri and Ohio which +fall into the Mississippi near St. Louis, the Platte and Kansas +rivers--tributaries of the Missouri, the Illinois, and the Wisconsin. +All these are open to steamers, and all of them traverse regions rich +in corn, in coal, in metals, or in timber. These ready-made highways +of the world centre, as it were, at St. Louis, and make it the depôt +of the carrying trade of all that vast country. Minnesota is 1500 +miles above New Orleans, but the wheat of Minnesota can be brought +down the whole distance without change of the vessel in which it is +first deposited. It would seem to be impossible that a country so +blessed should not become rich. It must be remembered that these +rivers flow through lands that have never yet been surpassed in +natural fertility. Of all countries in the world one would say that +the States of America should have been the last to curse themselves +with a war; but now the curse has fallen upon them with a double +vengeance. It would seem that they could never be great in war: their +very institutions forbid it; their enormous distances forbid it; the +price of labour forbids it; and it is forbidden also by the career of +industry and expansion which has been given to them. But the curse of +fighting has come upon them, and they are showing themselves to be +as eager in the works of war as they have shown themselves capable +in the works of peace. Men and angels must weep as they behold the +things that are being done, as they watch the ruin that has come and +is still coming, as they look on commerce killed and agriculture +suspended. No sight so sad has come upon the earth in our days. +They were a great people; feeding the world, adding daily to the +mechanical appliances of mankind, increasing in population beyond all +measures of such increase hitherto known, and extending education +as fast as they extended their numbers. Poverty had as yet found no +place among them, and hunger was an evil of which they had read, but +were themselves ignorant. Each man among their crowds had a right +to be proud of his manhood. To read and write,--I am speaking here +of the North,--was as common as to eat and drink. To work was no +disgrace, and the wages of work were plentiful. To live without work +was the lot of none. What blessing above these blessings was needed +to make a people great and happy? And now a stranger visiting them +would declare that they are wallowing in a very slough of despond. +The only trade open is the trade of war. The axe of the woodsman is +at rest; the plough is idle; the artificer has closed his shop. The +roar of the foundry is still heard because cannon are needed, and +the river of molten iron comes out as an implement of death. The +stone-cutter's hammer and the mason's trowel are never heard. The +gold of the country is hiding itself as though it had returned to its +mother-earth, and the infancy of a paper currency has been commenced. +Sick soldiers, who have never seen a battlefield, are dying by +hundreds in the squalid dirt of their unaccustomed camps. Men and +women talk of war, and of war only. Newspapers full of the war +are alone read. A contract for war stores,--too often a dishonest +contract,--is the one path open for commercial enterprise. The +young man must go to the war or he is disgraced. The war swallows +everything, and as yet has failed to produce even such bitter fruits +as victory or glory. Must it not be said that a curse has fallen upon +the land? + +And yet I still hope that it may ultimately be for good. Through +water and fire must a nation be cleansed of its faults. It has been +so with all nations, though the phases of their trials have been +different. It did not seem to be well with us in Cromwell's early +days; nor was it well with us afterwards in those disgraceful years +of the later Stuarts. We know how France was bathed in blood in her +effort to rid herself of her painted sepulchre of an ancient throne; +how Germany was made desolate, in order that Prussia might become a +nation. Ireland was poor and wretched, till her famine came. Men said +it was a curse, but that curse has been her greatest blessing. And so +will it be here in the West. I could not but weep in spirit as I saw +the wretchedness around me,--the squalid misery of the soldiers, the +inefficiency of their officers, the bickerings of their rulers, the +noise and threats, the dirt and ruin, the terrible dishonesty of +those who were trusted! These are things which made a man wish that +he were anywhere but there. But I do believe that God is still over +all, and that everything is working for good. These things are the +fire and water through which this nation must pass. The course of +this people had been too straight, and their ways had been too +pleasant. That which to others had been ever difficult had been made +easy for them. Bread and meat had come to them as things of course, +and they hardly remembered to be thankful. "We ourselves have done +it," they declared aloud. "We are not as other men. We are gods upon +the earth. Whose arm shall be long enough to stay us, or whose bolt +shall be strong enough to strike us?" + +Now they are stricken sore, and the bolt is from their own bow. Their +own hands have raised the barrier that has stayed them. They have +stumbled in their running, and are lying hurt upon the ground; while +they who have heard their boastings turn upon them with ridicule, and +laugh at them in their discomforture. They are rolling in the mire, +and cannot take the hand of any man to help them. Though the hand +of the bystander may be stretched to them, his face is scornful and +his voice full of reproaches. Who has not known that hour of misery +when in the sullenness of the heart all help has been refused, and +misfortune has been made welcome to do her worst? So is it now with +those once United States. The man who can see without inward tears +the self-inflicted wounds of that American people can hardly have +within his bosom the tenderness of an Englishman's heart. + +But the strong runner will rise again to his feet, even though he +be stunned by his fall. He will rise again, and will have learned +something by his sorrow. His anger will pass away, and he will again +brace himself for his work. What great race has ever been won by any +man, or by any nation, without some such fall during its course? Have +we not all declared that some check to that career was necessary? +Men in their pursuit of intelligence had forgotten to be honest; in +struggling for greatness they had discarded purity. The nation has +been great, but the statesmen of the nation have been little. Men +have hardly been ambitious to govern, but they have coveted the wages +of governors. Corruption has crept into high places,--into places +that should have been high,--till of all holes and corners in the +land they have become the lowest. No public man has been trusted for +ordinary honesty. It is not by foreign voices, by English newspapers +or in French pamphlets, that the corruption of American politicians +has been exposed, but by American voices and by the American press. +It is to be heard on every side. Ministers of the cabinet, senators, +representatives, State legislatures, officers of the army, officials +of the navy, contractors of every grade,--all who are presumed to +touch, or to have the power of touching public money, are thus +accused. For years it has been so. The word politician has stunk +in men's nostrils. When I first visited New York, some three years +since, I was warned not to know a man, because he was a "politician." +We in England define a man of a certain class as a black-leg. How has +it come about that in American ears the word politician has come to +bear a similar signification? + +The material growth of the States has been so quick, that the +political growth has not been able to keep pace with it. In commerce, +in education, in all municipal arrangements, in mechanical skill, and +also in professional ability, the country has stalked on with amazing +rapidity; but in the art of governing, in all political management +and detail, it has made no advance. The merchants of our country and +of that country have for many years met on terms of perfect equality, +but it has never been so with their statesmen and our statesmen, with +their diplomatists and our diplomatists. Lombard Street and Wall +Street can do business with each other on equal footing, but it is +not so between Downing Street and the State-office at Washington. The +science of statesmanship has yet to be learned in the States,--and +certainly the highest lesson of that science, which teaches that +honesty is the best policy. + +I trust that the war will have left such a lesson behind it. If it +do so, let the cost in money be what it may, that money will not +have been wasted. If the American people can learn the necessity +of employing their best men for their highest work,--if they +can recognize these honest men and trust them when they are so +recognized,--then they may become as great in politics as they have +become great in commerce and in social institutions. + +St. Louis, and indeed the whole State of Missouri, was at the time of +my visit under martial law. General Halleck was in command, holding +his head-quarters at St. Louis, and carrying out, at any rate as +far as the city was concerned, what orders he chose to issue. I +am disposed to think that, situated as Missouri then was, martial +law was the best law. No other law could have had force in a town +surrounded by soldiers, and in which half of the inhabitants were +loyal to the existing Government, and half of them were in favour of +rebellion. The necessity for such power is terrible, and the power +itself in the hands of one man must be full of danger; but even that +is better than anarchy. I will not accuse General Halleck of abusing +his power, seeing that it is hard to determine what is the abuse of +such power and what its proper use. When we were at St. Louis a tax +was being gathered of £100 a head from certain men presumed to be +secessionists, and as the money was not of course very readily paid, +the furniture of these suspected secessionists was being sold by +auction. No doubt such a measure was by them regarded as a great +abuse. One gentleman informed me that, in addition to this, certain +houses of his had been taken by the Government at a fixed rent, and +that the payment of the rent was now refused unless he would take +the oath of allegiance. He no doubt thought that an abuse of power! +But the worst abuse of such power comes not at first, but with long +usage. + +Up to the time however at which I was at St. Louis, martial law had +chiefly been used in closing grog-shops and administering the oath of +allegiance to suspected secessionists. Something also had been done +in the way of raising money by selling the property of convicted +secessionists; and while I was there eight men were condemned to be +shot for destroying railway bridges. "But will they be shot?" I asked +of one of the officers. "Oh, yes. It will be done quietly, and no one +will know anything about it. We shall get used to that kind of thing +presently." And the inhabitants of Missouri were becoming used to +martial law. It is surprising how quickly a people can reconcile +themselves to altered circumstances, when the change comes upon them +without the necessity of any expressed opinion on their own part. +Personal freedom has been considered as necessary to the American +of the States as the air he breathes. Had any suggestion been made +to him of a suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, of a +censorship of the press, or of martial law, the American would +have declared his willingness to die on the floor of the House of +Representatives, and have proclaimed with ten million voices his +inability to live under circumstances so subversive of his rights as +a man. And he would have thoroughly believed the truth of his own +assertions. Had a chance been given of an argument on the matter, of +stump speeches, and caucus meetings, these things could never have +been done. But as it is, Americans are, I think, rather proud of the +suspension of the habeas corpus. They point with gratification to the +uniformly loyal tone of the newspapers, remarking that any editor who +should dare to give even a secession squeak, would immediately find +himself shut up. And now nothing but good is spoken of martial law. I +thought it a nuisance when I was prevented by soldiers from trotting +my horse down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, but I was assured +by Americans that such restrictions were very serviceable in a +community. At St. Louis martial law was quite popular. Why should not +General Halleck be as well able to say what was good for the people +as any law or any lawyer? He had no interest in the injury of the +State, but every interest in its preservation. "But what," I asked, +"would be the effect were he to tell you to put out all your fires +at eight o'clock?" "If he were so to order, we should do it; but we +know that he will not." But who does know to what General Halleck or +other generals may come; or how soon a curfew-bell may be ringing in +American towns? The winning of liberty is long and tedious, but the +losing it is a downhill easy journey. + +It was here, in St. Louis, that General Fremont had held his military +court. He was a great man here during those hundred days through +which his command lasted. He lived in a great house, had a bodyguard, +was inaccessible as a great man should be, and fared sumptuously +every day. He fortified the city,--or rather, he began to do so. +He constructed barracks here, and instituted military prisons. The +fortifications have been discontinued as useless, but the barracks +and the prisons remain. In the latter there were 1200 secessionist +soldiers who had been taken in the State of Missouri. "Why are they +not exchanged?" I asked. "Because they are not exactly soldiers," +I was informed. "The secessionists do not acknowledge them." "Then +would it not be cheaper to let them go?" "No," said my informant; +"because in that case we should have to catch them again." And so the +1200 remain in their wretched prison,--thinned from week to week and +from day to day by prison disease and prison death. + +I went out twice to Benton barracks, as the camp of wooden huts was +called, which General Fremont had erected near the fair-ground of the +city. This fair-ground, I was told, had been a pleasant place. It had +been constructed for the recreation of the city, and for the purpose +of periodical agricultural exhibitions. There is still in it a pretty +ornamented cottage, and in the little garden a solitary Cupid stood +dismayed by the dirt and ruin around him. In the fair-green are the +round buildings intended for show cattle and agricultural implements, +but now given up to cavalry horses and Parrott guns. But Benton +barracks are outside the fair-green. Here on an open space, some +half-mile in length, two long rows of wooden sheds have been built, +opposite to each other, and behind them are other sheds used for +stabling and cooking-places. Those in front are divided, not into +separate huts, but into chambers capable of containing nearly two +hundred men each. They were surrounded on the inside by great wooden +trays, in three tiers,--and on each tray four men were supposed to +sleep. I went into one or two while the crowd of soldiers was in +them, but found it inexpedient to stay there long. The stench of +those places was foul beyond description. Never in my life before had +I been in a place so horrid to the eyes and nose as Benton barracks. +The path along the front outside was deep in mud. The whole space +between the two rows of sheds was one field of mud, so slippery that +the foot could not stand. Inside and outside every spot was deep +in mud. The soldiers were mud-stained from foot to sole. These +volunteer soldiers are in their nature dirty, as must be all men +brought together in numerous bodies without special appliances for +cleanliness, or control and discipline as to their personal habits. +But the dirt of the men in the Benton barracks surpassed any dirt +that I had hitherto seen. Nor could it have been otherwise with them. +They were surrounded by a sea of mud, and the foul hovels in which +they were made to sleep and live were fetid with stench and reeking +with filth. I had at this time been joined by another Englishman, +and we went through this place together. When we inquired as to the +health of the men, we heard the saddest tales,--of three hundred men +gone out of one regiment, of whole companies that had perished, of +hospitals crowded with fevered patients. Measles had been the great +scourge of the soldiers here,--as it had also been in the army of the +Potomac. I shall not soon forget my visits to Benton barracks. It may +be that our own soldiers were as badly treated in the Crimea; or that +French soldiers were treated worse on their march into Russia. It +may be that dirt, and wretchedness, disease and listless idleness, +a descent from manhood to habits lower than those of the beasts, +are necessary in warfare. I have sometimes thought that it is so; +but I am no military critic and will not say. This I say,--that the +degradation of men to the state in which I saw the American soldiers +in Benton barracks, is disgraceful to humanity. + +General Halleck was at this time commanding in Missouri, and was +himself stationed at St. Louis; but his active measures against the +rebels were going on to the right and to the left. On the left shore +of the Mississippi, at Cairo, in Illinois, a fleet of gun-boats was +being prepared to go down the river, and on the right an army was +advancing against Springfield, in the south-western district of +Missouri, with the object of dislodging Price, the rebel guerilla +leader there, and, if possible, of catching him. Price had been the +opponent of poor General Lyon who was killed at Wilson's Creek, near +Springfield, and of General Fremont, who during his hundred days +had failed to drive him out of the State. This duty had now been +intrusted to General Curtis, who had for some time been holding his +head-quarters at Rolla, halfway between St. Louis and Springfield. +Fremont had built a fort at Rolla, and it had become a military +station. Over 10,000 men had been there at one time, and now General +Curtis was to advance from Rolla against Price with something +above that number of men. Many of them, however, had already gone +on, and others were daily being sent up from St. Louis. Under +these circumstances my friend and I, fortified with a letter of +introduction to General Curtis, resolved to go and see the army at +Rolla. + +On our way down by the railway we encountered a young German officer, +an aide-de-camp of the Federals, and under his auspices we saw Rolla +to advantage. Our companions in the railway were chiefly soldiers +and teamsters. The car was crowded and filled with tobacco smoke, +apple peel, and foul air. In these cars during the winter there +is always a large lighted stove, a stove that might cook all the +dinners for a French hotel, and no window is ever opened. Among our +fellow-travellers there was here and there a west-country Missouri +farmer going down, under the protection of the advancing army, +to look after the remains of his chattels,--wild, dark, uncouth, +savage-looking men. One such hero I specially remember, as to whom +the only natural remark would be that one would not like to meet him +alone on a dark night. He was burly and big, unwashed and rough, +with a black beard, shorn some two months since. He had sharp, angry +eyes, and sat silent, picking his teeth with a bowie knife. I met him +afterwards at the Rolla hotel, and found that he was a gentleman of +property near Springfield. He was mild and meek as a sucking dove, +asked my advice as to the state of his affairs, and merely guessed +that things had been pretty rough with him. Things had been pretty +rough with him. The rebels had come upon his land. House, fences, +stock, and crop were all gone. His homestead had been made a ruin, +and his farm had been turned into a wilderness. Everything was gone. +He had carried his wife and children off to Illinois, and had now +returned, hoping that he might get on in the wake of the army till +he could see the debris of his property. But even he did not seem +disturbed. He did not bemoan himself or curse his fate. "Things were +pretty rough," he said; and that was all that he did say. + +It was dark when we got into Rolla. Everything had been covered with +snow, and everywhere the snow was frozen. We had heard that there +was an hotel, and that possibly we might get a bedroom there. We +were first taken to a wooden building, which we were told was the +head-quarters of the army, and in one room we found a colonel with +a lot of soldiers loafing about, and in another a provost-marshal +attended by a newspaper correspondent. We were received with open +arms, and a suggestion was at once made that we were no doubt +picking up news for European newspapers. "Air you a son of the Mrs. +Trollope?" said the correspondent. "Then, sir, you are an accession +to Rolla." Upon which I was made to sit down, and invited to "loaf +about" at the head-quarters as long as I might remain at Rolla. +Shortly, however, there came on a violent discussion about waggons. +A general had come in and wanted all the colonel's waggons, but the +colonel swore that he had none, declared how bitterly he was impeded +with sick men, and became indignant and reproachful. It was Brutus +and Cassius again; and as we felt ourselves in the way, and anxious +moreover to ascertain what might be the nature of the Rolla hotel, we +took up our heavy portmanteaux--for they were heavy--and with a guide +to show us the way, started off through the dark and over the hill up +to our inn. I shall never forget that walk. It was up hill and down +hill, with an occasional half-frozen stream across it. My friend +was impeded with an enormous cloak lined with fur, which in itself +was a burden for a coalheaver. Our guide, who was a clerk out of +the colonel's office, carried an umbrella and a small dressing-bag, +but we ourselves manfully shouldered our portmanteaux. Sydney Smith +declared that an Englishman only wasted his time in training himself +for gymnastic aptitudes, seeing that for a shilling he could always +hire a porter. Had Sydney Smith ever been at Rolla he would have +written differently. I could tell at great length how I fell on my +face in the icy snow, how my friend stuck in the frozen mud when +he essayed to jump the stream, and how our guide walked on easily +in advance, encouraging us with his voice from a distance. Why is +it that a stout Englishman bordering on fifty finds himself in +such a predicament as that? No Frenchman, no Italian, no German, +would so place himself, unless under the stress of insurmountable +circumstances. No American would do so under any circumstances. As I +slipped about on the ice and groaned with that terrible fardle on my +back, burdened with a dozen shirts, and a suit of dress clothes, and +three pair of boots, and four or five thick volumes, and a set of +maps, and a box of cigars, and a washing-tub, I confessed to myself +that I was a fool. What was I doing in such a galley as that? Why had +I brought all that useless lumber down to Rolla? Why had I come to +Rolla, with no certain hope even of shelter for a night? But we did +reach the hotel; we did get a room between us with two bedsteads. +And, pondering over the matter in my mind, since that evening, I have +been inclined to think that the stout Englishman is in the right of +it. No American of my age and weight will ever go through what I went +through then; but I am not sure that he does not in his accustomed +career go through worse things even than that. However, if I go to +Rolla again during the war, I will at any rate leave the books behind +me. + +What a night we spent in that inn! They who know America will be +aware that in all hotels there is a free admixture of different +classes. The traveller in Europe may sit down to dinner with his +tailor and shoemaker; but if so, his tailor and shoemaker have +dressed themselves as he dresses, and are prepared to carry +themselves according to a certain standard, which in exterior does +not differ from his own. In the large Eastern cities of the States, +such as Boston, New York, and Washington, a similar practice of life +is gradually becoming prevalent. There are various hotels for various +classes, and the ordinary traveller does not find himself at the same +table with a butcher fresh from the shambles. But in the West there +are no distinctions whatever. "A man's a man for a' that" in the +West, let the "a' that" comprise what it may of coarse attire and +unsophisticated manners. One soon gets used to it. In that inn +at Rolla was a public room, heated in the middle by a stove, and +round that we soon found ourselves seated in a company of soldiers, +farmers, labourers, and teamsters. But there was among them a +general;--not a fighting, or would-be fighting general of the present +time, but one of the old-fashioned local generals,--men who held, +or had once held, some fabulous generalship in the State militia. +There we sat, cheek by jowl with our new friends, till nearly twelve +o'clock, talking politics and discussing the war. The General was +a stanch Unionist, having, according to his own showing, suffered +dreadful things from secessionist persecutors since the rebellion +commenced. As a matter of course everybody present was for the Union. +In such a place one rarely encounters any difference of opinion. +The General was very eager about the war, advocating the immediate +abolition of slavery, not as a means of improving the condition +of the southern slaves, but on the ground that it would ruin the +southern masters. We all sat by, edging in a word now and then, but +the General was the talker of the evening. He was very wrathy, and +swore at every other word. "It was pretty well time," he said, "to +crush out this rebellion, and by ---- it must and should be crushed +out; General Jim Lane was the man to do it, and by ---- General Jim +Lane would do it!" and so on. In all such conversations the time for +action has always just come, and also the expected man. But the time +passes by as other weeks and months have passed before it, and the +new General is found to be no more successful than his brethren. Our +friend was very angry against England. "When we've polished off these +accursed rebels, I guess we'll take a turn at you. You had your turn +when you made us give up Mason and Slidell, and we'll have our turn +by-and-by." But in spite of his dislike to our nation he invited us +warmly to come and see him at his home on the Missouri river. It +was, according to his showing, a new Eden,--a Paradise upon earth. +He seemed to think that we might perhaps desire to buy a location, +and explained to us how readily we could make our fortunes. But he +admitted in the course of his eulogiums that it would be as much as +his life was worth for him to ride out five miles from his own house. +In the meantime the teamsters greased their boots, the soldiers +snored, those who were wet took off their shoes and stockings, +hanging them to dry round the stove, and the western farmers chewed +tobacco in silence and ruminated. At such a house all the guests go +in to their meals together. A gong is sounded on a sudden, close +behind your ears; accustomed as you may probably be to the sound you +jump up from your chair in the agony of the crash, and by the time +that you have collected your thoughts the whole crowd is off in a +general stampede into the eating room. You may as well join them; if +you hesitate as to feeding with so rough a lot of men, you will have +to sit down afterwards with the women and children of the family, and +your lot will then be worse. Among such classes in the western States +the men are always better than the women. The men are dirty and +civil, the women are dirty and uncivil. + +On the following day we visited the camp, going out in an ambulance +and returning on horseback. We were accompanied by the General's +aide-de-camp, and also, to our great gratification, by the General's +daughter. There had been a hard frost for some nights, but though +the cold was very great there was always heat enough in the middle +of the day to turn the surface of the ground into glutinous mud; +consequently we had all the roughness induced by frost, but none of +the usually attendant cleanliness. Indeed, it seemed that in these +parts nothing was so dirty as frost. The mud stuck like paste and +encompassed everything. We heard that morning that from sixty to +seventy baggage-waggons had "broken through," as they called it, and +stuck fast near a river in their endeavour to make their way on to +Lebanon. We encountered two generals of brigade, General Siegel, a +German, and General Ashboth, an Hungarian, both of whom were waiting +till the weather should allow them to advance. They were extremely +courteous, and warmly invited us to go on with them to Lebanon and +Springfield, promising to us such accommodation as they might be able +to obtain for themselves. I was much tempted to accept the offer; but +I found that day after day might pass before any forward movement +was commenced, and that it might be weeks before Springfield or even +Lebanon could be reached. It was my wish, moreover, to see what I +could of the people, rather than to scrutinize the ways of the army. +We dined at the tent of General Ashboth, and afterwards rode his +horses through the camp back to Rolla. I was greatly taken with this +Hungarian gentleman. He was a tall, thin, gaunt man of fifty, a +pure-blooded Magyar as I was told, who had come from his own country +with Kossuth to America. His camp circumstances were not very +luxurious, nor was his table very richly spread; but he received us +with the ease and courtesy of a gentleman. He showed us his sword, +his rifle, his pistols, his chargers, and daguerreotype of a friend +he had loved in his own country. They were all the treasures that he +carried with him,--over and above a chess-board and a set of chessmen +which sorely tempted me to accompany him in his march. + +In my next chapter, which will, I trust, be very short, I purport to +say a few words as to what I saw of the American army, and therefore +I will not now describe the regiments which we visited. The tents +were all encompassed by snow, and the ground on which they stood was +a bed of mud; but yet the soldiers out here were not so wretchedly +forlorn, or apparently so miserably uncomfortable, as those at Benton +barracks. I did not encounter that horrid sickly stench, nor were +the men so pale and wobegone. On the following day we returned to St. +Louis, bringing back with us our friend the German aide-de-camp. I +stayed two days longer in that city, and then I thought that I had +seen enough of Missouri;--enough of Missouri at any rate under the +present circumstances of frost and secession. As regards the people +of the West, I must say that they were not such as I expected to +find them. With the Northerns we are all more or less intimately +acquainted. Those Americans whom we meet in our own country, or on +the Continent, are generally from the North, or if not so they have +that type of American manners which has become familiar to us. They +are talkative, intelligent, inclined to be social, though frequently +not sympathetically social with ourselves; somewhat _soi-disant_, +but almost invariably companionable. As the traveller goes southward +into Maryland and Washington, the type is not altered to any great +extent. The hard intelligence of the Yankee gives place gradually +to the softer, and perhaps more polished manner of the Southern. But +the change thus experienced is not so great as is that between the +American of the western and the American of the Atlantic States. +In the West I found the men gloomy and silent,--I might almost say +sullen. A dozen of them will sit for hours round a stove, speechless. +They chew tobacco and ruminate. They are not offended if you speak to +them, but they are not pleased. They answer with monosyllables, or, +if it be practicable, with a gesture of the head. They care nothing +for the graces,--or shall I say, for the decencies of life? They are +essentially a dirty people. Dirt, untidiness, and noise, seem in +nowise to afflict them. Things are constantly done before your eyes, +which should be done and might be done behind your back. No doubt we +daily come into the closest contact with matters which, if we saw +all that appertains to them, would cause us to shake and shudder. In +other countries we do not see all this, but in the western States we +do. I have eaten in Bedouin tents, and have been ministered to by +Turks and Arabs. I have sojourned in the hotels of old Spain and of +Spanish America. I have lived in Connaught, and have taken up my +quarters with monks of different nations. I have, as it were, been +educated to dirt, and taken out my degree in outward abominations. +But my education had not reached a point which would enable me to +live at my ease in the western States. A man or woman who can do that +may be said to have graduated in the highest honours, and to have +become absolutely invulnerable, either through the sense of touch, +or by the eye, or by the nose. Indifference to appearances is there +a matter of pride. A foul shirt is a flag of triumph. A craving for +soap and water is as the wail of the weak and the confession of +cowardice. This indifference is carried into all their affairs, or +rather this manifestation of indifference. A few pages back, I spoke +of a man whose furniture had been sold to pay a heavy tax raised +on him specially as a secessionist; the same man had also been +refused the payment of rent due to him by the Government, unless he +would take a false oath. I may presume that he was ruined in his +circumstances by the strong hand of the northern army. But he seemed +in nowise to be unhappy about his ruin. He spoke with some scorn of +the martial law in Missouri, but I felt that it was esteemed a small +matter by him that his furniture was seized and sold. No men love +money with more eager love than these western men, but they bear +the loss of it as an Indian bears his torture at the stake. They +are energetic in trade, speculating deeply whenever speculation is +possible; but nevertheless they are slow in motion, loving to loaf +about. They are slow in speech, preferring to sit in silence, with +the tobacco between their teeth. They drink, but are seldom drunk +to the eye; they begin at it early in the morning, and take it in a +solemn, sullen, ugly manner, standing always at a bar; swallowing +their spirits, and saying nothing as they swallow it. They drink +often, and to great excess; but they carry it off without noise, +sitting down and ruminating over it with the everlasting cud within +their jaws. I believe that a stranger might go into the West, and +passing from hotel to hotel through a dozen of them, might sit +for hours at each in the large everlasting public hall, and never +have a word addressed to him. No stranger should travel in the +western States, or indeed in any of the States, without letters of +introduction. It is the custom of the country, and they are easily +procured. Without them everything is barren; for men do not travel in +the States of America as they do in Europe, to see scenery and visit +the marvels of old cities which are open to all the world. The social +and political life of the Americans must constitute the interest +of the traveller, and to these he can hardly make his way without +introductions. + +I cannot part with the West without saying in its favour that there +is a certain manliness about its men, which gives them a dignity +of their own. It is shown in that very indifference of which I +have spoken. Whatever turns up the man is still there,--still +unsophisticated and still unbroken. It has seemed to me that no +race of men requires less outward assistance than these pioneers of +civilization. They rarely amuse themselves. Food, newspapers, and +brandy-smashes suffice for life; and while these last, whatever +may occur, the man is still there in his manhood. The fury of the +mob does not shake him, nor the stern countenance of his present +martial tyrant. Alas! I cannot stick to my text by calling him a +just man. Intelligence, energy, and endurance are his virtues. Dirt, +dishonesty, and morning drinks are his vices. + +All native American women are intelligent. It seems to be their +birthright. In the eastern cities they have, in their upper classes, +superadded womanly grace to this intelligence, and consequently +they are charming as companions. They are beautiful also, and, as +I believe, lack nothing that a lover can desire in his love. But I +cannot fancy myself much in love with a western lady, or rather with +a lady in the West. They are as sharp as nails, but then they are +also as hard. They know, doubtless, all that they ought to know, but +then they know so much more than they ought to know. They are tyrants +to their parents, and never practise the virtue of obedience till +they have half-grown-up daughters of their own. They have faith in +the destiny of their country, if in nothing else; but they believe +that that destiny is to be worked out by the spirit and talent of the +young women. I confess that for me Eve would have had no charms had +she not recognized Adam as her lord. I can forgive her in that she +tempted him to eat the apple. Had she come from the West country she +would have ordered him to make his meal, and then I could not have +forgiven her. + +St. Louis should be, and still will be, a town of great wealth. To no +city can have been given more means of riches. I have spoken of the +enormous mileage of water-communication of which she is the centre. +The country around her produces Indian corn, wheat, grasses, hemp, +and tobacco. Coal is dug even within the boundaries of the city, and +iron-mines are worked at a distance from it of a hundred miles. The +iron is so pure, that it is broken off in solid blocks, almost free +from alloy; and as the metal stands up on the earth's surface in the +guise almost of a gigantic metal pillar, instead of lying low within +its bowels, it is worked at a cheap rate, and with great certainty. +Nevertheless, at the present moment, the iron-works of Pilot Knob, as +the place is called, do not pay. As far as I could learn, nothing did +pay, except government contracts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD. + + +To whatever period of life my days may be prolonged, I do not think +that I shall ever forget Cairo. I do not mean Grand Cairo, which is +also memorable in its way, and a place not to be forgotten,--but +Cairo in the State of Illinois, which by native Americans is always +called Caaro. An idea is prevalent in the States, and I think I have +heard the same broached in England, that a popular British author had +Cairo, State of Illinois, in his eye when under the name of Eden he +depicted a chosen, happy spot on the Mississippi river, and told us +how certain English emigrants fixed themselves in that locality, and +there made light of those little ills of life which are incident to +humanity even in the garden of the valley of the Mississippi. But I +doubt whether that author ever visited Cairo in mid-winter, and I +am sure that he never visited Cairo when Cairo was the seat of an +American army. Had he done so, his love of truth would have forbidden +him to presume that even Mark Tapley could have enjoyed himself in +such an Eden. + +I had no wish myself to go to Cairo, having heard it but +indifferently spoken of by all men; but my friend with whom I was +travelling was peremptory in the matter. He had heard of gun-boats +and mortar-boats, of forts built upon the river, of Columbiads, +Dahlgrens, and Parrotts, of all the pomps and circumstance of +glorious war, and entertained an idea that Cairo was the nucleus or +pivot of all really strategetic movements in this terrible national +struggle. Under such circumstances I was as it were forced to go to +Cairo, and bore myself, under the circumstances, as much like Mark +Tapley as my nature would permit. I was not jolly while I was there +certainly, but I did not absolutely break down and perish in its mud. + +Cairo is the southern terminus of the Illinois central railway. There +is but one daily arrival there, namely, at half-past four in the +morning, and but one despatch, which is at half-past three in the +morning. Everything is thus done to assist that view of life which +Mark Tapley took when he resolved to ascertain under what possible +worst circumstances of existence he could still maintain his jovial +character. Why anybody should ever arrive at Cairo at half-past four +A.M., I cannot understand. The departure at any hour is easy of +comprehension. The place is situated exactly at the point at which +the Ohio and the Mississippi meet, and is, I should say, merely +guessing on the matter, some ten or twelve feet lower than the +winter level of the two rivers. This gives it naturally a depressed +appearance, which must have much aided Mark Tapley in his endeavours. +Who were the founders of Cairo I have never ascertained. They are +probably buried fathoms deep in the mud, and their names will no +doubt remain a mystery to the latest ages. They were brought thither, +I presume, by the apparent water privileges of the place; but the +water privileges have been too much for them, and by the excess of +their powers have succeeded in drowning all the capital of the early +Cairovians, and in throwing a wet blanket of thick, moist, glutinous +dirt over all their energies. + +The free State of Illinois runs down far south between the slave +States of Kentucky to the east, and of Missouri to the west, and is +the most southern point of the continuous free-soil territory of the +Northern States. This point of it is a part of a district called +Egypt, which is as fertile as the old country from whence it has +borrowed a name; but it suffers under those afflictions which are +common to all newly-settled lands which owe their fertility to the +vicinity of great rivers. Fever and ague universally prevail. Men and +women grow up with their lantern faces like spectres. The children +are prematurely old; and the earth which is so fruitful is hideous in +its fertility. Cairo and its immediate neighbourhood must, I suppose, +have been subject to yearly inundation before it was "settled up." +At present it is guarded on the shores of each river by high mud +banks, built so as to protect the point of land. These are called +the levees, and do perform their duty by keeping out the body of the +waters. The shore between the banks is, I believe, never above breast +deep with the inundation; and from the circumstances of the place, +and the soft, half-liquid nature of the soil, this inundation +generally takes the shape of mud instead of water. + +Here, at the very point, has been built a town. Whether the town +existed during Mr. Tapley's time I have not been able to learn. At +the period of my visit, it was falling quickly into ruin; indeed I +think I may pronounce it to have been on its last legs. At that +moment a galvanic motion had been pumped into it by the war movements +of General Halleck, but the true bearings of the town, as a town, +were not less plainly to be read on that account. Every street was +absolutely impassable from mud. I mean that in walking down the +middle of any street in Cairo a moderately framed man would soon +stick fast and not be able to move. The houses are generally built +at considerable intervals and rarely face each other, and along one +side of each street a plank boarding was laid, on which the mud had +accumulated only up to one's ankles. I walked all over Cairo with +big boots, and with my trousers tucked up to my knees; but at the +crossings I found considerable danger, and occasionally had my doubts +as to the possibility of progress. I was alone in my work, and saw +no one else making any such attempt. A few only were moving about, +and they moved in wretched carts, each drawn by two miserable, +floundering horses. These carts were always empty, but were presumed +to be engaged in some way on military service. No faces looked out +at the windows of the houses, no forms stood in the doorways. A few +shops were open, but only in the drinking shops did I see customers. +In these silent, muddy men were sitting,--not with drink before them, +as men sit with us,--but with the cud within their jaws, ruminating. +Their drinking is always done on foot. They stand silent at a bar, +with two small glasses before them. Out of one they swallow the +whisky, and from the other they take a gulp of water, as though to +rinse their mouths. After that, they again sit down and ruminate. It +was thus that men enjoyed themselves at Cairo. + +I cannot tell what was the existing population of Cairo. I asked one +resident; but he only shook his head and said that the place was +about "played out." And a miserable play it must have been. I tried +to walk round the point on the levees, but I found that the mud +was so deep and slippery on that which protected the town from the +Mississippi, that I could not move on it. On the other, which forms +the bank of the Ohio, the railway runs, and here was gathered all +the life and movement of the place. But the life was galvanic in its +nature, created by a war-galvanism of which the shocks were almost +neutralized by mud. + +As Cairo is of all towns in America the most desolate, so is its +hotel the most forlorn and wretched. Not that it lacked custom. It +was so full that no room was to be had on our first entry from the +railway cars at five A.M., and we were reduced to the necessity of +washing our hands and faces in the public wash-room. When I entered +it the barber and his assistants were asleep there, and four or five +citizens from the railway were busy at the basins. There is a fixed +resolution in these places that you shall be drenched with dirt and +drowned in abominations, which is overpowering to a mind less strong +than Mark Tapley's. The filth is paraded and made to go as far as +possible. The stranger is spared none of the elements of nastiness. +I remember how an old woman once stood over me in my youth, forcing +me to swallow the gritty dregs of her terrible medicine-cup. The +treatment I received in the hotel at Cairo reminded me of that old +woman. In that room I did not dare to brush my teeth lest I should +give offence; and I saw at once that I was regarded with suspicion +when I used my own comb instead of that provided for the public. + +At length we got a room, one room for the two. I had become +so depressed in spirits that I did not dare to object to this +arrangement. My friend could not complain much, even to me, feeling +that these miseries had been produced by his own obstinacy. "It is a +new phase of life," he said. That, at any rate, was true. If nothing +more be necessary for pleasurable excitement than a new phase of +life, I would recommend all who require pleasurable excitement to +go to Cairo. They will certainly find a new phase of life. But do +not let them remain too long, or they may find something beyond a +new phase of life. Within a week of that time my friend was taking +quinine, looking hollow about the eyes, and whispering to me of fever +and ague. To say that there was nothing eatable or drinkable in +that hotel, would be to tell that which will be understood without +telling. My friend, however, was a cautious man, carrying with him +comfortable tin pots, hermetically sealed, from Fortnum & Mason's; +and on the second day of our sojourn we were invited by two officers +to join their dinner at a Cairo eating-house. We ploughed our way +gallantly through the mud to a little shanty, at the door of which we +were peremptorily demanded by the landlord to scrub ourselves before +we entered with the stump of an old broom. This we did, producing on +our nether persons the appearance of bread which has been carefully +spread with treacle by an economic housekeeper. And the proprietor +was right, for had we not done so, the treacle would have run off +through the whole house. But after this we fared royally. Squirrel +soup and prairie chickens regaled us. One of our new friends had +laden his pockets with champagne and brandy; the other with glasses +and a corkscrew; and as the bottle went round, I began to feel +something of the spirit of Mark Tapley in my soul. + +But our visit to Cairo had been made rather with reference to its +present warlike character, than with any eye to the natural beauties +of the place. A large force of men had been collected there, and also +a fleet of gun-boats. We had come there fortified with letters to +generals and commodores, and were prepared to go through a large +amount of military inspection. But the bird had flown before our +arrival; or rather the body and wings of the bird, leaving behind +only a draggled tail and a few of its feathers. There were only a +thousand soldiers at Cairo when we were there;--that is, a thousand +stationed in the Cairo sheds. Two regiments passed through the place +during the time, getting out of one steamer on to another, or passing +from the railway into boats. One of these regiments passed before me +down the slope of the river-bank, and the men as a body seemed to +be healthy. Very many were drunk, and all were mud-clogged up to +their shoulders and very caps. In other respects they appeared to +be in good order. It must be understood that these soldiers, the +volunteers, had never been made subject to any discipline as to +cleanliness. They wore their hair long. Their hats or caps, though +all made in some military form and with some military appendance, +were various and ill-assorted. They all were covered with loose, +thick, blue-gray great-coats, which no doubt were warm and wholesome, +but which from their looseness and colour seemed to be peculiarly +susceptible of receiving and showing a very large amount of mud. +Their boots were always good; but each man was shod as he liked. +Many wore heavy over-boots coming up the leg;--boots of excellent +manufacture, and from their cost, if for no other reason, quite out +of the reach of an English soldier; boots in which a man would be +not at all unfortunate to find himself hunting; but from these, or +from their high-lows, shoes, or whatever they might wear, the mud +had never been even scraped. These men were all warmly clothed, but +clothed apparently with an endeavour to contract as much mud as might +be possible. + +The generals and commodores were gone up the Ohio river and up the +Tennessee in an expedition with gun-boats, which turned out to be +successful, and of which we have all read in the daily history of +this war. They had departed the day before our arrival, and though +we still found at Cairo a squadron of gun-boats,--if gun-boats go in +squadrons,--the bulk of the army had been moved. There was left there +one regiment and one colonel, who kindly described to us the battles +he had fought, and gave us permission to see everything that was to +be seen. Four of these gun-boats were still lying in the Ohio, close +under the terminus of the railway with their flat, ugly noses against +the muddy bank, and we were shown over two of them. They certainly +seemed to be formidable weapons for river warfare, and to have been +"got up quite irrespective of expense." So much, indeed, may be said +for the Americans throughout the war. They cannot be accused of +parsimony. The largest of these vessels, called the "Benton," had +cost £36,000. These boats are made with sides sloping inwards, at an +angle of 45 degrees. The iron is two-and-a-half inches thick, and +it has not, I believe, been calculated that this will resist cannon +shot of great weight, should it be struck in a direct line. But the +angle of the sides of the boat makes it improbable that any such +shot should strike them; and the iron, bedded as it is upon oak, is +supposed to be sufficient to turn a shot that does not hit it in a +direct line. The boats are also roofed in with iron, and the pilots +who steer the vessel stand encased, as it were, under an iron cupola. +I imagine that these boats are well calculated for the river service, +for which they have been built. Six or seven of them had gone up the +Tennessee river the day before we reached Cairo, and while we were +there they succeeded in knocking down Fort Henry, and in carrying +off the soldiers stationed there and the officer in command. One of +the boats, however, had been penetrated by a shot which made its +way into the boiler, and the men on deck, six, I think, in number, +were scalded to death by the escaping steam. The two pilots up in +the cupola were destroyed in this terrible manner. As they were +altogether closed in by the iron roof and sides, there was no escape +for the steam. The boats, however, were well made and very powerfully +armed, and will, probably, succeed in driving the secessionist armies +away from the great river banks. By what machinery the secessionist +armies are to be followed into the interior is altogether another +question. + +But there was also another fleet at Cairo, and we were informed that +we were just in time to see the first essay made at testing the +utility of this armada. It consisted of no less than thirty-eight +mortar-boats, each of which had cost £1700. These mortar-boats were +broad, flat-bottomed rafts, each constructed with a deck raised +three feet above the bottom. They were protected by high iron sides, +supposed to be proof against rifle balls, and when supplied had been +furnished each with a little boat, a rope, and four rough sweeps or +oars. They had no other furniture or belongings, and were to be moved +either by steam tugs or by the use of the long oars which were sent +with them. It was intended that one 13-inch mortar, of enormous +weight, should be put upon each, that these mortars should be fired +with twenty-three pounds of powder, and that the shell thrown should, +at a distance of three miles, fall with absolute precision into any +devoted town which the rebels might hold on the river banks. The +grandeur of the idea is almost sublime. So large an amount of powder +had, I imagine, never then been used for the single charge in any +instrument of war; and when we were told that thirty-eight of them +were to play at once on a city, and that they could be used with +absolute precision, it seemed as though the fate of Sodom and +Gomorrah could not be worse than the fate of that city. Could any +city be safe when such implements of war were about upon the waters? + +But when we came to inspect the mortar-boats, our misgivings as +to any future destination for this fleet were relieved, and our +admiration was given to the smartness of the contractor who had +secured to himself the job of building them. In the first place they +had all leaked till the spaces between the bottoms and the decks were +filled with water. This space had been intended for ammunition, but +now seemed hardly to be fitted for that purpose. The officer who was +about to test them by putting a mortar into one and by firing it off +with twenty-three pounds of powder, had the water pumped out of a +selected raft, and we were towed by a steam-tug from their moorings a +mile up the river, down to the spot where the mortar lay ready to be +lifted in by a derrick. But as we turned on the river, the tug-boat +which had brought us down, was unable to hold us up against the force +of the stream. A second tug-boat was at hand, and with one on each +side we were just able, in half-an-hour, to recover the 100 yards +which we had lost down the river. The pressure against the stream +was so great, owing partly to the weight of the raft, and partly to +the fact that its flat head buried itself in the water, that it was +almost immoveable against the stream, although the mortar was not yet +on it. + +It soon became manifest that no trial could be made on that day, +and so we were obliged to leave Cairo without having witnessed the +firing of the great gun. My belief is that very little evil to the +enemy will result from those mortar-boats, and that they cannot be +used with much effect. Since that time they have been used on the +Mississippi, but as yet we do not know with what result. Island +No. 10 has been taken, but I do not know that the mortar-boats +contributed much to that success. The enormous cost of moving them +against the stream of the river is in itself a barrier to their use. +When we saw them--and then they were quite new--many of the rivets +were already gone. The small boats had been stolen from some of them, +and the ropes and oars from others. There they lay, thirty-eight in +number, up against the mud-banks of the Ohio, under the boughs of the +half-clad, melancholy forest trees, as sad a spectacle of reckless +prodigality as the eye ever beheld. But the contractor who made them +no doubt was a smart man. + +This armada was moored on the Ohio against the low, reedy bank, a +mile above the levee, where the old unchanged forest of nature came +down to the very edge of the river, and mixed itself with the shallow +overflowing waters. I am wrong in saying that it lay under the boughs +of the trees, for such trees do not spread themselves out with broad +branches. They stand thickly together, broken, stunted, spongy +with rot, straight and ugly, with ragged tops and shattered arms, +seemingly decayed, but still ever renewing themselves with the +rapid moist life of luxuriant forest vegetation. Nothing to my eyes +is sadder than the monotonous desolation of such scenery. We, in +England, when we read and speak of the primeval forests of America, +are apt to form pictures in our minds of woodland glades, with +spreading oaks and green mossy turf beneath,--of scenes than which +nothing that God has given us is more charming. But these forests +are not after that fashion; they offer no allurement to the lover, +no solace to the melancholy man of thought. The ground is deep with +mud, or overflown with water. The soil and the river have no defined +margins. Each tree, though full of the forms of life, has all the +appearance of death. Even to the outward eye they seem to be laden +with ague, fever, sudden chills, and pestilential malaria. + +When we first visited the spot we were alone, and we walked across +from the railway line to the place at which the boats were moored. +They lay in treble rank along the shore, and immediately above them +an old steam-boat was fastened against the bank. Her back was broken, +and she was given up to ruin,--placed there that she might rot +quietly into her watery grave. It was mid-winter, and every tree +was covered with frozen sleet and small particles of snow which had +drizzled through the air; for the snow had not fallen in hearty, +honest flakes. The ground beneath our feet was crisp with frost, but +traitorous in its crispness; not frozen manfully so as to bear a +man's weight, but ready at every point to let him through into the +fat, glutinous mud below. I never saw a sadder picture, or one which +did more to awaken pity for those whose fate had fixed their abodes +in such a locality. And yet there was a beauty about it too,--a +melancholy, death-like beauty. The disordered ruin and confused decay +of the forest was all gemmed with particles of ice. The eye reaching +through the thin underwood could form for itself picturesque shapes +and solitary bowers of broken wood, which were bright with the opaque +brightness of the hoar-frost. The great river ran noiselessly along, +rapid, but still with an apparent lethargy in its waters. The ground +beneath our feet was fertile beyond compare, but as yet fertile to +death rather than to life. Where we then trod man had not yet come +with his axe and his plough; but the railroad was close to us, and +within a mile of the spot thousands of dollars had been spent in +raising a city which was to have been rich with the united wealth of +the rivers and the land. Hitherto fever and ague, mud and malaria, +had been too strong for man, and the dollars had been spent in vain. +The day, however, will come when this promontory between the two +great rivers will be a fit abode for industry. Men will settle there, +wandering down from the North and East, and toil sadly, and leave +their bones among the mud. Thin, pale-faced, joyless mothers will +come there, and grow old before their time; and sickly children will +be born, struggling up with wan faces to their sad life's labour. +But the work will go on, for it is God's work; and the earth will be +prepared for the people, and the fat rottenness of the still living +forest will be made to give forth its riches. + +We found that two days at Cairo were quite enough for us. We had +seen the gun-boats and the mortar-boats, and gone through the sheds +of the soldiers. The latter were bad, comfortless, damp, and cold; +and certain quarters of the officers, into which we were hospitably +taken, were wretched abodes enough; but the sheds of Cairo did not +stink like those of Benton barracks at St. Louis, nor had illness +been prevalent there to the same degree. I do not know why this +should have been so, but such was the result of my observation. The +locality of Benton barracks must, from its nature, have been the more +healthy, but it had become by art the foulest place I ever visited. +Throughout the army it seemed to be the fact, that the men under +canvas were more comfortable, in better spirits, and also in better +health than those who were lodged in sheds. We had inspected the +Cairo army and the Cairo navy, and had also seen all that Cairo had +to show us of its own. We were thoroughly disgusted with the hotel, +and retired on the second night to bed, giving positive orders that +we might be called at half-past two, with reference to that terrible +start to be made at half-past three. As a matter of course we kept +dozing and waking till past one, in our fear lest neglect on the part +of the watcher should entail on us another day at this place; of +course we went fast asleep about the time at which we should have +roused ourselves; and of course we were called just fifteen minutes +before the train started. Everybody knows how these things always go. +And then the pair of us, jumping out of bed in that wretched chamber, +went through the mockery of washing and packing which always takes +place on such occasions;--a mockery indeed of washing, for there was +but one basin between us! And a mockery also of packing, for I left +my hair-brushes behind me! Cairo was avenged in that I had declined +to avail myself of the privileges of free citizenship which had been +offered to me in that barber's shop. And then, while we were in our +agony, pulling at the straps of our portmanteaux and swearing at the +faithlessness of the boots, up came the clerk of the hotel--the great +man from behind the bar--and scolded us prodigiously for our delay. +"Called! We had been called an hour ago!" Which statement, however, +was decidedly untrue, as we remarked, not with extreme patience. "We +should certainly be late," he said; "it would take us five minutes to +reach the train, and the cars would be off in four." Nobody who has +not experienced them can understand the agonies of such moments,--of +such moments as regards travelling in general; but none who have not +been at Cairo can understand the extreme agony produced by the threat +of a prolonged sojourn in that city. At last we were out of the +house, rushing through the mud, slush, and half-melted snow, along +the wooden track to the railway, laden with bags and coats, and +deafened by that melancholy, wailing sound, as though of a huge polar +she-bear in the pangs of travail upon an iceberg, which proceeds +from an American railway-engine before it commences its work. How +we slipped and stumbled, and splashed and swore, rushing along in +the dark night, with buttons loose, and our clothes half on! And how +pitilessly we were treated! We gained our cars, and even succeeded in +bringing with us our luggage; but we did not do so with the sympathy, +but amidst the derision of the bystanders. And then the seats were +all full, and we found that there was a lower depth even in the +terrible deep of a railway train in a western State. There was a +second-class carriage, prepared, I presume, for those who esteemed +themselves too dirty for association with the aristocracy of Cairo; +and into this we flung ourselves. Even this was a joy to us, for we +were being carried away from Eden. We had acknowledged ourselves to +be no fitting colleagues for Mark Tapley, and would have been glad +to escape from Cairo even had we worked our way out of the place +as assistant-stokers to the engine-driver. Poor Cairo! unfortunate +Cairo! "It is about played out!" said its citizen to me. But in truth +the play was commenced a little too soon. Those players have played +out; but another set will yet have their innings, and make a score +that shall perhaps be talked of far and wide in the western world. + +We were still bent upon army inspection, and with this purpose went +back from Cairo to Louisville in Kentucky. I had passed through +Louisville before, as told in my last chapter, but had not gone south +from Louisville towards the Green River, and had seen nothing of +General Buell's soldiers. I should have mentioned before that when we +were at St. Louis, we asked General Halleck, the officer in command +of the northern army of Missouri, whether he could allow us to pass +through his lines to the South. This he assured us he was forbidden +to do, at the same time offering us every facility in his power for +such an expedition if we could obtain the consent of Mr. Seward, +who at that time had apparently succeeded in engrossing into his +own hands, for the moment, supreme authority in all matters of +Government. Before leaving Washington we had determined not to ask +Mr. Seward, having but little hope of obtaining his permission, and +being unwilling to encounter his refusal. Before going to General +Halleck we had considered the question of visiting the land of Dixie +without permission from any of the men in authority. I ascertained +that this might easily have been done from Kentucky to Tennessee, +but that it could only be done on foot. There are very few available +roads running North and South through these States. The railways came +before roads; and even where the railways are far asunder, almost +all the traffic of the country takes itself to them, preferring a +long circuitous conveyance with steam, to short distances without. +Consequently such roads as there are run laterally to the railways, +meeting them at this point or that, and thus maintaining the +communication of the country. Now the railways were of course in the +hands of the armies. The few direct roads leading from North to South +were in the same condition, and the bye-roads were impassable from +mud. The frontier of the North therefore, though very extended, +was not very easily to be passed, unless, as I have said before, +by men on foot. For myself I confess that I was anxious to go +South; but not to do so without my coats and trousers, or shirts +and pocket-handkerchiefs. The readiest way of getting across the +line,--and the way which was I believe the most frequently used,--was +from below Baltimore in Maryland by boat across the Potomac. But in +this there was a considerable danger of being taken, and I had no +desire to become a state-prisoner in the hands of Mr. Seward under +circumstances which would have justified our Minister in asking for +my release only as a matter of favour. Therefore when at St. Louis, +I gave up all hopes of seeing "Dixie" during my present stay in +America. I presume it to be generally known that Dixie is the negro's +heaven, and that the southern slave States, in which it is presumed +that they have found a Paradise, have since the beginning of the war +been so named. + +We remained a few days at Louisville, and were greatly struck with +the natural beauty of the country around it. Indeed, as far as I was +enabled to see, Kentucky has superior attractions as a place of rural +residence for an English gentleman, to any other State in the Union. +There is nothing of landscape there equal to the banks of the upper +Mississippi, or to some parts of the Hudson river. It has none of +the wild grandeur of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, nor does +it break itself into valleys equal to those of the Alleghanies in +Pennsylvania. But all those are beauties for the tourist rather +than for the resident. In Kentucky the land lies in knolls and soft +sloping hills. The trees stand apart, forming forest openings. The +herbage is rich, and the soil, though not fertile like the prairies +of Illinois, or the river bottoms of the Mississippi and its +tributaries, is good, steadfast, wholesome farming ground. It is a +fine country for a resident gentleman farmer, and in its outward +aspect reminds me more of England in its rural aspects, than any +other State which I visited. Round Louisville there are beautiful +sites for houses, of which advantage in some instances has been +taken. But, nevertheless, Louisville though a well-built, handsome +city, is not now a thriving city. I liked it because the hotel was +above par, and because the country round it was good for walking; +but it has not advanced as Cincinnati and St. Louis have advanced. +And yet its position on the Ohio is favourable, and it is well +circumstanced as regards the wants of its own State. But it is not +a free-soil city. Nor indeed is St. Louis; but St. Louis is tending +that way, and has but little to do with the "domestic institution." +At the hotels in Cincinnati and St. Louis you are served by white +men, and are very badly served. At Louisville the ministration is by +black men, "bound to labour." The difference in the comfort is very +great. The white servants are noisy, dirty, forgetful, indifferent, +and sometimes impudent. The negroes are the very reverse of all this; +you cannot hurry them; but in all other respects,--and perhaps even +in that respect also,--they are good servants. This is the work for +which they seem to have been intended. But nevertheless where they +are, life and energy seem to languish, and prosperity cannot make any +true advance. They are symbols of the luxury of the white men who +employ them, and as such are signs of decay and emblems of decreasing +power. They are good labourers themselves, but their very presence +makes labour dishonourable. That Kentucky will speedily rid herself +of the institution I believe firmly. When she has so done, the +commercial city of that State may perhaps go a-head again like her +sisters. + +At this very time the Federal army was commencing that series of +active movements in Kentucky and through Tennessee which led to such +important results, and gave to the North the first solid victories +which they had gained since the contest began. On the 19th of January +one wing of General Buell's army, under General Thomas, had defeated +the secessionists near Somerset, in the south-eastern district of +Kentucky, under General Zollicoffer, who was there killed. But in +that action the attack was made by Zollicoffer and the secessionists. +When we were at Louisville we heard of the success of that gun-boat +expedition up the Tennessee river by which Fort Henry was taken. Fort +Henry had been built by the Confederates on the Tennessee,--exactly +on the confines of the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. They had +also another fort, Fort Donnelson, on the Cumberland river, which at +that point runs parallel to the Tennessee, and is there distant +from it but a very few miles. Both these rivers run into the Ohio. +Nashville, which is the capital of Tennessee, is higher up on the +Cumberland; and it was now intended to send the gun-boats down the +Tennessee back into the Ohio, and thence up the Cumberland, there to +attack Fort Donnelson, and afterwards to assist General Buell's army +in making its way down to Nashville. The gun-boats were attached to +General Halleck's army, and received their directions from St. Louis. +General Buell's head-quarters were at Louisville, and his advanced +position was on the Green River, on the line of the railway from +Louisville to Nashville. The secessionists had destroyed the railway +bridge over the Green River, and were now lying at Bowling Green, +between the Green River and Nashville. This place it was understood +that they had fortified. + +Matters were in this position when we got a military pass to go down +by the railway to the army on the Green River,--for the railway was +open to no one without a military pass;--and we started, trusting +that Providence would supply us with rations and quarters. An officer +attached to General Buell's staff, with whom however our acquaintance +was of the very slightest, had telegraphed down to say that we were +coming. I cannot say that I expected much from the message, seeing +that it simply amounted to a very thin introduction to a general +officer to whom we were strangers even by name, from a gentleman to +whom we had brought a note from another gentleman whose acquaintance +we had chanced to pick up on the road. We manifestly had no right to +expect much; but to us, expecting very little, very much was given. +General Johnson was the officer to whose care we were confided, he +being a brigadier under General M'Cook, who commanded the advance. +We were met by an aide-de-camp and saddle-horses, and soon found +ourselves in the General's tent, or rather in a shanty formed of +solid upright wooden logs, driven into the ground with the bark still +on, and having the interstices filled in with clay. This was roofed +with canvas, and altogether made a very eligible military residence. +The General slept in a big box about nine feet long and four broad +which occupied one end of the shanty, and he seemed in all his +fixings to be as comfortably put up as any gentleman might be when +out on such a picnic as this. We arrived in time for dinner, which +was brought in, table and all, by two negroes. The party was made up +by a doctor, who carved, and two of the staff, and a very nice dinner +we had. In half-an-hour we were intimate with the whole party, and +as familiar with the things around us as though we had been living +in tents all our lives. Indeed I had by this time been so often in +the tents of the northern army, that I almost felt entitled to make +myself at home. It has seemed to me that an Englishman has always +been made welcome in these camps. There has been and is at this +moment a terribly bitter feeling among Americans against England, and +I have heard this expressed quite as loudly by men in the army as by +civilians; but I think I may say that this has never been brought to +bear upon individual intercourse. Certainly we have said some very +sharp things of them,--words which, whether true or false, whether +deserved or undeserved, must have been offensive to them. I have +known this feeling of offence to amount almost to an agony of anger. +But nevertheless I have never seen any falling off in the hospitality +and courtesy generally shown by a civilized people to passing +visitors. I have argued the matter of England's course throughout +the war, till I have been hoarse with asseverating the rectitude of +her conduct and her national unselfishness. I have met very strong +opponents on the subject, and have been coerced into loud strains of +voice; but I never yet met one American who was personally uncivil +to me as an Englishman, or who seemed to be made personally angry by +my remarks. I found no coldness in that hospitality to which as a +stranger I was entitled, because of the national ill-feeling which +circumstances have engendered. And while on this subject I will +remark, that when travelling I have found it expedient to let +those with whom I might chance to talk know at once that I was an +Englishman. In fault of such knowledge things would be said which +could not but be disagreeable to me; but not even from any rough +western enthusiast in a railway carriage have I ever heard a word +spoken insolently to England, after I had made my nationality known. +I have learned that Wellington was beaten at Waterloo; that Lord +Palmerston was so unpopular that he could not walk alone in the +streets; that the House of Commons was an acknowledged failure; that +starvation was the normal condition of the British people, and that +the Queen was a bloodthirsty tyrant. But these assertions were not +made with the intention that they should be heard by an Englishman. +To us as a nation they are at the present moment unjust almost beyond +belief; but I do not think that the feeling has ever taken the guise +of personal discourtesy. + +We spent two days in the camp close upon the Green River, and I do +not know that I enjoyed any days of my trip more thoroughly than I +did these. In truth for the last month, since I had left Washington, +my life had not been one of enjoyment. I had been rolling in mud +and had been damp with filth. Camp Wood, as they called this +military settlement on the Green River, was also muddy; but we were +excellently well-mounted; the weather was very cold, but peculiarly +fine, and the soldiers around us, as far as we could judge, seemed to +be better off in all respects than those we had visited at St. Louis, +at Rolla, or at Cairo. They were all in tents, and seemed to be +light-spirited and happy. Their rations were excellent,--but so much +may, I think, be said of the whole northern army from Alexandria on +the Potomac to Springfield in the west of Missouri. There was very +little illness at that time in the camp in Kentucky, and the reports +made to us led us to think that on the whole this had been the most +healthy division of the army. The men, moreover, were less muddy than +their brethren either east or west of them,--at any rate this may be +said of them as regards the infantry. + +But perhaps the greatest charm of the place to me was the beauty of +the scenery. The Green River at this spot is as picturesque a stream +as I ever remember to have seen in such a country. It lies low down +between high banks, and curves hither and thither, never keeping a +straight line. Its banks are wooded; but not, as is so common in +America, by continuous, stunted, uninteresting forest, but by large +single trees standing on small patches of meadow by the water-side, +with the high banks rising over them, with glades through them open +for the horseman. The rides here in summer must be very lovely. Even +in winter they were so, and made me in love with the place in spite +of that brown, dull, barren aspect which the presence of an army +always creates. I have said that the railway bridge which crossed +the Green River at this spot had been destroyed by the secessionists. +This had been done effectually as regarded the passage of trains, but +only in part as regarded the absolute fabric of the bridge. It had +been, and still was when I saw it, a beautifully light construction, +made of iron and supported over a valley, rather than over a river, +on tall stone piers. One of these piers had been blown up; but when +we were there, the bridge had been repaired with beams and wooden +shafts. This had just been completed, and an engine had passed over +it. I must confess that it looked to me most perilously insecure; but +the eye uneducated in such mysteries is a bad judge of engineering +work. I passed with a horse backwards and forwards on it, and it did +not tumble down then; but I confess that on the first attempt I was +glad enough to lead the horse by the bridle. + +That bridge was certainly a beautiful fabric, and built in a most +lovely spot. Immediately under it there was also a pontoon bridge. +The tents of General M'Cook's division were immediately at the +northern end of it, and the whole place was alive with soldiers, +nailing down planks, pulling up temporary rails at each side, +carrying over straw for the horses, and preparing for the general +advance of the troops. It was a glorious day. There had been heavy +frost at night; but the air was dry, and the sun though cold was +bright. I do not know when I saw a prettier picture. It would perhaps +have been nothing without the loveliness of the river scenery; but +the winding of the stream at the spot, the sharp wooded hills on each +side, the forest openings, and the busy, eager, strange life together +filled the place with no common interest. The officers of the army at +the spot spoke with bitterest condemnation of the vandalism of their +enemy in destroying the bridge. The justice of the indignation, I +ventured very strongly to question. "Surely you would have destroyed +their bridge?" I said. "But they are rebels," was the answer. It has +been so throughout the contest; and the same argument has been held +by soldiers and by non-soldiers,--by women and by men. "Grant that +they are rebels," I have answered. "But when rebels fight they cannot +be expected to be more scrupulous in their mode of doing so than +their enemies who are not rebels." The whole population of the North +has from the beginning of this war considered themselves entitled to +all the privileges of belligerents; but have called their enemies +Goths and Vandals for even claiming those privileges for themselves. +The same feeling was at the bottom of their animosity against +England. Because the South was in rebellion, England should +have consented to allow the North to assume all the rights of +a belligerent, and should have denied all those rights to the +South! Nobody has seemed to understand that any privilege which a +belligerent can claim must depend on the very fact of his being in +encounter with some other party having the same privilege. Our press +has animadverted very strongly on the States government for the +apparent untruthfulness of their arguments on this matter; but I +profess that I believe that Mr. Seward and his colleagues,--and +not they only but the whole nation,--have so thoroughly deceived +themselves on this subject, have so talked and speechified themselves +into a misunderstanding of the matter, that they have taught +themselves to think that the men of the South could be entitled to +no consideration from any quarter. To have rebelled against the +stars and stripes seems to a northern man to be a crime putting the +criminal altogether out of all courts,--a crime which should have +armed the hands of all men against him, as the hands of all men +are armed at a dog that is mad, or a tiger that has escaped from +its keeper. It is singular that such a people, a people that has +founded itself on rebellion, should have such a horror of rebellion; +but, as far as my observation may have enabled me to read their +feelings rightly, I do believe that it has been as sincere as it is +irrational. + +We were out riding early on the morning of the second day of our +sojourn in the camp, and met the division of General Mitchell, a +detachment of General Buell's army, which had been in camp between +the Green River and Louisville, going forward to the bridge which was +then being prepared for their passage. This division consisted of +about 12,000 men, and the road was crowded throughout the whole day +with them and their waggons. We first passed a regiment of cavalry, +which appeared to be endless. Their cavalry regiments are, in +general, more numerous than those of the infantry, and on this +occasion we saw, I believe, about 1200 men pass by us. Their horses +were strong and serviceable, and the men were stout and in good +health; but the general appearance of everything about them was +rough and dirty. The American cavalry have always looked to me like +brigands. A party of them would, I think, make a better picture than +an equal number of our dragoons; but if they are to be regarded in +any other view than that of the picturesque, it does not seem to me +that they have been got up successfully. On this occasion they were +forming themselves into a picture for my behoof, and as the picture +was, as a picture, very good, I at least have no reason to complain. + +We were taken to see one German regiment, a regiment of which all +the privates were German and all the officers save one,--I think the +surgeon. We saw the men in their tents, and the food which they eat, +and were disposed to think that hitherto things were going well with +them. In the evening the colonel and lieutenant-colonel, both of whom +had been in the Prussian service, if I remember rightly, came up to +the general's quarters, and we spent the evening together in smoking +cigars and discussing slavery round the stove. I shall never forget +that night, or the vehement abolition enthusiasm of the two German +colonels. Our host had told us that he was a slave-owner; and as our +wants were supplied by two sable ministers, I concluded that he had +brought with him a portion of his domestic institution. Under such +circumstances I myself should have avoided such a subject, having +been taught to believe that southern gentlemen did not generally take +delight in open discussions on the subject. But had we been arguing +the question of the population of the planet Jupiter, or the final +possibility of the transmutation of metals, the matter could not have +been handled with less personal feeling. The Germans, however, spoke +the sentiments of all the Germans of the western States,--that is, +of all the Protestant Germans, and to them is confined the political +influence held by the German immigrants. They all regard slavery +as an evil, holding on the matter opinions quite as strong as ours +have ever been. And they argue that as slavery is an evil, it should +therefore be abolished at once. Their opinions are as strong as ours +have ever been, and they have not had our West Indian experience. +Any one desiring to understand the present political position of the +States should realize the fact of the present German influence on +political questions. Many say that the present President was returned +by German voters. In one sense this is true, for he certainly could +not have been returned without them; but for them, or for their +assistance, Mr. Breckinridge would have been President, and this +civil war would not have come to pass. As abolitionists they are much +more powerful than the republicans of New England, and also more in +earnest. In New England the matter is discussed politically; in the +great western towns, where the Germans congregate by thousands, they +profess to view it philosophically. A man, as a man, is entitled to +freedom. That is their argument, and it is a very old one. When you +ask them what they would propose to do with 4,000,000 of enfranchised +slaves and with their ruined masters,--how they would manage the +affairs of those 12,000,000 of people, all whose wealth and work and +very life have hitherto been hinged and hung upon slavery, they again +ask you whether slavery is not in itself bad, and whether anything +acknowledged to be bad should be allowed to remain. + +But the American Germans are in earnest, and I am strongly of opinion +that they will so far have their way, that the country which for +the future will be their country, will exist without the taint of +slavery. In the northern nationality, which will reform itself after +this war is over, there will, I think, be no slave State. That final +battle of abolition will have to be fought among a people apart; and +I must fear that while it lasts their national prosperity will not be +great. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ARMY OF THE NORTH. + + +I trust that it may not be thought that in this chapter I am going +to take upon myself the duties of a military critic. I am well aware +that I have no capacity for such a task, and that my opinion on such +matters would be worth nothing. But it is impossible to write of the +American States as they were when I visited them, and to leave that +subject of the American army untouched. It was all but impossible to +remain for some months in the northern States without visiting the +army. It was impossible to join in any conversation in the States +without talking about the army. It was impossible to make inquiry +as to the present and future condition of the people without basing +such inquiries more or less upon the doings of the army. If a +stranger visit Manchester with the object of seeing what sort of +place Manchester is, he must visit the cotton mills and printing +establishments, though he may have no taste for cotton and no +knowledge on the subject of calicoes. Under pressure of this kind +I have gone about from one army to another, looking at the drilling +of regiments, of the manoeuvres of cavalry, at the practice of +artillery, and at the inner life of the camps. I do not feel that I +am in any degree more fitted to take the command of a campaign than I +was before I began, or even more fitted to say who can and who cannot +do so. But I have obtained on my own mind's eye a tolerably clear +impression of the outward appearance of the northern army; I have +endeavoured to learn something of the manner in which it was brought +together, and of its cost as it now stands; and I have learned--as +any man in the States may learn, without much trouble or personal +investigation--how terrible has been the peculation of the +contractors and officers by whom that army has been supplied. Of +these things, writing of the States at this moment, I must say +something. In what I shall say as to that matter of peculation +I trust that I may be believed to have spoken without personal +ill-feeling or individual malice. + +While I was travelling in the States of New England and in the +North-west, I came across various camps at which young regiments were +being drilled and new regiments were being formed. These lay in our +way as we made our journeys, and therefore we visited them; but they +were not objects of any very great interest. The men had not acquired +even any pretence of soldierlike bearing. The officers for the most +part had only just been selected, having hardly as yet left their +civil occupations, and anything like criticism was disarmed by the +very nature of the movement which had called the men together. I then +thought, as I still think, that the men themselves were actuated +by proper motives, and often by very high motives, in joining the +regiments. No doubt they looked to the pay offered. It is not often +that men are able to devote themselves to patriotism without any +reference to their personal circumstances. A man has got before him +the necessity of earning his bread, and very frequently the necessity +of earning the bread of others besides himself. This comes before him +not only as his first duty, but as the very law of his existence. +His wages are his life, and when he proposes to himself to serve his +country that subject of payment comes uppermost as it does when he +proposes to serve any other master. But the wages given, though very +high in comparison with those of any other army, have not been of +a nature to draw together from their distant homes at so short a +notice, so vast a cloud of men, had no other influence been at work. +As far as I can learn, the average rate of wages in the country since +the war began has been about 65 cents a day over and beyond the +workmen's diet. I feel convinced that I am putting this somewhat too +low, taking the average of all the markets from which the labour has +been withdrawn. In large cities labour has been higher than this, +and a considerable proportion of the army has been taken from large +cities. But taking 65 cents a day as the average, labour has been +worth about 17 dollars a month over and above the labourers' diet. In +the army the soldier receives 13 dollars a month, and also receives +his diet and clothes; in addition to this, in many States, 6 dollars +a month have been paid by the State to the wives and families of +those soldiers who have left wives and families in the States behind +them. Thus for the married men the wages given by the army have been +2 dollars a month, or less than £5 a year, more than his earnings at +home, and for the unmarried man they have been 4 dollars a month, or +less than £10 a year below his earnings at home. But the army also +gives clothing to the extent of 3 dollars a month. This would place +the unmarried soldier, in a pecuniary point of view, worse off by one +dollar a month, or £2 10_s._ a year, than he would have been at home; +and would give the married man 5 dollars a month, or £12 a year more +than his ordinary wages for absenting himself from his family. I +cannot think therefore that the pecuniary attractions have been very +great. + +Our soldiers in England enlist at wages which are about one half that +paid in the ordinary labour market to the class from whence they +come. But labour in England is uncertain, whereas in the States it is +certain. In England the soldier with his shilling gets better food +than the labourer with his two shillings; and the Englishman has no +objection to the rigidity of that discipline which is so distasteful +to an American. Moreover, who in England ever dreamed of raising +600,000 new troops in six months, out of a population of thirty +million? But this has been done in the northern States out of a +population of eighteen million. If England were invaded, Englishmen +would come forward in the same way, actuated, as I believe, by the +same high motives. My object here is simply to show that the American +soldiers have not been drawn together by the prospect of high wages, +as has been often said since the war began. + +They who inquire closely into the matter will find that hundreds and +thousands have joined the army as privates, who in doing so have +abandoned all their best worldly prospects, and have consented to +begin the game of life again, believing that their duty to their +country has now required their services. The fact has been that +in the different States a spirit of rivalry has been excited. +Indiana has endeavoured to show that she was as forward as +Illinois; Pennsylvania has been unwilling to lag behind New York; +Massachusetts, who has always struggled to be foremost in peace, has +desired to boast that she was first in war also; the smaller States +have resolved to make their names heard, and those which at first +were backward in sending troops have been shamed into greater +earnestness by the public voice. There has been a general feeling +throughout the people that the thing should be done;--that the +rebellion must be put down, and that it must be put down by arms. +Young men have been ashamed to remain behind; and their elders, +acting under that glow of patriotism which so often warms the hearts +of free men, but which perhaps does not often remain there long in +all its heat, have left their wives and have gone also. It may be +true that the voice of the majority has been coercive on many;--that +men have enlisted partly because the public voice required it of +them, and not entirely through the promptings of individual spirit. +Such public voice in America is very potent; but it is not, I think, +true that the army has been gathered together by the hope of high +wages. + +Such was my opinion of the men when I saw them from State to State +clustering into their new regiments. They did not look like soldiers; +but I regarded them as men earnestly intent on a work which they +believed to be right. Afterwards when I saw them in their camps, +amidst all the pomps and circumstances of glorious war, positively +converted into troops, armed with real rifles and doing actual +military service, I believed the same of them,--but cannot say that +I then liked them so well. Good motives had brought them there. They +were the same men, or men of the same class that I had seen before. +They were doing just that which I knew they would have to do. But +still I found that the more I saw of them the more I lost of that +respect for them which I had once felt. I think it was their dirt +that chiefly operated upon me. Then, too, they had hitherto done +nothing, and they seemed to be so terribly intent upon their rations! +The great boast of this army was that they eat meat twice a day, and +that their daily supply of bread was more than they could consume. + +When I had been two or three weeks in Washington, I went over to the +army of the Potomac and spent a few days with some of the officers. +I had on previous occasions ridden about the camps, and had seen +a review at which General Maclellan trotted up and down the lines +with all his numerous staff at his heels. I have always believed +reviews to be absurdly useless as regards the purpose for which +they are avowedly got up,--that, namely, of military inspection. +And I believed this especially of this review. I do not believe +that any Commander-in-chief ever learns much as to the excellence +or deficiencies of his troops by watching their manoeuvres on a +vast open space; but I felt sure that General Maclellan had learned +nothing on this occasion. If before his review he did not know +whether his men were good as soldiers, he did not possess any such +knowledge after the review. If the matter may be regarded as a review +of the general;--if the object was to show him off to the men, that +they might know how well he rode, and how grand he looked with his +staff of forty or fifty officers at his heels, then this review must +be considered as satisfactory. General Maclellan does ride very well. +So much I learned, and no more. + +It was necessary to have a pass for crossing the Potomac either +from one side or from the other, and such a pass I procured from a +friend in the War-office, good for the whole period of my sojourn in +Washington. The wording of the pass was more than ordinarily long, +as it recommended me to the special courtesy of all whom I might +encounter; but in this respect it was injurious to me rather than +otherwise, as every picket by whom I was stopped found it necessary +to read it to the end. The paper was almost invariably returned to +me without a word; but the musket which was not unfrequently kept +extended across my horse's nose by the reader's comrade would be +withdrawn, and then I would ride on to the next barrier. It seemed +to me that these passes were so numerous and were signed by so many +officers, that there could have been no risk in forging them. The +army of the Potomac into which they admitted the bearer lay in +quarters which were extended over a length of twenty miles up and +down on the Virginian side of the river, and the river could be +traversed at five different places. Crowds of men and women were +going over daily, and no doubt all the visitors who so went with +innocent purposes were provided with proper passports; but any whose +purposes were not innocent, and who were not so provided, could +have passed the pickets with counterfeited orders. This, I have +little doubt, was done daily. Washington was full of secessionists, +and every movement of the Federal army was communicated to the +Confederates at Richmond, at which city was now established the +Congress and head-quarters of the Confederacy. But no such tidings of +the Confederate army reached those in command at Washington. There +were many circumstances in the contest which led to this result, and +I do not think that General Maclellan had any power to prevent it. +His system of passes certainly did not do so. + +I never could learn from any one what was the true number of this +army on the Potomac. I have been informed by those who professed +to know that it contained over 200,000 men, and by others who also +professed to know, that it did not contain 100,000. To me the +soldiers seemed to be innumerable, hanging like locusts over the +whole country,--a swarm desolating everything around them. Those +pomps and circumstances are not glorious in my eyes. They affect me +with a melancholy which I cannot avoid. Soldiers gathered together in +a camp are uncouth and ugly when they are idle; and when they are at +work their work is worse than idleness. When I have seen a thousand +men together, moving their feet hither at one sound and thither at +another, throwing their muskets about awkwardly, prodding at the air +with their bayonets, trotting twenty paces here and backing ten paces +there, wheeling round in uneven lines, and looking, as they did so, +miserably conscious of the absurdity of their own performances, I +have always been inclined to think how little the world can have +advanced in civilization, while grown-up men are still forced to +spend their days in such grotesque performances. Those to whom the +"pomps and circumstances" are dear--nay, those by whom they are +considered simply necessary--will be able to confute me by a thousand +arguments. I readily own myself confuted. There must be soldiers, and +soldiers must be taught. But not the less pitiful is it to see men +of thirty undergoing the goose-step, and tortured by orders as to +the proper mode of handling a long instrument which is half-gun and +half-spear. In the days of Hector and Ajax, the thing was done in a +more picturesque manner, and the songs of battle should, I think, be +confined to those ages. + +The ground occupied by the divisions on the further or south-western +side of the Potomac was, as I have said, about twenty miles in length +and perhaps seven in breadth. Through the whole of this district the +soldiers were everywhere. The tents of the various brigades were +clustered together in streets, the regiments being divided; and the +divisions, combining the brigades, lay apart at some distance from +each other. But everywhere, at all points, there were some signs of +military life. The roads were continually thronged with waggons, and +tracks were opened for horses wherever a shorter way might thus be +made available. On every side the trees were falling, or had fallen. +In some places whole woods had been felled with the express purpose +of rendering the ground impracticable for troops, and firs and pines +lay one over the other, still covered with their dark rough foliage, +as though a mighty forest had grown there along the ground, without +any power to raise itself towards the heavens. In other places the +trees had been chopped off from their trunks about a yard from the +ground, so that the soldier who cut it should have no trouble in +stooping, and the tops had been dragged away for firewood, or for +the erection of screens against the wind. Here and there in solitary +places there were outlying tents, looking as though each belonged to +some military recluse; and in the neighbourhood of every division was +to be found a photographing-establishment upon wheels, in order that +the men might send home to their sweethearts pictures of themselves +in their martial costumes. + +I wandered about through these camps both on foot and on horseback +day after day, and every now and then I would come upon a farm-house +that was still occupied by its old inhabitants. Many of such houses +had been deserted, and were now held by the senior officers of the +army; but some of the old families remained, living in the midst of +this scene of war in a condition most forlorn. As for any tillage +of their land, that under such circumstances might be pronounced as +hopeless. Nor could there exist encouragement for farm-work of any +kind. Fences had been taken down and burned; the ground had been +overrun in every direction. The stock had of course disappeared; it +had not been stolen, but had been sold in a hurry for what under such +circumstances it might fetch. What farmer could work or have any hope +for his land in the middle of such a crowd of soldiers? But yet there +were the families. The women were in their houses, and the children +playing at their doors, and the men, with whom I sometimes spoke, +would stand around with their hands in their pockets. They knew that +they were ruined; they expected no redress. In nine cases out of ten +they were inimical in spirit to the soldiers around them. And yet it +seemed that their equanimity was never disturbed. In a former chapter +I have spoken of a certain general,--not a fighting general of the +army, but a local farming general,--who spoke loudly and with many +curses of the injury inflicted on him by the secessionists. With that +exception, I heard no loud complaint of personal suffering. These +Virginian farmers must have been deprived of everything,--of the very +means of earning bread. They still hold by their houses, though they +were in the very thick of the war, because there they had shelter +for their families, and elsewhere they might seek it in vain. A man +cannot move his wife and children if he have no place to which to +move them, even though his house be in the midst of disease, of +pestilence, or of battle. So it was with them then, but it seemed as +though they were already used to it. + +But there was a class of inhabitants in that same country to whom +fate had been even more unkind than to those whom I saw. The lines +of the northern army extended perhaps seven or eight miles from the +Potomac, and the lines of the Confederate army were distant some +four miles from those of their enemies. There was, therefore, an +intervening space or strip of ground about four miles broad, which +might be said to be no man's land. It was no man's land as to +military possession, but it was still occupied by many of its old +inhabitants. These people were not allowed to pass the lines either +of one army or of the other; or if they did so pass they were not +allowed to return to their homes. To these homes they were forced to +cling, and there they remained. They had no market, no shops at which +to make purchases even if they had money to buy; no customers with +whom to deal even if they had produce to sell. They had their cows, +if they could keep them from the Confederate soldiers, their pigs and +their poultry; and on them they were living--a most forlorn life. Any +advance made by either party must be over their homesteads. In the +event of battle they would be in the midst of it; and in the meantime +they could see no one, hear of nothing, go no whither beyond the +limits of that miserable strip of ground! + +The earth was hard with frost when I paid my visit to the camp, and +the general appearance of things around my friend's quarters was on +that account cheerful enough. It was the mud which made things sad +and wretched. When the frost came it seemed as though the army had +overcome one of its worst enemies. Unfortunately cold weather did not +last long. I have been told in Washington that they rarely have had +so open a season. Soon after my departure that terrible enemy, the +mud, came back upon them, but during my stay the ground was hard and +the weather very sharp. I slept in a tent, and managed to keep my +body warm by an enormous overstructure of blankets and coats; but I +could not keep my head warm. Throughout the night I had to go down, +like a fish beneath the water, for protection, and come up for air at +intervals, half-smothered. I had a stove in my tent, but the heat of +that when lighted was more terrible than the severity of the frost. + +The tents of the brigade with which I was staying had been pitched +not without an eye to appearances. They were placed in streets as it +were, each street having its name, and between them screens had been +erected of fir-poles and fir-branches, so as to keep off the wind. +The outside boundaries of the nearest regiment were ornamented with +arches, crosses, and columns constructed in the same way; so that +the quarters of the men were reached, as it were, through gateways. +The whole thing was pretty enough, and while the ground was hard +the camp was picturesque, and a visit to it was not unpleasant. But +unfortunately the ground was in its nature soft and deep, composed of +red clay, and as the frost went and the wet weather came, mud became +omnipotent and destroyed all prettiness. And I found that the cold +weather, let it be ever so cold, was not severe upon the men. It was +wet which they feared and had cause to fear, both for themselves and +for their horses. As to the horses, but few of them were protected by +any shelter or covering whatsoever. Through both frost and wet they +remained out, tied to the wheel of a waggon or to some temporary rack +at which they were fed. In England we should imagine that any horse +so treated must perish; but here the animals seemed to stand it. Many +of them were miserable enough in appearance, but nevertheless they +did the work required of them. I have observed that horses throughout +the States are treated in a hardier manner than is usually the case +with us. + +At the period of which I am speaking, January, 1862, the health of +the army of the Potomac was not as good as it had been, and was +beginning to give way under the effects of the winter. Measles had +become very prevalent, and also small-pox--though not of a virulent +description; and men, in many instances, were sinking under fatigue. +I was informed by various officers that the Irish regiments were +on the whole the most satisfactory. Not that they made the best +soldiers, for it was asserted that they were worse, as soldiers, than +the Americans or Germans; not that they became more easily subject to +rule, for it was asserted that they were unruly;--but because they +were rarely ill. Diseases which seized the American troops on all +sides seemed to spare them. The mortality was not excessive, but the +men became sick and ailing, and fell under the doctor's hands. + +Mr. Olmstead, whose name is well known in England as a writer on the +southern States, was at this time secretary to a Sanitary Commission +on the army, and published an abstract of the results of the +inquiries made, on which I believe perfect reliance may be placed. +This inquiry was extended to two hundred regiments, which were +presumed to be included in the army of the Potomac; but these +regiments were not all located on the Virginian side of the river, +and must not therefore be taken as belonging exclusively to the +divisions of which I have been speaking. Mr. Olmstead says, "The +health of our armies is evidently not above the average of armies in +the field. The mortality of the army of the Potomac during the summer +months averaged 3½ per cent., and for the whole army it is stated at +5 per cent." "Of the camps inspected, 5 per cent.," he says, "were +in admirable order; 44 per cent. fairly clean and well policed. The +condition of 26 per cent. was negligent and slovenly, and of 24 per +cent. decidedly bad, filthy, and dangerous." Thus 50 per cent. were +either negligent and slovenly, or filthy and dangerous. I wonder +what the report would have been had Camp Benton at St. Louis been +surveyed! "In about 80 per cent. of the regiments the officers +claimed to give systematic attention to the cleanliness of the men; +but it is remarked that they rarely enforced the washing of the feet, +and not always of the head and neck." I wish Mr. Olmstead had added +that they never enforced the cutting of the hair. No single trait has +been so decidedly disadvantageous to the appearance of the American +army, as the long, uncombed, rough locks of hair which the men have +appeared so loth to abandon. In reading the above one cannot but +think of the condition of those other twenty regiments! + +According to Mr. Olmstead two-thirds of the men were native-born, and +one-third was composed of foreigners. These foreigners are either +Irish or German. Had a similar report been made of the armies in +the West, I think it would have been seen that the proportion of +foreigners was still greater. The average age of the privates was +something under twenty-five, and that of the officers thirty-four. I +may here add, from my own observation, that an officer's rank could +in no degree be predicated from his age. Generals, colonels, majors, +captains, and lieutenants, had been all appointed at the same time +and without reference to age or qualification. Political influence or +the power of raising recruits had been the standard by which military +rank was distributed. The old West Point officers had generally been +chosen for high commands, but beyond this everything was necessarily +new. Young colonels and ancient captains abounded without any harsh +feeling as to the matter on either side. Indeed in this respect the +practice of the country generally was simply carried out. Fathers and +mothers in America seem to obey their sons and daughters naturally, +and as they grow old become the slaves of their grandchildren. + +Mr. Olmstead says that food was found to be universally good and +abundant. On this matter Mr. Olmstead might have spoken in stronger +language without exaggeration. The food supplied to the American +armies has been extravagantly good, and certainly has been wastefully +abundant. Very much has been said of the cost of the American army, +and it has been made a matter of boasting that no army so costly has +ever been put into the field by any other nation. The assertion is, +I believe, at any rate true. I have found it impossible to ascertain +what has hitherto been expended on the army. I much doubt whether +even Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, or Mr. Stanton, the +Secretary-at-War, know themselves, and I do not suppose that Mr. +Stanton's predecessor much cared. Some approach, however, may be +reached to the amount actually paid in wages and for clothes and +diet, and I give below a statement which I have seen of the actual +annual sum proposed to be expended on these heads, presuming the army +to consist of 500,000 men. The army is stated to contain 660,000 men, +but the former numbers given would probably be found to be nearer the +mark. + + + Dollars. + Wages of privates, including + sergeants and corporals 86,640,000 + Salaries of regimental officers 23,784,000 + Extra wages of privates; extra pay to + mounted officers, and salary of + officers above the rank of colonel 17,000,000 + ----------- + 127,424,000 + or + £25,484,000 sterling. + + +To this must be added the cost of diet and clothing. The food of the +men, I was informed, was supplied at an average cost of 17 cents a +day, which, for an army of 500,000 men, would amount to £6,200,000 +per annum. The clothing of the men is shown by the printed statement +of their war department to amount to 3 dollars a month for a period +of five years. That, at least, is the amount allowed to a private of +infantry or artillery. The cost of the cavalry uniforms and of the +dress of the non-commissioned officers is something higher, but not +sufficiently so to make it necessary to make special provision for +the difference in a statement so rough as this. At 3 dollars a month +the clothing of the army would amount to £3,600,000. The actual +annual cost would therefore be as follows:-- + + + Salaries and wages £25,484,400 + Diet of the soldiers 6,200,000 + Clothing for the soldiers 3,600,000 + ----------- + £35,284,400 + + +I believe that these figures may be trusted, unless it be with +reference to that sum of $17,000,000 or £3,400,000, which is presumed +to include the salaries of all general-officers with their staffs, +and also the extra wages paid to soldiers in certain cases. This is +given as an estimate, and may be over or under the mark. The sum +named as the cost of clothing would be correct, or nearly so, if the +army remained in its present force for five years. If it so remained +for only one year the cost would be one-fifth higher. It must of +course be remembered that the sum above named includes simply the +wages, clothes, and food of the men. It does not comprise the +purchase of arms, horses, ammunition, or waggons; the forage of +horses; the transport of troops, or any of those incidental expenses +of warfare which are always, I presume, heavier than the absolute +cost of the men, and which in this war have been probably heavier +than in any war ever waged on the face of God's earth. Nor does it +include that terrible item of peculation as to which I will say a +word or two before I finish this chapter. + +The yearly total payment of the officers and soldiers of the armies +is as follows. As regards the officers it must be understood that +this includes all the allowances made to them, except as regards +those on the staff. The sums named apply only to the infantry and +artillery. The pay of the cavalry is about ten per cent. higher. + + + Lieutenant-General. £1,850 + General Scott alone holds that + rank in the States' army + Major-General 1,150 + Brigadier-General 800 + *Colonel 530 + *Lieutenant-Colonel 475 + Major 430 + Captain 300 + First Lieutenant 265 + Second Lieutenant 245 + First Sergeant 48 + Sergeant 40 + Corporal 34 + Private 31 + + *A Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel are attached to + each regiment. + + +In every grade named the pay is, I believe, higher than that given by +us, or, as I imagine, by any other nation. It is, however, probable +that the extra allowances paid to some of our higher officers when +on duty may give to their positions for a time a higher pecuniary +remuneration. It will of course be understood that there is nothing +in the American army answering to our colonel of a regiment. With us +the officer so designated holds a nominal command of high dignity and +emolument as a reward for past services. + +I have already spoken of my visits to the camps of the other armies +in the field, that of General Halleck, who held his head-quarters +at St. Louis, in Missouri, and that of General Buell, who was at +Louisville, in Kentucky. There was also a fourth army under General +Hunter, in Kansas, but I did not make my way as far west as that. +I do not pretend to any military knowledge, and should be foolish +to attempt military criticism; but as far as I could judge by +appearance, I should say that the men in Buell's army were, of the +three, in the best order. They seemed to me to be cleaner than the +others, and, as far as I could learn, were in better health. Want +of discipline and dirt have, no doubt, been the great faults of the +regiments generally, and the latter drawback may probably be included +in the former. These men have not been accustomed to act under the +orders of superiors, and when they entered on the service hardly +recognized the fact that they would have to do so in ought else than +in their actual drill and fighting. It is impossible to conceive any +class of men to whom the necessary discipline of a soldier would come +with more difficulty than to an American citizen. The whole training +of his life has been against it. He has never known respect for +a master, or reverence for men of a higher rank than himself. He +has probably been made to work hard for his wages,--harder than an +Englishman works,--but he has been his employer's equal. The language +between them has been the language of equals, and their arrangement +as to labour and wages has been a contract between equals. If he +did not work he would not get his money,--and perhaps not if he did. +Under these circumstances he has made his fight with the world; but +those circumstances have never taught him that special deference to +a superior, which is the first essential of a soldier's duty. But +probably in no respect would that difficulty be so severely felt as +in all matters appertaining to personal habits. Here at any rate the +man would expect to be still his own master, acting for himself and +independent of all outer control. Our English Hodge, when taken from +the plough to the camp, would, probably, submit without a murmur +to soap and water and a barber's shears; he would have received +none of that education which would prompt him to rebel against such +ordinances; but the American citizen, who for a while expects to +shake hands with his captain whenever he sees him, and is astonished +when he learns that he must not offer him drinks, cannot at once +be brought to understand that he is to be treated like a child in +the nursery;--that he must change his shirt so often, wash himself +at such and such intervals, and go through a certain process of +cleansing his outward garments daily. I met while travelling a +sergeant of an old regular American regiment, and he spoke of the +want of discipline among the volunteers as hopeless. But even he +instanced it chiefly by their want of cleanliness. "They wear their +shirts till they drop off their backs," said he; "and what can you +expect from such men as that?" I liked that sergeant for his zeal +and intelligence, and also for his courtesy when he found that I was +an Englishman; for previous to his so finding he had begun to abuse +the English roundly,--but I did not quite agree with him about the +volunteers. It is very bad that soldiers should be dirty, bad also +that they should treat their captains with familiarity and desire +to exchange drinks with the majors. But even discipline is not +everything; and discipline will come at last even to the American +soldiers, distasteful as it may be, when the necessity for it is made +apparent. But these volunteers have great military virtues. They are +intelligent, zealous in their cause, handy with arms, willing enough +to work at all military duties, and personally brave. On the other +hand they are sickly, and there has been a considerable amount of +drunkenness among them. No man who has looked to the subject can, I +think, doubt that a native American has a lower physical development +than an Irishman, a German, or an Englishman. They become old sooner, +and die at an earlier age. As to that matter of drink, I do not think +that much need be said against them. English soldiers get drunk when +they have the means of doing so, and American soldiers would not get +drunk if the means were taken away from them. A little drunkenness +goes a long way in a camp, and ten drunkards will give a bad name to +a company of a hundred. Let any man travel with twenty men of whom +four are tipsy, and on leaving them he will tell you that every man +of them was a drunkard. + +I have said that these men are brave, and I have no doubt that they +are so. How should it be otherwise with men of such a race? But it +must be remembered that there are two kinds of courage, one of which +is very common and the other very uncommon. Of the latter description +of courage it cannot be expected that much should be found among the +privates of any army, and perhaps not very many examples among the +officers. It is a courage self-sustained, based on a knowledge of the +right and on a life-long calculation that any results coming from +adherence to the right will be preferable to any that can be produced +by a departure from it. This is the courage which will enable a man +to stand his ground in battle or elsewhere, though broken worlds +should fall around him. The other courage, which is mainly an affair +of the heart or blood and not of the brain, always requires some +outward support. The man who finds himself prominent in danger bears +himself gallantly, because the eyes of many will see him; whether +as an old man he leads an army, or as a young man goes on a forlorn +hope, or as a private carries his officer on his back out of the +fire, he is sustained by the love of praise. And the men who are not +individually prominent in danger, who stand their ground shoulder +to shoulder, bear themselves gallantly also, each trusting in the +combined strength of his comrades. When such combined strength has +been acquired, that useful courage is engendered which we may rather +call confidence, and which of all courage is the most serviceable in +the army. At the battle of Bull's Run the army of the North became +panic-stricken and fled. From this fact many have been led to believe +that the American soldiers would not fight well, and that they could +not be brought to stand their ground under fire. This I think has +been an unfair conclusion. In the first place the history of the +battle of Bull's Run has yet to be written; as yet the history of +the flight only has been given to us. As far as I can learn, the +northern soldiers did at first fight well;--so well, that the army of +the South believed itself to be beaten. But a panic was created--at +first, as it seems, among the teamsters and waggons. A cry was +raised, and a rush was made by hundreds of drivers with their carts +and horses; and then men who had never seen war before, who had not +yet had three months' drilling as soldiers, to whom the turmoil of +that day must have seemed as though hell were opening upon them, +joined themselves to the general clamour, and fled to Washington, +believing that all was lost. But at the same time the regiments of +the enemy were going through the same farce in the other direction! +It was a battle between troops who knew nothing of battles; of +soldiers who were not yet soldiers. That individual high-minded +courage, which would have given to each individual recruit the +self-sustained power against a panic, which is to be looked for in a +general, was not to be looked for in them. Of the other courage of +which I have spoken, there was as much as the circumstances of the +battle would allow. + +On subsequent occasions the men have fought well. We should, I think, +admit that they have fought very well when we consider how short has +been their practice at such work. At Somerset, at Fort Henry, at Fort +Donnelson, at Corinth, the men behaved with courage, standing well +to their arms, though at each place the slaughter among them was +great. They have always gone well into fire, and have generally +borne themselves well under fire. I am convinced that we in England +can make no greater mistake than to suppose that the Americans as +soldiers are deficient in courage. + +But now I must come to a matter in which a terrible deficiency has +been shown, not by the soldiers, but by those whose duty it has been +to provide for the soldiers. It is impossible to speak of the army +of the North and to leave untouched that hideous subject of army +contracts. And I think myself the more specially bound to allude to +it because I feel that the iniquities which have prevailed, prove +with terrible earnestness the demoralizing power of that dishonesty +among men in high places, which is the one great evil of the American +States. It is there that the deficiency exists, which must be +supplied before the public men of the nation can take a high rank +among other public men. There is the gangrene, which must be cut out +before the government, as a government, can be great. To make money +is the one thing needful, and men have been anxious to meddle with +the affairs of government, because there might money be made with +the greatest ease. "Make money," the Roman satirist said; "make it +honestly if you can, but at any rate make money." That first counsel +would be considered futile and altogether vain by those who have +lately dealt with the public wants of the American States. + +This is bad in a most fatal degree, not mainly because men in high +places have been dishonest, or because the government has been badly +served by its own paid officers. That men in high places should be +dishonest, and that the people should be cheated by their rulers is +very bad. But there is worse than this. The thing becomes so common, +and so notorious, that the American world at large is taught to +believe that dishonesty is in itself good. "It behoves a man to be +smart, sir!" Till the opposite doctrine to that be learned; till men +in America,--ay, and in Europe, Asia, and Africa,--can learn that +it specially behoves a man not to be smart, they will have learned +little of their duty towards God, and nothing of their duty towards +their neighbour. + +In the instances of fraud against the States' government to which I +am about to allude, I shall take all my facts from the report made +to the House of Representatives at Washington by a Committee of that +House in December, 1861. "Mr. Washbourne, from the Select Committee +to inquire into the Contracts of the Government, made the following +Report." That is the heading of the pamphlet. The Committee was known +as the Van Wyck Committee, a gentleman of that name having acted as +chairman. + +The Committee first went to New York, and began their inquiries with +reference to the purchase of a steam-boat called the "Catiline." +In this case a certain Captain Comstock had been designated from +Washington as the agent to be trusted in the charter or purchase +of the vessel. He agreed on behalf of the Government to hire that +special boat for £2000 a month for three months, having given +information to friends of his on the matter, which enabled them to +purchase it out-and-out for less than £4000. These friends were +not connected with shipping matters, but were lawyers and hotel +proprietors. The Committee conclude "that the vessel was chartered to +the Government at an unconscionable price; and that Captain Comstock, +by whom this was effected, while enjoying _the peculiar confidence of +the Government_, was acting for and in concert with the parties who +chartered the vessel, and was in fact their agent." But the report +does not explain why Captain Comstock was selected for this work by +authority from Washington, nor does it recommend that he be punished. +It does not appear that Captain Comstock had ever been in the regular +service of the Government, but that he had been master of a steamer. + +In the next place one Starbuck is employed to buy ships. As a +government agent he buys two for £1300, and sells them to the +government for £2900. The vessels themselves, when delivered at the +Navy Yard, were found to be totally unfit for the service for which +they had been purchased. But why was Starbuck employed, when, as +appears over and over again in the report, New York was full of paid +government servants ready and fit to do the work? Starbuck was merely +an agent, and who will believe that he was allowed to pocket the +whole difference of £1600? The greater part of the plunder was, +however, in this case refunded. + +Then we come to the case of Mr. George D. Morgan, brother-in-law +of Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. I have spoken of this +gentleman before, and of his singular prosperity. He amassed a large +fortune in five months, as a government agent for the purchase of +vessels, he having been a wholesale grocer by trade. This gentleman +had had no experience whatsoever with reference to ships. It is shown +by the evidence that he had none of the requisite knowledge, and that +there were special servants of the government in New York at that +time, sent there specially for such services as these, who were in +every way trustworthy, and who had the requisite knowledge. Yet +Mr. Morgan was placed in this position by his brother-in-law the +Secretary of the Navy, and in that capacity made about £20,000 in +five months, all of which was paid by the government, as is well +shown to have been the fact in the report before me. One result of +such a mode of agency is given;--one other result, I mean, besides +the £20,000 put into the pocket of the brother of the Secretary of +the Navy. A ship called the "Stars and Stripes" was bought by Mr. +Morgan for £11,000, which had been built some months before for +£7000. This vessel was bought from a company which was blessed with a +President. The President made the bargain with the government agent, +but insisted on keeping back from his own company £2000 out of the +£11,000 for expenses incident to the purchase. The company did not +like being mulcted of its prey, and growled heavily; but their +President declared that such bargains were not got at Washington +for nothing. Members of Congress had to be paid to assist in such +things. At least he could not reduce his little private bill for such +assistance below £1600. He had, he said, positively paid out so much +to those venal Members of Congress, and had made nothing for himself +to compensate him for his own exertions. When this President came +to be examined, he admitted that he had really made no payments to +Members of Congress. His own capacity had been so great that no such +assistance had been found necessary. But he justified his charge on +the ground that the sum taken by him was no more than the company +might have expected him to lay out on Members of Congress, or on +ex-Members who are specially mentioned, had he not himself carried +on the business with such consummate discretion! It seems to me that +the Members or ex-Members of Congress were shamefully robbed in this +matter. + +The report deals manfully with Mr. Morgan, showing that for five +months' work,--which work he did not do and did not know how to +do,--he received as large a sum as the President's salary for the +whole Presidential term of four years. So much better is it to be an +agent of government than simply an officer! And the Committee adds, +that they "do not find in this transaction the less to censure in the +fact that this arrangement between the Secretary of the Navy and Mr. +Morgan was one between brothers-in-law." After that who will believe +that Mr. Morgan had the whole of that £20,000 for himself? And yet +Mr. Welles still remains Secretary of the Navy, and has justified the +whole transaction in an explanation admitting everything, and which +is considered by his friends to be an able State paper. "It behoves a +man to be smart, sir." Mr. Morgan and Secretary Welles will no doubt +be considered by their own party to have done their duty well as +high trading public functionaries. The faults of Mr. Morgan and of +Secretary Welles are nothing to us in England; but the light in which +such faults may be regarded by the American people is much to us. + +I will now go on to the case of a Mr. Cummings. Mr. Cummings, it +appears, had been for many years the editor of a newspaper in +Philadelphia, and had been an intimate political friend and ally of +Mr. Cameron. Now at the time of which I am writing, April, 1861, Mr. +Cameron was Secretary-at-War, and could be very useful to an old +political ally living in his own State. The upshot of the present +case will teach us to think well of Mr. Cameron's gratitude. + +In April, 1861, stores were wanted for the army at Washington, and +Mr. Cameron gave an order to his old friend Cummings to expend +2,000,000 dollars, pretty much according to his fancy, in buying +stores. Governor Morgan, the Governor of New York State and a +relative of our other friend Morgan, was joined with Mr. Cummings +in this commission, Mr. Cameron no doubt having felt himself bound +to give the friends of his colleague at the Navy a chance. Governor +Morgan at once made over his right to his relative; but better things +soon came in Mr. Morgan's way, and he relinquished his share in this +partnership at an early date. In this transaction he did not himself +handle above 25,000 dollars. Then the whole job fell into the hands +of Mr. Cameron's old political friend. + +The 2,000,000 of dollars, or £400,000, were paid into the hands of +certain government treasurers at New York, but they had orders to +honour the draft of the political friend of the Secretary-at-War, and +consequently £50,000 was immediately withdrawn by Mr. Cummings, and +with this he went to work. It is shown that he knew nothing of the +business; that he employed a clerk from Albany whom he did not know, +and confided to this clerk the duty of buying such stores as were +bought; that this clerk was recommended to him by Mr. Weed, the +editor of a newspaper at Albany, who is known in the States as the +special political friend of Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State; and +that in this way he spent £32,000. He bought linen pantaloons and +straw hats to the amount of £4200, because he thought the soldiers +looked hot in the warm weather; but he afterwards learned that they +were of no use. He bought groceries of a hardware dealer named +Davidson, at Albany, that town whence came Mr. Weed's clerk. He did +not know what was Davidson's trade, nor did he know exactly what he +was going to buy; but Davidson proposed to sell him something which +Mr. Cummings believed to be some kind of provisions, and he bought +it. He did not know for how much,--whether over £2000 or not. He +never saw the articles and had no knowledge of their quality. It was +out of the question that he should have such knowledge, as he naïvely +remarks. His clerk Humphreys saw the articles. He presumed they +were brought from Albany, but did not know. He afterwards bought a +ship,--or two or three ships. He inspected one ship "by a mere casual +visit:" that is to say, he did not examine her boilers; he did not +know her tonnage, but he took the word of the seller for everything. +He could not state the terms of the charter, or give the substance of +it. He had had no former experience in buying or chartering ships. He +also bought 75,000 pair of shoes at only 25 cents, or one shilling a +pair, more than their proper price. He bought them of a Mr. Hall, who +declares that he paid Mr. Cummings nothing for the job, but regarded +it as a return for certain previous favours conferred by him on Mr. +Cummings in the occasional loans of £100 or £200. + +At the end of the examination it appears that Mr. Cummings still held +in his hand a slight balance of £28,000, of which he had forgotten +to make mention in the body of his own evidence. "This item seems to +have been overlooked by him in his testimony," says the report. And +when the report was made nothing had yet been learned of the destiny +of this small balance. + +Then the report gives a list of the army supplies miscellaneously +purchased by Mr. Cummings:--280 dozen pints of ale at 9_s._ 6_d._ +a dozen; a lot of codfish and herrings; 200 boxes of cheeses and +a large assortment of butter; some tongues; straw hats and linen +"pants;" 23 barrels of pickles; 25 casks of Scotch ale, price not +stated; a lot of London porter, price not stated; and some Hall +carbines of which I must say a word more further on. It should be +remembered that no requisition had come from the army for any of +the articles named; that the purchase of herrings and straw hats +was dictated solely by the discretion of Cummings and his man +Humphreys,--or, as is more probable, by the fact that some other +person had such articles by him for sale; and that the government +had its own established officers for the supply of things properly +ordered by military requisition. These very same articles also were +apparently procured, in the first place, as a private speculation, +and were made over to the government on the failure of that +speculation. "Some of the above articles," says the report, "were +shipped by the 'Catiline,' which were probably loaded on private +account, and not being able to obtain a clearance was in some way, +through Mr. Cummings, transferred over to the government,--_Scotch +ale, London porter, selected herrings_, and all." The italics as well +as the words are taken from the report. + +This was the confidential political friend of the Secretary-at-War, +by whom he was intrusted with £400,000 of public money! £28,000 +had not been accounted for when the report was made, and the +army supplies were bought after the fashion above named. That +Secretary-at-War, Mr. Cameron, has since left the Cabinet; but he has +not been turned out in disgrace; he has been nominated as minister to +Russia, and the world has been told that there was some difference +of opinion between him and his colleagues respecting slavery! Mr. +Cameron in some speech or paper declared on his leaving the Cabinet +that he had not intended to remain long as Secretary-at-War. This +assertion, I should think, must have been true. + +And now about the Hall carbines, as to which the gentlemen on this +Committee tell their tale with an evident delight in the richness of +its incidents which at once puts all their readers in accord with +them. There were altogether some five thousand of these, all of which +the government sold to a Mr. Eastman in June, 1861, for 14_s._ each, +as perfectly useless, and afterwards bought in August for £4 8_s._ +each, about 4_s._ a carbine having been expended in their repair in +the mean time. But as regards 790 of these now famous weapons, it +must be explained they had been sold by the government as perfectly +useless, and at a nominal price, previously to this second sale made +by the government to Mr. Eastman. They had been so sold, and then, +in April, 1861, they had been bought again for the government by the +indefatigable Cummings for £3 each. Then they were again sold as +useless for 14_s._ each to Eastman, and instantly rebought on behalf +of the government for £4 8_s._ each! Useless for war purposes they +may have been, but as articles of commerce it must be confessed that +they were very serviceable. + +This last purchase was made by a man named Stevens on behalf of +General Fremont, who at that time commanded the army of the United +States in Missouri. Stevens had been employed by General Fremont as +an agent on the behalf of government, as is shown with clearness +in the report, and on hearing of these muskets telegraphed to the +General at once. "I have 5000 Hall's rifled cast-steel muskets, +breech-loading, new, at 22 dollars." General Fremont telegraphed +back instantly, "I will take the whole 5000 carbines ... I will pay +all extra charges . . ." And so the purchase was made. The muskets, +it seems, were not absolutely useless even as weapons of war. +"Considering the emergency of the times," a competent witness +considered them to be worth "10 or 12 dollars." The government had +been as much cheated in selling them as it had in buying them. But +the nature of the latter transaction is shown by the facts that +Stevens was employed, though irresponsibly employed, as a government +agent by General Fremont; that he bought the muskets in that +character himself, making on the transaction £1 18_s._ on each +musket; and that the same man afterwards appeared as an aide-de-camp +on General Fremont's staff. General Fremont had no authority himself +to make such a purchase, and when the money was paid for the first +instalment of the arms, it was so paid by the special order of +General Fremont himself out of moneys intended to be applied to +other purposes. The money was actually paid to a gentleman known at +Fremont's head-quarters as his special friend, and was then paid in +that irregular way because this friend desired that that special +bill should receive immediate payment. After that who can believe +that Stevens was himself allowed to pocket the whole amount of the +plunder? + +There is a nice little story of a clergyman in New York who sold +for £40 and certain further contingencies, the right to furnish 200 +cavalry horses; but I should make this too long if I told all the +nice little stories. As the frauds at St. Louis were, if not in fact +the most monstrous, at any rate the most monstrous which have as +yet been brought to the light, I cannot finish this account without +explaining something of what was going on at that western Paradise in +those halcyon days of General Fremont. + +General Fremont, soon after reaching St. Louis, undertook to build +ten forts for the protection of that city. These forts have since +been pronounced as useless, and the whole measure has been treated +with derision by officers of his own army. But the judgment displayed +in the matter is a military question with which I do not presume to +meddle. Even if a general be wrong in such a matter, his character as +a man is not disgraced by such error. But the manner of building them +was the affair with which Mr. Van Wyck's committee had to deal. It +seems that five of the forts, the five largest, were made under the +orders of a certain Major Kappner at a cost of £12,000, and that the +other five could have been built at least for the same sum. Major +Kappner seems to have been a good and honest public servant, and +therefore quite unfit for the superintendence of such work at St. +Louis. The other five smaller forts were also in progress, the works +on them having been continued from 1st September to 25th September, +1861; but on the 25th September General Fremont himself gave special +orders that a contract should be made with a man named Beard, a +Californian, who had followed him from California to St. Louis. This +contract is dated the 25th of September. But nevertheless the work +specified in that contract was done previous to that date, and most +of the money paid was paid previous to that date. The contract did +not specify any lump sum, but agreed that the work should be paid for +by the yard and by the square foot. No less a sum was paid to Beard +for this work--the cormorant Beard, as the report calls him--than +£24,200, the last payment only, amounting to £4000, having been made +subsequent to the date of the contract. £20,200 was paid to Beard +before the date of the contract! The amounts were paid at five times, +and the last four payments were made on the personal order of General +Fremont. This Beard was under no bond, and none of the officers of +the government knew anything of the terms under which he was working. +On the 14th of October General Fremont was ordered to discontinue +these works, and to abstain from making any further payments on their +account. But, disobeying this order, he directed his Quartermaster to +pay a further sum of £4000 to Beard out of the first sums he should +receive from Washington, he then being out of money. This however +was not paid. "It must be understood," says the report, "that every +dollar ordered to be paid by General Fremont on account of these +works was diverted from a fund specially appropriated for another +purpose." And then again, "The money appropriated by Congress to +subsist and clothe and transport our armies was then, in utter +contempt of all law and of the army regulations, as well as in +defiance of superior authority, ordered to be diverted from its +lawful purpose and turned over to the cormorant Beard. While he had +received 170,000 dollars (£24,200) from the Government, it will be +seen from the testimony of Major Kappner that there had only been +paid to the honest German labourers, who did the work on the first +five forts built under his directions, the sum of 15,500 dollars +(£3100), leaving from 40,000 to 50,000 dollars (£8000 to £10,000) +still due; and while these labourers, whose families were clamouring +for bread, were besieging the Quartermaster's department for their +pay, this infamous contractor Beard is found following up the army +and in the confidence of the Major-General, who gives him orders for +large purchases, which could only have been legally made through the +Quartermaster's department." After that who will believe that all +the money went into Beard's pocket? Why should General Fremont have +committed every conceivable breach of order against his government, +merely with the view of favouring such a man as Beard? + +The collusion of the Quartermaster M'Instry with fraudulent knaves +in the purchase of horses is then proved. M'Instry was at this time +Fremont's Quartermaster at St. Louis. I cannot go through all these. +A man of the name of Jim Neil comes out in beautiful pre-eminence. No +dealer in horses could get to the Quartermaster except through Jim +Neil, or some such go-between. The Quartermaster contracted with +Neil and Neil with the owners of horses; Neil at the time being +also military inspector of horses for the Quartermaster. He bought +horses as cavalry horses for £24 or less, and passed them himself +as artillery horses for £30. In other cases the military inspectors +were paid by the sellers to pass horses. All this was done under +Quartermaster M'Instry, who would himself deal with none but such as +Neil. In one instance, one Elleard got a contract from M'Instry, the +profit of which was £8000. But there was a man named Brady. Now Brady +was a friend of M'Instry's, who, scenting the carrion afar off, had +come from Detroit, in Michigan, to St. Louis. M'Instry himself had +also come from Detroit. In this case Elleard was simply directed by +M'Instry to share his profits with Brady, and consequently paid to +Brady £4000, although Brady gave to the business neither capital nor +labour. He simply took the £4000 as the Quartermaster's friend. This +Elleard, it seems, also gave a carriage and horses to Mrs. Fremont. +Indeed Elleard seems to have been a civil and generous fellow. Then +there is a man named Thompson, whose case is very amusing. Of him +the Committee thus speaks:--"It must be said that Thompson was not +forgetful of the obligations of gratitude, for, after he got through +with the contract, he presented the son of Major M'Instry with a +riding pony. That was the only mark of respect," to use his own +words, "that he showed to the family of Major M'Instry." + +General Fremont himself desired that a contract should be made with +one Augustus Sacchi for a thousand Canadian horses. It turned out +that Sacchi was "nobody: a man of straw living in a garret in New +York whom nobody knew, a man who was brought out there"--to St. +Louis--"as a good person through whom to work." "It will hardly be +believed," says the report, "that the name of this same man Sacchi +appears in the newspapers as being on the staff of General Fremont, +at Springfield, with the rank of captain." + +I do not know that any good would result from my pursuing further the +details of this wonderful report. The remaining portion of it refers +solely to the command held by General Fremont in Missouri, and adds +proof upon proof of the gross robberies inflicted upon the government +of the States by the very persons set in high authority to protect +the government. We learn how all utensils for the camp, kettles, +blankets, shoes, mess-pans, &c., were supplied by one firm, without +a contract, at an enormous price, and of a quality so bad as to be +almost useless, because the Quartermaster was under obligations to +the partners. We learn that one partner in that firm gave £40 towards +a service of plate for the Quartermaster, and £60 towards a carriage +for Mrs. Fremont. We learn how futile were the efforts of any honest +tradesman to supply good shoes to soldiers who were shoeless, and +the history of one special pair of shoes which was thrust under the +nose of the Quartermaster is very amusing. We learn that a certain +paymaster properly refused to settle an account for matters with +which he had no concern, and that General Fremont at once sent down +soldiers to arrest him unless he made the illegal payment. In October +£1000 was expended in ice, all which ice was wasted. Regiments were +sent hither and thither with no military purpose, merely because +certain officers, calling themselves generals, desired to make up +brigades for themselves. Indeed every description of fraud was +perpetrated, and this was done not through the negligence of those in +high command, but by their connivance and often with their express +authority. + +It will be said that the conduct of General Fremont during the days +of his command in Missouri is not a matter of much moment to us +in England; that it has been properly handled by the Committee of +Representatives appointed by the American Congress to inquire into +the matter; and that after the publication of such a report by them, +it is ungenerous in a writer from another nation to speak upon the +subject. This would be so if the inquiries made by that Committee +and their report had resulted in any general condemnation of the men +whose misdeeds and peculations have been exposed. This, however, is +by no means the case. Those who were heretofore opposed to General +Fremont on political principles are opposed to him still; but those +who heretofore supported him are ready to support him again.* He has +not been placed beyond the pale of public favour by the record which +has been made of his public misdeeds. He is decried by the democrats +because he is a republican, and by the anti-abolitionists because +he is an abolitionist; but he is not decried because he has shown +himself to be dishonest in the service of his government. He was +dismissed from his command in the West, but men on his side of the +question declare that he was so dismissed because his political +opponents had prevailed. Now, at the moment that I am writing this, +men are saying that the President must give him another command. +He is still a major-general in the army of the States, and is as +probable a candidate as any other that I could name for the next +Presidency. + + *Since this was written General Fremont has been restored to high + military command, and now holds equal rank and equal authority + with Maclellan and Halleck. In fact, the charges made against him + by the Committee of the House of Representatives have not been + allowed to stand in his way. He is politically popular with a + large section of the nation, and therefore it has been thought + well to promote him to high place. Whether he be fit for such + place, either as regards capability or integrity, seems to be + considered of no moment. + +The same argument must be used with reference to the other gentlemen +named. Mr. Welles is still a Cabinet Minister and Secretary for +the Navy. It has been found impossible to keep Mr. Cameron in the +Cabinet, but he was named as the Minister of the States government to +Russia after the publication of the Van Wyck report, when the result +of his old political friendship with Mr. Alexander Cummings was +well known to the President who appointed him and to the Senate who +sanctioned his appointment. The individual corruption of any one +man--of any ten men--is not much. It should not be insisted on loudly +by any foreigner in making up a balance-sheet of the virtues and +vices of the good and bad qualities of any nation. But the light in +which such corruption is viewed by the people whom it most nearly +concerns is very much. I am far from saying that democracy has failed +in America. Democracy there has done great things for a numerous +people, and will yet, as I think, be successful. But that doctrine as +to the necessity of smartness must be eschewed before a verdict in +favour of American democracy can be pronounced. "It behoves a man to +be smart, sir." In those words are contained the curse under which +the States' government has been suffering for the last thirty years. +Let us hope that the people will find a mode of ridding themselves of +that curse. I, for one, believe that they will do so. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BACK TO BOSTON. + + +From Louisville we returned to Cincinnati, in making which journey +we were taken to a place called Seymour in Indiana, at which spot we +were to "make connection" with the train running on the Mississippi +and Ohio line from St. Louis to Cincinnati. We did make the +connection, but were called upon to remain four hours at Seymour +in consequence of some accident on the line. In the same way, when +going eastwards from Cincinnati to Baltimore a few days later, I was +detained another four hours at a place called Crossline, in Ohio. On +both occasions I spent my time in realizing, as far as that might +be possible, the sort of life which men lead who settle themselves +at such localities. Both these towns,--for they call themselves +towns,--had been created by the railways. Indeed this has been the +case with almost every place at which a few hundred inhabitants have +been drawn together in the western States. With the exception of such +cities as Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, settlers can hardly +be said to have chosen their own localities. These have been chosen +for them by the originators of the different lines of railway. And +there is nothing in Europe in any way like to these western railway +settlements. In the first place the line of the rails runs through +the main street of the town, and forms not unfrequently the only +road. At Seymour I could find no way of getting away from the rails +unless I went into the fields. At Crossline, which is a larger place, +I did find a street in which there was no railroad, but it was +deserted, and manifestly out of favour with the inhabitants. As there +were railway junctions at both these posts, there were of course +cross-streets, and the houses extended themselves from the centre +thus made along the lines, houses being added to houses at short +intervals as new comers settled themselves down. The panting and +groaning, and whistling of engines is continual; for at such places +freight trains are always kept waiting for passenger trains, and the +slower freight trains for those which are called fast. This is the +life of the town; and indeed as the whole place is dependent on the +railway, so is the railway held in favour and beloved. The noise +of the engines is not disliked, nor are its puffings and groanings +held to be unmusical. With us a locomotive steam-engine is still, +as it were, a beast of prey, against which one has to be on one's +guard,--in respect to which one specially warns the children. But +there, in the western States, it has been taken to the bosoms of them +all as a domestic animal; no one fears it, and the little children +run about almost among its wheels. It is petted and made much of on +all sides,--and, as far as I know, it seldom bites or tears. I have +not heard of children being destroyed wholesale in the streets, or of +drunken men becoming frequent sacrifices. But had I been consulted +beforehand as to the natural effects of such an arrangement, I should +have said that no child could have been reared in such a town, and +that any continuance of population under such circumstances must have +been impracticable. + +Such places, however, do thrive and prosper with a prosperity +especially their own, and the boys and girls increase and multiply in +spite of all dangers. With us in England, it is difficult to realize +the importance which is attached to a railway in the States, and +the results which a railway creates. We have roads everywhere, and +our country had been cultivated throughout, with more or less care, +before our system of railways had been commenced; but in America, +especially in the North, the railways have been the precursors of +cultivation. They have been carried hither and thither, through +primeval forests and over prairies, with small hope of other traffic +than that which they themselves would make by their own influences. +The people settling on their edges have had the very best of all +roads at their service; but they have had no other roads. The face of +the country between one settlement and another is still in many cases +utterly unknown; but there is the connecting road by which produce +is carried away, and new comers are brought in. The town that is +distant a hundred miles by the rail is so near that its inhabitants +are neighbours; but a settlement twenty miles distant across the +uncleared country is unknown, unvisited, and probably unheard of +by the women and children. Under such circumstances the railway is +everything. It is the first necessity of life, and gives the only +hope of wealth. It is the backbone of existence from whence spring, +and by which are protected, all the vital organs and functions of +the community. It is the right arm of civilization for the people, +and the discoverer of the fertility of the land. It is all in all +to those people, and to those regions. It has supplied the wants of +frontier life with all the substantial comfort of the cities, and +carried education, progress, and social habits into the wilderness. +To the eye of the stranger such places as Seymour and Crossline are +desolate and dreary. There is nothing of beauty in them, given either +by nature or by art. The railway itself is ugly, and its numerous +sidings and branches form a mass of iron road which is bewildering +and, according to my ideas, in itself disagreeable. The wooden houses +open down upon the line, and have no gardens to relieve them. A +foreigner, when first surveying such a spot, will certainly record +within himself a verdict against it; but in doing so he probably +commits the error of judging it by a wrong standard. He should +compare it with the new settlements which men have opened up in spots +where no railway has assisted them, and not with old towns in which +wealth has long been congregated. The traveller may see what is the +place with the railway; then let him consider how it might have +thriven without the railway. + +I confess that I became tired of my sojourn at both the places I +have named. At each I think that I saw every house in the place, +although my visit to Seymour was made in the night; and at both I +was lamentably at a loss for something to do. At Crossline I was all +alone, and began to feel that the hours which I knew must pass before +the missing train could come, would never make away with themselves. +There were many others stationed there as I was, but to them had been +given a capability for loafing which niggardly Nature has denied +to me. An American has the power of seating himself in the close +vicinity of a hot stove and feeding in silence on his own thoughts +by the hour together. It may be that he will smoke; but after a +while his cigar will come to an end. He sits on, however, certainly +patient, and apparently contented. It may be that he chews, but if +so, he does it with motionless jaws, and so slow a mastication of +the pabulum on which he feeds, that his employment in this respect +only disturbs the absolute quiet of the circle when, at certain long, +distant intervals, he deposits the secretion of his tobacco in an +ornamental utensil which may probably be placed in the furthest +corner of the hall. But during all this time he is happy. It does not +fret him to sit there and think and do nothing. He is by no means an +idle man,--probably one much given to commercial enterprise. Idle men +out there in the West we may say there are none. How should any idle +man live in such a country? All who were sitting hour after hour in +that circle round the stove of the Crossline Hotel hall,--sitting +there hour after hour in silence, as I could not sit,--were men +who earned their bread by labour. They were farmers, mechanics, +storekeepers; there was a lawyer or two, and one clergyman. +Sufficient conversation took place at first to indicate the +professions of many of them. One may conclude that there could not be +place there for an idle man. But they all of them had a capacity for +a prolonged state of doing nothing, which is to me unintelligible, +and which is very much to be envied. They are patient as cows, which +from hour to hour lie on the grass chewing their cud. An Englishman, +if he be kept waiting by a train in some forlorn station in which +he can find no employment, curses his fate and all that has led to +his present misfortune with an energy which tells the story of his +deep and thorough misery. Such, I confess, is my state of existence +under such circumstances. But a western American gives himself up +to "loafing," and is quite happy. He balances himself on the back +legs of an arm-chair, and remains so, without speaking, drinking, or +smoking for an hour at a stretch; and while he is doing so he looks +as though he had all that he desired. I believe that he is happy, and +that he has all that he wants for such an occasion;--an arm-chair in +which to sit, and a stove on which he can put his feet, and by which +he can make himself warm. + +Such was not the phase of character which I had expected to find +among the people of the West. Of all virtues, patience would have +been the last which I should have thought of attributing to them. I +should have expected to see them angry when robbed of their time, and +irritable under the stress of such grievances as railway delays; but +they are never irritable under such circumstances as I have attempted +to describe, nor, indeed, are they a people prone to irritation under +any grievances. Even in political matters they are long-enduring, and +do not form themselves into mobs for the expression of hot opinion. +We in England thought that masses of the people would rise in anger +if Mr. Lincoln's government should consent to give up Slidell and +Mason; but the people bore it without any rising. The habeas corpus +has been suspended, the liberty of the press has been destroyed for a +time, the telegraph wires have been taken up by the government into +their own hands; but nevertheless the people have said nothing. There +has been no rising of a mob, and not even an expression of an adverse +opinion. The people require to be allowed to vote periodically, and +having acquired that privilege permit other matters to go by the +board. In this respect we have, I think, in some degree misunderstood +their character. They have all been taught to reverence the nature +of that form of government under which they live, but they are not +specially addicted to hot political fermentation. They have learned +to understand that democratic institutions have given them liberty, +and on that subject they entertain a strong conviction which is +universal. But they have not habitually interested themselves deeply +in the doings of their legislators or of their government. On the +subject of slavery there have been and are different opinions, held +with great tenacity and maintained occasionally with violence; but on +other subjects of daily policy the American people have not, I think, +been eager politicians. Leading men in public life have been much +less trammelled by popular will than among us. Indeed with us the +most conspicuous of our statesmen and legislators do not lead, but +are led. In the States the noted politicians of the day have been +the leaders, and not unfrequently the coercers of opinion. Seeing +this, I claim for England a broader freedom in political matters than +the States have as yet achieved. In speaking of the American form of +government, I will endeavour to explain more clearly the ideas which +I have come to hold on this matter. + +I survived my delay at Seymour, after which I passed again through +Cincinnati, and then survived my subsequent delay at Crossline. As +to Cincinnati, I must put on record the result of a country walk +which I took there,--or rather on which I was taken by my friend. He +professed to know the beauties of the neighbourhood, and to be well +acquainted with all that was attractive in its vicinity. Cincinnati +is built on the Ohio, and is closely surrounded by picturesque hills +which overhang the suburbs of the city. Over these I was taken, +ploughing my way through a depth of mud which cannot be understood +by any ordinary Englishman. But the depth of mud was not the only +impediment, nor the worst which we encountered. As we began to +ascend from the level of the outskirts of the town we were greeted +by a rising flavour in the air, which soon grew into a strong +odour, and at last developed itself into a stench that surpassed in +offensiveness anything that my nose had ever hitherto suffered. When +we were at the worst we hardly knew whether to descend or to proceed. +It had so increased in virulence, that at one time I felt sure that +it arose from some matter buried in the ground beneath my feet. But +my friend, who declared himself to be quite at home in Cincinnati +matters, and to understand the details of the great Cincinnati +trade, declared against this opinion of mine. Hogs, he said, were +at the bottom of it. It was the odour of hogs going up to the Ohio +heavens;--of hogs in a state of transit from hoggish nature to +clothes-brushes, saddles, sausages, and lard. He spoke with an +authority that constrained belief; but I can never forgive him in +that he took me over those hills, knowing all that he professed to +know. Let the visitors to Cincinnati keep themselves within the city, +and not wander forth among the mountains. It is well that the odour +of hogs should ascend to heaven and not hang heavy over the streets; +but it is not well to intercept that odour in its ascent. My friend +became ill with fever, and had to betake himself to the care of +nursing friends; so that I parted company with him at Cincinnati. I +did not tell him that his illness was deserved as well as natural, +but such was my feeling on the matter. I myself happily escaped the +evil consequences which his imprudence might have entailed on me. + +I passed again through Pittsburg, and over the Alleghany mountains by +Altoona, and down to Baltimore,--back into civilization, secession, +conversation, and gastronomy. I never had secessionist sympathies +and never expressed them. I always believed in the North as a +people,--discrediting, however, to the utmost the existing northern +Government, or, as I should more properly say, the existing northern +Cabinet; but nevertheless, with such feelings and such belief, I +found myself very happy at Baltimore. Putting aside Boston, which +must, I think, be generally preferred by Englishmen to any other +city in the States, I should choose Baltimore as my residence if I +were called upon to live in America. I am not led to this opinion, +if I know myself, solely by the canvas-back ducks; and as to the +terrapins, I throw them to the winds. The madeira, which is still +kept there with a reverence which I should call superstitious were +it not that its free circulation among outside worshippers prohibits +the just use of such a word, may have something to do with it; as may +also the beauty of the women,--to some small extent. Trifles do bear +upon our happiness in a manner that we do not ourselves understand, +and of which we are unconscious. But there was an English look about +the streets and houses which I think had as much to do with it as +either the wine, the women, or the ducks; and it seemed to me as +though the manners of the people of Maryland were more English than +those of other Americans. I do not say that they were on this account +better. My English hat is, I am well aware, less graceful, and I +believe less comfortable, than a Turkish fez and turban; nevertheless +I prefer my English hat. New York I regard as the most thoroughly +American of all American cities. It is by no means the one in which I +should find myself the happiest, but I do not on that account condemn +it. + +I have said that in returning to Baltimore I found myself among +secessionists. In so saying, I intend to speak of a certain set +whose influence depends perhaps more on their wealth, position, and +education than on their numbers. I do not think that the population +of the city was then in favour of secession, even if it had ever been +so. I believe that the mob of Baltimore is probably the roughest mob +in the States,--is more akin to a Paris mob, and I may, perhaps, also +say to a Manchester mob, than that of any other American city. There +are more roughs in Baltimore than elsewhere, and the roughs there are +rougher. In those early days of secession, when the troops were being +first hurried down from New England for the protection of Washington, +this mob was vehemently opposed to its progress. Men had been taught +to think that the rights of the State of Maryland were being invaded +by the passage of the soldiers; and they also were undoubtedly imbued +with a strong prepossession for the southern cause. The two ideas +had then gone together. But the mob of Baltimore had ceased to +be secessionists within twelve months of their first exploit. In +April, 1861, they had refused to allow Massachusetts soldiers to +pass through the town on their way to Washington; and in February, +1862, they were nailing Union flags on the door-posts of those who +refused to display such banners as signs of triumph at the northern +victories! + +That Maryland can ever go with the South, even in the event of the +South succeeding in secession, no Marylander can believe. It is +not pretended that there is any struggle now going on with such +an object. No such result has been expected, certainly since the +possession of Washington was secured to the North by the army of the +Potomac. By few, I believe, was such a result expected even when +Washington was insecure. And yet the feeling for secession among a +certain class in Baltimore is as strong now as ever it was. And it is +equally strong in certain districts of the State,--in those districts +which are most akin to Virginia in their habits, modes of thought, +and ties of friendship. These men, and these women also, pray for +the South if they be pious, give their money to the South if they be +generous, work for the South if they be industrious, fight for the +South if they be young, and talk for the South morning, noon, and +night in spite of General Dix and his columbiads on Federal Hill. It +is in vain to say that such men and women have no strong feeling on +the matter, and that they are praying, working, fighting, and talking +under dictation. Their hearts are in it. And judging from them, even +though there were no other evidence from which to judge, I have no +doubt that a similar feeling is strong through all the seceding +States. On this subject the North, I think, deceives itself in +supposing that the southern rebellion has been carried on without any +strong feeling on the part of the southern people. Whether the mob +of Charleston be like the mob of Baltimore I cannot tell; but I have +no doubt as to the gentry of Charleston and the gentry of Baltimore +being in accord on the subject. + +In what way, then, when the question has been settled by the force of +arms, will these classes find themselves obliged to act? In Virginia +and Maryland they comprise, as a rule, the highest and best educated +of the people. As to parts of Kentucky the same thing may be said, +and probably as to the whole of Tennessee. It must be remembered that +this is not as though certain aristocratic families in a few English +counties should find themselves divided off from the politics and +national aspirations of their countrymen,--as was the case long since +with reference to the Roman Catholic adherents of the Stuarts, and +as has been the case since then in a lesser degree with the firmest +of the old Tories who had allowed themselves to be deceived by Sir +Robert Peel. In each of these cases the minority of dissentients was +so small that the nation suffered nothing, though individuals were +all but robbed of their nationality. But as regards America it must +be remembered that each State has in itself a governing power, and +is in fact a separate people. Each has its own legislature, and must +have its own line of politics. + +The secessionists of Maryland and of Virginia may consent to live in +obscurity; but if this be so, who is to rule in those States? From +whence are to come the senators and the members of Congress; the +governors and attorney-generals? From whence is to come the national +spirit of the two States, and the salt that shall preserve their +political life? I have never believed that these States would succeed +in secession. I have always felt that they would be held within the +Union, whatever might be their own wishes. But I think that they +will be so held in a manner and after a fashion that will render any +political vitality almost impossible till a new generation shall +have sprung up. In the meantime life goes on pleasantly enough in +Baltimore, and ladies meet together, knitting stockings and sewing +shirts for the southern soldiers, while the gentlemen talk southern +politics and drink the health of the (southern) President in +ambiguous terms, as our Cavaliers used to drink the health of the +king. + +During my second visit to Baltimore I went over to Washington for a +day or two, and found the capital still under the empire of King Mud. +How the elite of a nation--for the inhabitants of Washington consider +themselves to be the elite--can consent to live in such a state of +thraldom, a foreigner cannot understand. Were I to say that it was +intended to be typical of the condition of the government, I might +be considered cynical; but undoubtedly the sloughs of despond which +were deepest in their despondency were to be found in localities +which gave an appearance of truth to such a surmise. The Secretary +of State's office in which Mr. Seward was still reigning, though +with diminished glory, was divided from the Head-Quarters of the +Commander-in-Chief, which are immediately opposite to it, by an +opaque river which admitted of no transit. These buildings stand at +the corner of President Square, and it had been long understood that +any close intercourse between them had not been considered desirable +by the occupants of the military side of the causeway. But the +Secretary of State's office was altogether unapproachable without a +long circuit and begrimed legs. The Secretary-at-War's department +was, if possible, in a worse condition. This is situated on the other +side of the President's house, and the mud lay, if possible, thicker +in this quarter than it did round Mr. Seward's chambers. The passage +over Pennsylvania Avenue, immediately in front of the War Office, was +a thing not to be attempted in those days. Mr. Cameron, it is true, +had gone, and Mr. Stanton was installed; but the labour of cleansing +the interior of that establishment had hitherto allowed no time for a +glance at the exterior dirt, and Mr. Stanton should, perhaps, be held +as excused. That the Navy Office should be buried in mud, and quite +debarred from approach, was to be expected. The space immediately in +front of Mr. Lincoln's own residence was still kept fairly clean, +and I am happy to be able to give testimony to this effect. Long may +it remain so. I could not, however, but think that an energetic and +careful President would have seen to the removal of the dirt from +his own immediate neighbourhood. It was something that his own shoes +should remain unpolluted; but the foul mud always clinging to the +boots and leggings of those by whom he was daily surrounded must, +I should think, have been offensive to him. The entrance to the +Treasury was difficult to achieve by those who had not learned by +practice the ways of the place; but I must confess that a tolerably +clear passage was maintained on that side which led immediately +down to the halls of Congress. Up at the Capitol the mud was again +triumphant in the front of the building; this however was not of +great importance, as the legislative chambers of the States are +always reached by the back-door. I, on this occasion, attempted to +leave the building by the grand entrance, but I soon became entangled +among rivers of mud and mazes of shifting sand. With difficulty I +recovered my steps, and finding my way back to the building was +forced to content myself by an exit among the crowd of senators and +representatives who were thronging down the back-stairs. + +Of dirt of all kinds it behoves Washington and those concerned in +Washington to make themselves free. It is the Augean stables through +which some American Hercules must turn a purifying river before +the American people can justly boast either of their capital or of +their government. As to the material mud, enough has been said. The +presence of the army perhaps caused it, and the excessive quantity +of rain which had fallen may also be taken as a fair plea. But what +excuse shall we find for that other dirt? It also had been caused by +the presence of the army, and by that long-continued down-pouring of +contracts which had fallen like Danaë's golden shower into the laps +of those who understood how to avail themselves of such heavenly +waters. The leaders of the rebellion are hated in the North. The +names of Jefferson Davis, of Cobb, Tombes, and Floyd are mentioned +with execration by the very children. This has sprung from a true +and noble feeling; from a patriotic love of national greatness and a +hatred of those who, for small party purposes, have been willing to +lessen the name of the United States. I have reverenced the feeling +even when I have not shared it. But, in addition to this, the names +of those also should be execrated who have robbed their country when +pretending to serve it; who have taken its wages in the days of its +great struggle, and at the same time have filched from its coffers; +who have undertaken the task of steering the ship through the storm +in order that their hands might be deep in the meal-tub and the +bread-basket, and that they might stuff their own sacks with the +ship's provisions. These are the men who must be loathed by the +nation,--whose fate must be held up as a warning to others before +good can come! Northern men and women talk of hanging Davis and his +accomplices. I myself trust that there will be no hanging when the +war is over. I believe there will be none, for the Americans are not +a blood-thirsty people. But if punishment of any kind be meted out, +the men of the North should understand that they have worse offenders +among them than Davis and Floyd. + +At the period of which I am now speaking, there had come a change +over the spirit of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet. Mr. Seward was still his +Secretary of State, but he was, as far as outside observers could +judge, no longer his Prime Minister. In the early days of the war, +and up to the departure of Mr. Cameron from out of the cabinet, Mr. +Seward had been the Minister of the nation. In his despatches he +talks ever of We or of I. In every word of his official writings, of +which a large volume has been published, he shows plainly that he +intends to be considered as the man of the day,--as the hero who is +to bring the States through their difficulties. Mr. Lincoln may be +King, but Mr. Seward is Mayor of the Palace and carries the King in +his pocket. From the depth of his own wisdom he undertakes to teach +his ministers in all parts of the world, not only their duties, but +their proper aspiration. He is equally kind to foreign statesmen, +and sends to them messages as though from an altitude which no +European politician had ever reached. At home he has affected the +Prime Minister in everything, dropping the We and using the I in a +manner that has hardly made up by its audacity for its deficiency +in discretion. It is of course known everywhere that he had run Mr. +Lincoln very hard for the position of republican candidate for the +Presidency. Mr. Lincoln beat him, and Mr. Seward is well aware that +in the States a man has never a second chance for the Presidential +chair. Hence has arisen his ambition to make for himself a new place +in the annals of American politics. Hitherto there has been no Prime +Minister known in the Government of the United States. Mr. Seward has +attempted a revolution in that matter, and has essayed to fill the +situation. For awhile it almost seemed that he was successful. He +interfered with the army, and his interferences were endured. He took +upon himself the business of the police, and arrested men at his own +will and pleasure. The habeas corpus was in his hand, and his name +was current through the States as a covering authority for every +outrage on the old laws. Sufficient craft, or perhaps cleverness, +he possessed to organize a position which should give him a power +greater than the power of the President; but he had not the genius +which would enable him to hold it. He made foolish prophecies about +the war, and talked of the triumphs which he would win. He wrote +state papers on matters which he did not understand, and gave himself +the airs of diplomatic learning while he showed himself to be sadly +ignorant of the very rudiments of diplomacy. He tried to joke as Lord +Palmerston jokes, and nobody liked his joking. He was greedy after +the little appanages of power, taking from others who loved them as +well as he did, privileges with which he might have dispensed. And +then, lastly, he was successful in nothing. He had given himself +out as the commander of the Commander-in-Chief; but then under his +command nothing got itself done. For a month or two some men had +really believed in Mr. Seward. The policemen of the country had +come to have an absolute trust in him, and the underlings of the +public offices were beginning to think that he might be a great man. +But then, as is ever the case with such men, there came suddenly a +downfall. Mr. Cameron went from the cabinet, and everybody knew that +Mr. Seward would be no longer commander of the Commander-in-Chief. +His prime ministership was gone from him, and he sank down into the +comparatively humble position of Minister for Foreign Affairs. His +lettres de cachet no longer ran. His passport system was repealed. +His prisoners were released. And though it is too much to say that +writs of habeas corpus were no longer suspended, the effect and very +meaning of the suspension were at once altered. When I first left +Washington Mr. Seward was the only minister of the cabinet whose name +was ever mentioned with reference to any great political measure. +When I returned to Washington Mr. Stanton was Mr. Lincoln's leading +minister, and, as Secretary-at-War, had practically the management of +the army and of the internal police. + +I have spoken here of Mr. Seward by name, and in my preceding +paragraphs I have alluded with some asperity to the dishonesty of +certain men who had obtained political power under Mr. Lincoln and +used it for their own dishonest purposes. I trust that I may not be +understood as bringing any such charges against Mr. Seward. That +such dishonesty has been frightfully prevalent all men know who knew +anything of Washington during the year 1861. In a former chapter I +have alluded to this more at length, stating circumstances and in +some cases giving the names of the persons charged with offences. +Whenever I have done so, I have based my statements on the Van Wyck +Report, and the evidence therein given. This is the published report +of a Committee appointed by the House of Representatives; and as it +has been before the world for some months without refutation, I think +that I have a right to presume it to be true.* On no less authority +than this would I consider myself justified in bringing any such +charge. Of Mr. Seward's incompetency I have heard very much among +American politicians; much also of his ambition. With worse offences +than these I have not heard him charged. + + *I ought perhaps to state that General Fremont has published an + answer to the charges preferred against him. That answer refers + chiefly to matters of military capacity or incapacity, as to + which I have expressed no opinion. General Fremont does allude + to the accusations made against him regarding the building of + the forts;--but in doing so he seems to me rather to admit than + to deny the facts as stated by the Committee. + +At the period of which I am writing, February, 1862, the long list of +military successes which attended the northern army through the late +winter and early spring had commenced. Fort Henry, on the Tennessee +river, had first been taken, and after that, Fort Donnelson on the +Cumberland river, also in the State of Tennessee. Price had been +driven out of Missouri into Arkansas by General Curtis, acting under +General Halleck's orders. The chief body of the Confederate army in +the West had abandoned the fortified position which they had long +held at Bowling Green, in the south-western district of Kentucky. +Roanoke Island, on the coast of North Carolina, had been taken by +General Burnside's expedition, and a belief had begun to manifest +itself in Washington that the army of the Potomac was really about +to advance. It is impossible to explain in what way the renewed +confidence of the northern party showed itself, or how one learned +that the hopes of the secessionists were waxing dim; but it was so; +and even a stranger became aware of the general feeling as clearly as +though it were a defined and established fact. In the early part of +the winter, when I reached Washington, the feeling ran all the other +way. Northern men did not say that they were despondent; they did not +with spoken words express diffidence as to their success; but their +looks betrayed diffidence, and the moderation of their self-assurance +almost amounted to despondency. In the capital the parties were +very much divided. The old inhabitants were either secessionists or +influenced by "secession proclivities," as the word went; but the men +of the government and of the two houses of Congress were, with a few +exceptions, of course northern. It should be understood that these +parties were at variance with each other on almost every point as to +which men can disagree. In our civil war it may be presumed that all +Englishmen were at any rate anxious for England. They desired and +fought for different modes of government; but each party was equally +English in its ambition. In the States there is the hatred of a +different nationality added to the rancour of different politics. +The Southerners desire to be a people of themselves,--to divide +themselves by every possible mark of division from New England; to +be as little akin to New York as they are to London,--or if possible +less so. Their habits, they say, are different; their education, +their beliefs, their propensities, their very virtues and vices +are not the education, or the beliefs, or the propensities, or the +virtues and vices of the North. The bond that ties them to the +North is to them a Mezentian marriage, and they hate their northern +spouses with a Mezentian hatred. They would be anything sooner than +citizens of the United States. They see to what Mexico has come, +and the republics of Central America; but the prospect of even that +degradation is less bitter to them than a share in the glory of the +stars and stripes. Better, with them, to reign in hell than serve in +heaven! It is not only in politics that they will be beaten, if they +be beaten,--as one party with us may be beaten by another; but they +will be beaten as we should be beaten if France annexed us, and +directed that we should live under French rule. Let an Englishman +digest and realize that idea, and he will comprehend the feelings +of a southern gentleman as he contemplates the probability that his +State will be brought back into the Union. And the northern feeling +is as strong. The northern man has founded his national ambition on +the territorial greatness of his nation. He has panted for new lands, +and for still extended boundaries. The western world has opened her +arms to him, and has seemed to welcome him as her only lord. British +America has tempted him towards the north, and Mexico has been as a +prey to him on the south. He has made maps of his empire, including +all the continent, and has preached the Monroe doctrine as though it +had been decreed by the gods. He has told the world of his increasing +millions, and has never yet known his store to diminish. He has pawed +in the valley, and rejoiced in his strength. He has said among the +trumpets, Ha, ha! He has boasted aloud in his pride, and called on +all men to look at his glory. And now shall he be divided and shorn? +Shall he be hemmed in from his ocean and shut off from his rivers? +Shall he have a hook run into his nostrils, and a thorn driven into +his jaw? Shall men say that his day is over, when he has hardly yet +tasted the full cup of his success? Has his young life been a dream, +and not a truth? Shall he never reach that giant manhood which the +growth of his boyish years has promised him? If the South goes from +him, he will be divided, shorn, and hemmed in. The hook will have +pierced his nose, and the thorn will fester in his jaw. Men will +taunt him with his former boastings, and he will awake to find +himself but a mortal among mortals. + +Such is the light in which the struggle is regarded by the two +parties, and such the hopes and feelings which have been engendered. +It may therefore be surmised with what amount of neighbourly love +secessionist and northern neighbours regarded each other in such +towns as Baltimore and Washington. Of course there was hatred of +the deepest dye; of course there were muttered curses, or curses +which sometimes were not simply muttered. Of course there were +wretchedness, heart-burnings, and fearful divisions in families. +That, perhaps, was the worst of all. The daughter's husband would be +in the northern ranks, while the son was fighting in the South; or +two sons would hold equal rank in the two armies, sometimes sending +to each other frightful threats of personal vengeance. Old friends +would meet each other in the street, passing without speaking; or, +worse still, would utter words of insult for which payment is to be +demanded when a southern gentleman may again be allowed to quarrel in +his own defence. + +And yet society went on. Women still smiled, and men were happy to +whom such smiles were given. Cakes and ale were going and ginger +was still hot in the mouth. When many were together no words of +unhappiness were heard. It was at those small meetings of two or +three that women would weep instead of smiling, and that men would +run their hands through their hair and sit in silence, thinking of +their ruined hopes and divided children. + +I have spoken of southern hopes and northern fears, and have +endeavoured to explain the feelings of each party. For myself I think +that the Southerners have been wrong in their hopes, and that those +of the North have been wrong in their fears. It is not better to rule +in hell than serve in heaven. Of course a southern gentleman will not +admit the premises which are here by me taken for granted. The hell +to which I allude is, the sad position of a low and debased nation. +Such, I think, will be the fate of the Gulf States, if they succeed +in obtaining secession,--of a low and debased nation, or, worse +still, of many low and debased nations. They will have lost their +cotton monopoly by the competition created during the period of the +war, and will have no material of greatness on which either to found +themselves or to flourish. That they had much to bear when linked +with the North, much to endure on account of that slavery from which +it was all but impossible that they should disentangle themselves, +may probably be true. But so have all political parties among all +free nations much to bear from political opponents, and yet other +free nations do not go to pieces. Had it been possible that the +slave-owners and slave properties should have been scattered in parts +through all the States and not congregated in the South, the slave +party would have maintained itself as other parties do; but in such +case, as a matter of course, it would not have thought of secession. +It has been the close vicinity of slave-owners to each other, +the fact that their lands have been coterminous, that theirs was +especially a cotton district, which has tempted them to secession. +They have been tempted to secession, and will, as I think, still +achieve it in those Gulf States,--much to their misfortune. + +And the fears of the North are, I think, equally wrong. That they +will be deceived as to that Monroe doctrine is no doubt more than +probable. That ambition for an entire continent under one rule will +not, I should say, be gratified. But not on that account need the +nation be less great, or its civilization less extensive. That hook +in its nose and that thorn in its jaw will, after all, be but a hook +of the imagination and an ideal thorn. Do not all great men suffer +such ere their greatness be established and acknowledged? There is +scope enough for all that manhood can do between the Atlantic and the +Pacific, even though those hot, swampy cotton-fields be taken away; +even though the snows of the British provinces be denied to them. And +as for those rivers and that sea-board, the Americans of the North +will have lost much of their old energy and usual force of will, if +any southern Confederacy be allowed to deny their right of way or to +stop their commercial enterprises. I believe that the South will be +badly off without the North; but I feel certain that the North will +never miss the South when once the wounds to her pride have been +closed. + +From Washington I journeyed back to Boston through the cities which +I had visited in coming thither, and stayed again on my route for a +few days at Baltimore, at Philadelphia, and at New York. At each town +there were those whom I now regarded almost as old friends, and as +the time of my departure drew near I felt a sorrow that I was not to +be allowed to stay longer. As the general result of my sojourn in the +country, I must declare that I was always happy and comfortable in +the eastern cities, and generally unhappy and uncomfortable in the +West. I had previously been inclined to think that I should like the +roughness of the West, and that in the East I should encounter an +arrogance which would have kept me always on the verge of hot water; +but in both these surmises I found myself to have been wrong. And I +think that most English travellers would come to the same conclusion. +The western people do not mean to be harsh or uncivil, but they do +not make themselves pleasant. In all the eastern cities,--I speak of +the eastern cities north of Washington,--a society may be found which +must be esteemed as agreeable by Englishmen who like clever genial +men, and who love clever pretty women. + +I was forced to pass twice again over the road between New York and +Boston, as the packet by which I intended to leave America was fixed +to sail from the former port. I had promised myself, and had promised +others, that I would spend in Boston the last week of my sojourn in +the States, and this was a promise which I was by no means inclined +to break. If there be a gratification in this world which has +no alloy, it is that of going to an assured welcome. The belief +that men's arms and hearts are open to receive one,--and the arms +and hearts of women, too, as far as they allow themselves to +open them,--is the salt of the earth, the sole remedy against +sea-sickness, the only cure for the tedium of railways, the one +preservative amidst all the miseries and fatigue of travel. These +matters are private, and should hardly be told of in a book; but in +writing of the States, I should not do justice to my own convictions +of the country if I did not say how pleasantly social intercourse +there will ripen into friendship, and how full of love that +friendship may become. I became enamoured of Boston at last. Beacon +Street was very pleasant to me, and the view over Boston Common was +dear to my eyes. Even the State House, with its great yellow-painted +dome, became sightly; and the sunset over the western waters that +encompass the city beats all other sunsets that I have seen. + +During my last week there the world of Boston was moving itself on +sleighs. There was not a wheel to be seen in the town. The omnibuses +and public carriages had been dismounted from their axles and put +themselves upon snow runners, and the private world had taken out its +winter carriages, and wrapped itself up in buffalo robes. Men now +spoke of the coming thaw as of a misfortune which must come, but +which a kind Providence might perhaps postpone,--as we all, in short, +speak of death. In the morning the snow would have been hardened by +the night's frost, and men would look happy and contented. By an hour +after noon the streets would be all wet, and the ground would be +slushy and men would look gloomy and speak of speedy dissolution. +There were those who would always prophesy that the next day would +see the snow converted into one dull, dingy river. Such I regarded as +seers of tribulation, and endeavoured with all my mind to disbelieve +their interpretations of the signs. That sleighing was excellent fun. +For myself I must own that I hardly saw the best of it at Boston, for +the coming of the end was already at hand when I arrived there, and +the fresh beauty of the hard snow was gone. Moreover when I essayed +to show my prowess with a pair of horses on the established course +for such equipages, the beasts ran away, knowing that I was not +practised in the use of snow chariots, and brought me to grief and +shame. There was a lady with me on the sleigh whom, for a while, I +felt that I was doomed to consign to a snowy grave,--whom I would +willingly have overturned into a drift of snow, so as to avoid worse +consequences, had I only known how to do so. But Providence, even +though without curbs and assisted only by simple snaffles, did at +last prevail; and I brought the sleigh, horses, and lady alive back +to Boston, whether with or without permanent injury I have never yet +ascertained. + +At last the day of tribulation came, and the snow was picked up and +carted out of Boston. Gangs of men, standing shoulder to shoulder, +were at work along the chief streets, picking, shovelling, and +disposing of the dirty blocks. Even then the snow seemed to be nearly +a foot thick; but it was dirty, rough, half-melted in some places, +though hard as stone in others. The labour and cost of cleansing the +city in this way must be very great. The people were at it as I left, +and I felt that the day of tribulation had in truth come. + +Farewell to thee, thou western Athens! When I have forgotten thee my +right hand shall have forgotten its cunning, and my heart forgotten +its pulses. Let us look at the list of names with which Boston has +honoured itself in our days, and then ask what other town of the same +size has done more. Prescott, Bancroft, Motley, Longfellow, Lowell, +Emerson, Dana, Agassiz, Holmes, Hawthorne! Who is there among us +in England who has not been the better for these men? Who does not +owe to some of them a debt of gratitude? In whose ears is not their +names familiar? It is a bright galaxy and far extended, for so small +a city. What city has done better than this? All these men, save +one, are now alive and in the full possession of their powers. What +other town of the same size has done as well in the same short space +of time? It may be that this is the Augustan æra of Boston,--its +Elizabethan time. If so, I am thankful that my steps have wandered +thither at such a period. + +While I was at Boston I had the sad privilege of attending the +funeral of President Felton, the head of Harvard College. A few +months before I had seen him a strong man, apparently in perfect +health and in the pride of life. When I reached Boston, I heard of +his death. He also was an accomplished scholar, and as a Grecian +has left few behind him who were his equals. At his installation as +President, four ex-Presidents of Harvard College assisted. Whether +they were all present at his funeral I do not know, but I do know +that they were all still living. These are Mr. Quincy, who is now +over ninety; Mr. Sparks; Mr. Everett, the well-known orator; and Mr. +Walker. They all reside in Boston or its neighbourhood, and will +probably all assist at the installation of another President. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + + +It is, I presume, universally known that the citizens of the +Western American colonies of Great Britain which revolted, declared +themselves to be free from British dominion by an Act which they +called the Declaration of Independence. This was done on the 4th of +July, 1776, and was signed by delegates from the thirteen colonies, +or States as they then called themselves. These delegates in this +document declare themselves to be the representatives of the United +States of America in general Congress assembled. The opening +and close of this declaration have in them much that is grand +and striking; the greater part of it, however, is given up to +enumerating, in paragraph after paragraph, the sins committed by +George III. against the colonies. Poor George III.! There is no one +now to say a good word for him; but of all those who have spoken ill +of him, this declaration is the loudest in its censure. + +In the following year, on the 15th November, 1777, were drawn up +the Articles of Confederation between the States, by which it was +then intended that a sufficient bond and compact should be made for +their future joint existence and preservation. A reference to this +document, which, together with the Declaration of Independence and +the subsequently framed Constitution of the United States, is given +in the Appendix, will show how slight was the then intended bond of +union between the States. The second article declares that each State +retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The third article +avows that "the said States hereby severally enter into a firm league +of friendship with each other for their common defence, the security +of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding +themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or +attacks made upon, them, or any of them, on account of religion, +sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever." And the third +article, "the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship," +declares that the free citizens of one State shall be free citizens +of another. From this it is, I think, manifest that no idea of one +united nation had at that time been received and adopted by the +citizens of the States. The articles then go on to define the way +in which Congress shall assemble and what shall be its powers. This +Congress was to exercise the authority of a national Government +rather than perform the work of a national Parliament. It was +intended to be executive rather than legislative. It was to consist +of delegates, the very number of which within certain limits was to +be left to the option of the individual States, and to this Congress +was to be confided certain duties and privileges, which could not +be performed or exercised separately by the Governments of the +individual States. One special article, the eleventh, enjoins that +"Canada, acceding to the Confederation, and joining in the measures +of the United States, shall be admitted into and entitled to all +the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted +into the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine States." I +mention this to show how strong was the expectation at that time that +Canada also would revolt from England. Up to this day few Americans +can understand why Canada has declined to join her lot to them. + +But the compact between the different States made by the Articles of +Confederation, and the mode of national procedure therein enjoined, +were found to be inefficient for the wants of a people who to be +great must be united in fact as well as in name. The theory of the +most democratic among the Americans of that day was in favour of +self-government carried to an extreme. Self-government was the Utopia +which they had determined to realize, and they were unwilling to +diminish the reality of the self-government of the individual States +by any centralization of power in one head, or in one Parliament, or +in one set of ministers for the nation. For ten years, from 1777 to +1787, the attempt was made; but then it was found that a stronger +bond of nationality was indispensable, if any national greatness +was to be regarded as desirable. Indeed, all manner of failure had +attended the mode of national action ordained by the Articles of +Confederation. I am not attempting to write a history of the United +States, and will not therefore trouble my readers with historic +details, which are not of value unless put forward with historic +weight. The fact of the failure is however admitted, and the present +written constitution of the United States, which is the splendid +result of that failure, was "Done in Convention by the unanimous +consent of the States present."* Twelve States were present,--Rhode +Island apparently having had no representative on the occasion,--on +the 17th September, 1787, and in the twelfth year of the Independence +of the United States. + + *It must not, however, be supposed that by this "doing in + convention," the constitution became an accepted fact. It simply + amounted to the adoption of a proposal of the constitution. + The constitution itself was formally adopted by the people in + conventions held in their separate State capitals. It was agreed + to by the people in 1788, and came into operation in 1789. + +I call the result splendid, seeing that under this constitution so +written a nation has existed for three quarters of a century and +has grown in numbers, power, and wealth till it has made itself the +political equal of the other greatest nations of the earth. And it +cannot be said that it has so grown in spite of the constitution, or +by ignoring the constitution. Hitherto the laws there laid down for +the national guidance have been found adequate for the great purpose +assigned to them, and have done all that which the framers of them +hoped that they might effect. We all know what has been the fate of +the constitutions which were written throughout the French revolution +for the use of France. We all, here in England, have the same +ludicrous conception of Utopian theories of government framed by +philosophical individuals who imagine that they have learned from +books a perfect system of managing nations. To produce such theories +is especially the part of a Frenchman; to disbelieve in them is +especially the part of an Englishman. But in the States a system of +government has been produced, under a written constitution, in which +no Englishman can disbelieve, and which every Frenchman must envy. +It has done its work. The people have been free, well-educated, +and politically great. Those among us who are most inclined at the +present moment to declare that the institutions of the United States +have failed, can at any rate only declare that they have failed in +their finality; that they have shown themselves to be insufficient to +carry on the nation in its advancing strides through all times. They +cannot deny that an amount of success and prosperity, much greater +than the nation even expected for itself, has been achieved under +this constitution and in connection with it. If it be so they cannot +disbelieve in it. Let those who now say that it is insufficient, +consider what their prophecies regarding it would have been had they +been called on to express their opinions concerning it when it was +proposed in 1787. If the future as it has since come forth had then +been foretold for it, would not such a prophecy have been a prophecy +of success? That constitution is now at the period of its hardest +trial, and at this moment one may hardly dare to speak of it with +triumph; but looking at the nation even in its present position, I +think I am justified in saying that its constitution is one in which +no Englishman can disbelieve. When I also say that it is one which +every Frenchman must envy, perhaps I am improperly presuming that +Frenchmen could not look at it with Englishmen's eyes. + +When the constitution came to be written, a man had arisen in the +States who was peculiarly suited for the work in hand; he was one +of those men to whom the world owes much, and of whom the world in +general knows but little. This was Alexander Hamilton, who alone on +the part of the great State of New York signed the constitution of +the United States. The other States sent two, three, four, or more +delegates; New York sent Hamilton alone; but in sending him New York +sent more to the constitution than all the other States together. I +should be hardly saying too much for Hamilton if I were to declare +that all those parts of the constitution emanated from him in which +permanent political strength has abided. And yet his name has not +been spread abroad widely in men's mouths. Of Jefferson, Franklin, +and Madison, we have all heard; our children speak of them and they +are household words in the nursery of history. Of Hamilton however it +may, I believe, be said that he was greater than any of those. + +Without going with minuteness into the early contests of democracy +in the United States, I think I may say that there soon arose two +parties, each probably equally anxious in the cause of freedom, +one of which was conspicuous for its French predilections, and the +other for its English aptitudes. It was the period of the French +revolution,--the time when the French revolution had in it as yet +something of promise, and had not utterly disgraced itself. To many +in America the French theory of democracy not unnaturally endeared +itself, and foremost among these was Thomas Jefferson. He was the +father of those politicians in the States who have since taken the +name of democrats, and in accordance with whose theory it has come to +pass that everything has been referred to the universal suffrage of +the people. James Madison, who succeeded Jefferson as President, was +a pupil in this school, as indeed have been most of the Presidents of +the United States. At the head of the other party, from which through +various denominations have sprung those who now call themselves +republicans, was Alexander Hamilton. I believe I may say that all the +political sympathies of George Washington were with the same school. +Washington, however, was rather a man of feeling and of action, than +of theoretical policy or speculative opinion. When the constitution +was written, Jefferson was in France, having been sent thither as +minister from the United States, and he therefore was debarred from +concerning himself personally in the matter. His views, however, +were represented by Madison, and it is now generally understood that +the Constitution, as it stands, is the joint work of Madison and +Hamilton.* The democratic bias, of which it necessarily contains +much, and without which it could not have obtained the consent of +the people, was furnished by Madison; but the conservative elements, +of which it possesses much more than superficial observers of the +American form of government are wont to believe, came from Hamilton. + + *It should, perhaps, be explained that the views of Madison + were originally not opposed to those of Hamilton. Madison, + however, gradually adopted the policy of Jefferson,--his policy + rather than his philosophy. + +The very preamble of the constitution at once declares that the +people of the different States do hereby join themselves together +with the view of forming themselves into one nation. "We, the +people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, +establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the +common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings +of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish +this constitution for the United States of America." Here a great +step was made towards centralization,--towards one national +government and the binding together of the States into one nation. +But from that time down to the present, the contest has been going +on, sometimes openly and sometimes only within the minds of men, +between the still alleged sovereignty of the individual States and +the acknowledged sovereignty of the central Congress and central +Government. The disciples of Jefferson,--even though they have +not known themselves to be his disciples,--have been carrying on +that fight for State rights which has ended in secession; and the +disciples of Hamilton,--certainly not knowing themselves to be his +disciples,--have been making that stand for central government, and +for the one acknowledged republic, which is now at work in opposing +secession, and which, even though secession should to some extent +be accomplished, will, we may hope, nevertheless, and not the less +on account of such secession, conquer and put down the spirit of +democracy. + +The political contest of parties which is being waged now, and which +has been waged throughout the history of the United States, has +been pursued on one side in support of that idea of an undivided +nationality of which I have spoken,--of a nationality in which the +interests of a part should be esteemed as the interests of the whole; +and on the other side it has been pursued in opposition to that idea. +I will not here go into the interminable question of slavery,--though +it is on that question that the southern or democratic States have +most loudly declared their own sovereign rights and their aversion to +national interference. Were I to do so I should fail in my present +object of explaining the nature of the constitution of the United +States. But I protest against any argument which shall be used to +show that the constitution has failed because it has allowed slavery +to produce the present division among the States. I myself think that +the Southern or Gulf States will go. I will not pretend to draw the +exact line, or to say how many of them are doomed; but I believe that +South Carolina with Georgia, and perhaps five or six others, will be +extruded from the Union. But their very extrusion will be a political +success, and will, in fact, amount to a virtual acknowledgment in +the body of the Union of the truth of that system for which the +conservative republican party has contended. If the North obtain +the power of settling that question of boundary, the abandonment of +those southern States will be a success, even though the privilege of +retaining them be the very point for which the North is now in arms. + +The first clause of the constitution declares that all the +legislative powers granted by the constitution shall be vested +in a Congress, which shall consist of a Senate and of a House of +Representatives. The House of Representatives is to be rechosen every +two years, and shall be elected by the people, such persons in each +State having votes for the national Congress as have votes for the +legislature of their own States. If therefore South Carolina should +choose--as she has chosen--to declare that the electors of her own +legislature shall possess a property qualification, the electors +of members of Congress from South Carolina must also have that +qualification. In Massachusetts universal suffrage now prevails, +although it is not long since a low property qualification prevailed +even in Massachusetts. It therefore follows that members of the House +of Representatives in Congress need by no means be all chosen on the +same principle. As a fact, universal suffrage* and vote by ballot, +that is by open voting papers, prevail in the States, but they do not +so prevail by virtue of any enactment of the constitution. The laws +of the States, however, require that the voter shall have been a +resident in the State for some period, and generally either deny +the right of voting to negroes, or so hamper that privilege that +practically it amounts to the same thing. + + *Perhaps the better word would have been manhood suffrage; + and even that word should be taken with certain restrictions. + Aliens, minors, convicts, and men who pay no taxes cannot vote. + In some States none can vote unless they can read and write. + In some there is a property qualification. In all there are + special restrictions against negroes. There is in none an + absolutely universal suffrage. But I keep the name as it best + expresses to us in England the system of franchise which has + practically come to prevail in the United States. + + +The Senate of the United States is composed of two senators from each +State. These senators are chosen for six years, and are elected in a +manner which shows the conservative tendency of the constitution with +more signification than perhaps any other rule which it contains. +This branch of Congress, which, as I shall presently endeavour to +show, is by far the more influential of the two, is not in any way +elected by the people. "The Senate of the United States shall be +composed of two senators from each State, _chosen by the legislature +thereof_, for six years, and each senator shall have one voice." +The Senate sent to Congress is therefore elected by the State +legislatures. Each State legislature has two Houses; and the senators +sent from that State to Congress are either chosen by vote of the +two Houses voting together--which is, I believe, the mode adopted +in most States, or are voted for in the two Houses separately--in +which cases, when different candidates have been nominated, the +two Houses confer by committees and settle the matter between them. +The conservative purpose of the constitution is here sufficiently +evident. The intention has been to take the election of the senators +away from the people, and to confide it to that body in each State +which may be regarded as containing its best trusted citizens. It +removes the senators far away from the democratic element, and +renders them liable to the necessity of no popular canvas. Nor am I +aware that the constitution has failed in keeping the ground which it +intended to hold in this matter. On some points its selected rocks +and chosen standing ground have slipped from beneath its feet, owing +to the weakness of words in defining and making solid the intended +prohibitions against democracy. The wording of the constitution has +been regarded by the people as sacred; but the people has considered +itself justified in opposing the spirit as long as it revered the +letter of the constitution. And this was natural. For the letter +of the constitution can be read by all men; but its spirit can be +understood comparatively but by few. As regards the election of the +senators, I believe that it has been fairly made by the legislatures +of the different States. I have not heard it alleged that members +of the State legislatures have been frequently constrained by +the outside popular voice to send this or that man as senator to +Washington. It was clearly not the intention of those who wrote the +constitution that they should be so constrained. But the Senators +themselves in Washington have submitted to restraint. On subjects in +which the people are directly interested they submit to instructions +from the legislatures which have sent them as to the side on which +they shall vote, and justify themselves in voting against their +convictions by the fact that they have received such instructions. +Such a practice, even with the members of a House which has been +directly returned by popular election, is, I think, false to the +intention of the system. It has clearly been intended that confidence +should be put in the chosen candidate for the term of his duty, +and that the electors are to be bound in the expression of their +opinion by his sagacity and patriotism for that term. A member of +a representative House so chosen, who votes at the bidding of his +constituency in opposition to his convictions, is manifestly false to +his charge, and may be presumed to be thus false in deference to his +own personal interests, and with a view to his own future standing +with his constituents. Pledges before election may be fair, because +a pledge given is after all but the answer to a question asked. A +voter may reasonably desire to know a candidate's opinion on any +matter of political interest before he votes for or against him. +The representative when returned should be free from the necessity +of further pledges. But if this be true with a House elected by +popular suffrage, how much more than true must it be with a chamber +collected together as the Senate of the United States is collected! +Nevertheless it is the fact that many senators, especially those +who have been sent to the House as democrats, do allow the State +legislatures to dictate to them their votes, and that they do hold +themselves absolved from the personal responsibility of their +votes by such dictation. This is one place in which the rock which +was thought to have been firm has slipped away, and the sands of +democracy have made their way through. But with reference to this it +is always in the power of the Senate to recover its own ground, and +re-establish its own dignity; to the people in this matter the words +of the constitution give no authority, and all that is necessary for +the recovery of the old practice is a more conservative tendency +throughout the country generally. That there is such a conservative +tendency no one can doubt; the fear is whether it may not work too +quickly and go too far. + +In speaking of these instructions given to senators at Washington, +I should explain that such instructions are not given by all States, +nor are they obeyed by all senators. Occasionally they are made in +the form of requests, the word "instruct" being purposely laid aside. +Requests of the same kind are also made to representatives, who, as +they are not returned by the State legislatures, are not considered +to be subject to such instructions. The form used is as follows: "We +instruct our senators and request our representatives," &c. &c. + +The senators are elected for six years, but the same Senate does not +sit entire throughout that term. The whole chamber is divided into +three equal portions or classes, and a portion goes out at the end of +every second year; so that a third of the Senate comes in afresh with +every new House of Representatives. The Vice-President of the United +States, who is elected with the President, and who is not a senator +by election from any State, is the ex-officio President of the +Senate. Should the President of the United States vacate his seat +by death or otherwise, the Vice-President becomes President of the +United States; and in such case the Senate elects its own President +pro tempore. + +In speaking of the Senate, I must point out a matter to which the +constitution does not allude, but which is of the gravest moment in +the political fabric of the nation. Each State sends two senators +to Congress. These two are sent altogether independently of the +population which they represent, or of the number of members which +the same State supplies to the Lower House. When the constitution +was framed, Delaware was to send one member to the House of +Representatives, and Pennsylvania eight; nevertheless, each of these +States sent two senators. It would seem strange that a young people, +commencing business as a nation on a basis intended to be democratic, +should consent to a system so directly at variance with the theory of +popular representation. It reminds one of the old days when Yorkshire +returned two members, and Rutlandshire two also. And the discrepancy +has greatly increased as young States have been added to the Union, +while the old States have increased in population. New York, with a +population of about 4,000,000, and with thirty-three members in the +House of Representatives, sends two senators to Congress. The new +State of Oregon, with a population of 50,000 or 60,000, and with one +member in the House of Representatives, sends also two senators to +Congress. But though it would seem that in such a distribution of +legislative power, the young nation was determined to preserve some +of the old fantastic traditions of the mother-country which it had +just repudiated; the fact, I believe, is that this system, apparently +so opposed to all democratic tendencies, was produced and specially +insisted upon by democracy itself. Where would be the State +sovereignty and individual existence of Rhode Island and Delaware, +unless they could maintain, in at least one House of Congress, their +State equality with that of all other States in the Union? In those +early days, when the constitution was being framed, there was nothing +to force the small States into a Union with those whose populations +preponderated. Each State was sovereign in its municipal system, +having preserved the boundaries of the old colony, together with the +liberties and laws given to it under its old colonial charter. A +union might be, and no doubt was, desirable; but it was to be a union +of sovereign States, each retaining equal privileges in that union, +and not a fusion of the different populations into one homogeneous +whole. No State was willing to abandon its own individuality, and +least of all were the small States willing to do so. It was therefore +ordained that the House of Representatives should represent the +people, and that the Senate should represent the States. + +From that day to the present time the arrangement of which I am +speaking has enabled the democratic or southern party to contend +at a great advantage with the republicans of the North. When the +constitution was founded, the seven northern States--I call those +northern which are now free-soil States, and those southern in which +the institution of slavery now prevails--the seven northern States +were held to be entitled by their population to send thirty-five +members to the House of Representatives, and they sent fourteen +members to the Senate. The six southern States were entitled to +thirty members in the Lower House, and to twelve senators. Thus the +proportion was about equal for the North and South. But now,--or +rather in 1860, when secession commenced,--the northern States, +owing to the increase of population in the North, sent one hundred +and fifty representatives to Congress, having nineteen States and +thirty-eight senators; whereas the South, with fifteen States and +thirty senators, was entitled by its population to only ninety +representatives, although by a special rule in its favour, which +I will presently explain, it was in fact allowed a greater number +of representatives in proportion to its population than the North. +Had an equal balance been preserved, the South, with its ninety +representatives in the Lower House, would have but twenty-three +senators, instead of thirty, in the Upper.* But these numbers +indicate to us the recovery of political influence in the North, +rather than the pride of the power of the South; for the South, +in its palmy days, had much more in its favour than I have above +described as its position in 1860. Kansas had then just become a +free-soil State, after a terrible struggle, and shortly previous +to that Oregon and Minnesota, also free States, had been added to +the Union. Up to that date the slave States sent thirty senators to +Congress, and the free States only thirty-two. In addition to this +when Texas was annexed and converted into a State, a clause was +inserted into the Act giving authority for the future subdivision +of that State into four different States as its population should +increase, thereby enabling the South to add senators to its own party +from time to time, as the northern States might increase in number. + + *It is worthy of note that the new northern and western States + have been brought into the Union by natural increase and the + spread of population. But this has not been so with the new + southern States. Louisiana and Florida were purchased, and Texas + was--annexed. + +And here I must explain, in order that the nature of the contest may +be understood, that the senators from the South maintained themselves +ever in a compact body, voting together, true to each other, +disciplined as a party, understanding the necessity of yielding in +small things in order that their general line of policy might be +maintained. But there was no such system, no such observance of +political tactics among the senators of the North. Indeed, they +appear to have had no general line of politics, having been divided +among themselves on various matters. Many had strong southern +tendencies, and many more were willing to obtain official power by +the help of southern votes. There was no great bond of union among +them, as slavery was among the senators from the South. And thus, +from these causes, the power of the Senate and the power of the +Government fell into the hands of the southern party. + +I am aware that in going into these matters here I am departing +somewhat from the subject of which this chapter is intended to treat; +but I do not know that I could explain in any shorter way the manner +in which those rules of the constitution have worked by which the +composition of the Senate is fixed. That State basis, as opposed to a +basis of population in the Upper House of Congress, has been the one +great political weapon, both of offence and defence, in the hands of +the democratic party. And yet I am not prepared to deny that great +wisdom was shown in the framing of the constitution of the Senate. It +was the object of none of the politicians then at work to create a +code of rules for the entire governance of a single nation such as +is England or France. Nor, had any American politician of the time +so desired, would he have had reasonable hope of success. A federal +union of separate sovereign States was the necessity, as it was also +the desire, of all those who were concerned in the American policy of +the day; and I think it may be understood and maintained that no such +federal union would have been just, or could have been accepted by +the smaller States, which did not in some direct way recognize their +equality with the larger States. It is moreover to be observed, that +in this, as in all matters, the claims of the minority were treated +with indulgence. No ordinance of the constitution is made in a +niggardly spirit. It would seem as though they who met together to +do the work had been actuated by no desire for selfish preponderance +or individual influence. No ambition to bind close by words which +shall be exacting as well as exact is apparent. A very broad power of +interpretation is left to those who were to be the future +interpreters of the written document. + +It is declared that "Representation and direct taxes shall be +apportioned among the several States which may be included within +this Union according to their respective numbers," thereby meaning +that representation and taxation in the several States shall be +adjusted according to the population. This clause ordains that +throughout all the States a certain amount of population shall +return a member to the Lower House of Congress,--say one member to +100,000 persons, as is I believe about the present proportion,--and +that direct taxation shall be levied according to the number of +representatives. If New York return thirty-three members and Kansas +one, on New York shall be levied, for the purposes of the United +States' revenue, thirty-three times as much direct taxation as on +Kansas. This matter of direct taxation was not then, nor has it been +since, matter of much moment. No direct taxation has hitherto been +levied in the United States for national purposes. But the time has +now come when this proviso will be a terrible stumbling-block in the +way. + +But before we go into that matter of taxation, I must explain how the +South was again favoured with reference to its representation. As a +matter of course no slaves, or even negroes--no men of colour--were +to vote in the southern States. Therefore, one would say, that +in counting up the people with reference to the number of the +representatives, the coloured population should be ignored +altogether. But it was claimed on behalf of the South that their +property in slaves should be represented, and in compliance with this +claim, although no slave can vote or in any way demand the services +of a representative, the coloured people are reckoned among the +population. When the numbers of the free persons are counted, to this +number is added "three-fifths of all other persons." Five slaves are +thus supposed to represent three white persons. From the wording, +one would be led to suppose that there was some other category into +which a man might be put besides that of free or slave! But it may +be observed, that on this subject of slavery the framers of the +constitution were tender-mouthed. They never speak of slavery or +of a slave. It is necessary that the subject should be mentioned, +and therefore we hear first of persons other than free, and then of +persons bound to labour! + +Such were the rules laid down for the formation of Congress, and the +letter of those rules has, I think, been strictly observed. I have +not thought it necessary to give all the clauses, but I believe I +have stated those which are essential to a general understanding of +the basis upon which Congress is founded. A reference to the Appendix +will show all those which I have omitted. + +The constitution ordains that members of both the Houses shall be +paid for their time, but it does not decree the amount. "The senators +and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, +to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United +States." In the remarks which I have made as to the present Congress +I have spoken of the amount now allowed. The understanding, I +believe, is that the pay shall be enough for the modest support of +a man who is supposed to have raised himself above the heads of the +crowd. Much may be said in favour of this payment of legislators, +but very much may also be said against it. There was a time when our +members of the House of Commons were entitled to payment for their +services, and when, at any rate, some of them took the money. It +may be that with a new nation such an arrangement was absolutely +necessary. Men whom the people could trust, and who would have been +able to give up their time without payment, would not have probably +been found in a new community. The choice of senators and of +representatives would have been so limited that the legislative power +would have fallen into the hands of a few rich men. Indeed it may be +said that such payment was absolutely necessary in the early days +of the life of the Union. But no one, I think, will deny that the +tone of both Houses would be raised by the gratuitous service of the +legislators. It is well known that politicians find their way into +the Senate and into the Chamber of Representatives solely with a +view to the loaves and fishes. The very word "politician" is foul +and unsavoury throughout the States, and means rather a political +blackleg than a political patriot. It is useless to blink this matter +in speaking of the politics and policy of the United States. The +corruption of the venial politicians of the nation stinks aloud in +the nostrils of all men. It behoves the country to look to this. +It is time now that she should do so. The people of the nation are +educated and clever. The women are bright and beautiful. Her charity +is profuse; her philanthropy is eager and true; her national ambition +is noble and honest,--honest in the cause of civilization. But she +has soiled herself with political corruption, and has disgraced the +cause of republican government by the dirt of those whom she has +placed in her high places. Let her look to it now. She is nobly +ambitious of reputation throughout the earth; she desires to be +called good as well as great; to be regarded not only as powerful, +but also as beneficent. She is creating an army; she is forging +cannon and preparing to build impregnable ships of war. But all these +will fail to satisfy her pride, unless she can cleanse herself from +that corruption by which her political democracy has debased itself. +A politician should be a man worthy of all honour, in that he loves +his country; and not one worthy of all contempt, in that he robs his +country. + +I must not be understood as saying that every senator and +representative who takes his pay is wrong in taking it. Indeed, I +have already expressed an opinion that such payments were at first +necessary, and I by no means now say that the necessity has as yet +disappeared. In the minds of thorough democrats it will be considered +much that the poorest man of the people should be enabled to go into +the legislature, if such poorest man be worthy of that honour. I am +not a thorough democrat, and consider that more would be gained by +obtaining in the legislature that education, demeanour, and freedom +from political temptation which easy circumstances produce. I am not, +however, on this account inclined to quarrel with the democrats,--not +on that account if they can so manage their affairs that their poor +and popular politicians shall be fairly honest men. But I am a +thorough republican, regarding our own English form of government +as the most purely republican that I know, and as such I have a +close and warm sympathy with those trans-Atlantic anti-monarchical +republicans who are endeavouring to prove to the world that they have +at length founded a political Utopia. I for one do not grudge them +all the good they can do, all the honour they can win. But I grieve +over the evil name which now taints them, and which has accompanied +that wider spread of democracy which the last twenty years has +produced. This longing for universal suffrage in all things--in +voting for the President, in voting for judges, in voting for the +representatives, in dictating to senators, has come up since the days +of President Jackson, and with it has come corruption and unclean +hands. Democracy must look to it, or the world at large will declare +her to have failed. + +One would say that at any rate the Senate might be filled with unpaid +servants of the public. Each State might surely find two men who +could afford to attend to the public weal of their country without +claiming a compensation for their time. In England we find no +difficulty in being so served. Those cities among us in which the +democratic element most strongly abounds, can procure representatives +to their mind--even though the honour of filling the position is not +only not remunerative, but is very costly. I cannot but think that +the Senate of the United States would stand higher in the public +estimation of its own country if it were an unpaid body of men. + +It is enjoined that no person holding any office under the United +States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in +office. At first sight such a rule as this appears to be good in +its nature; but a comparison of the practice of the United States' +Government with that of our own makes me think that this embargo +on members of the legislative bodies is a mistake. It prohibits +the President's ministers from a seat in either House, and thereby +relieves them from the weight of that responsibility to which our +ministers are subjected. It is quite true that the United States' +ministers cannot be responsible as are our ministers, seeing that +the President himself is responsible and that the Queen is not so. +Indeed, according to the theory of the American constitution, the +President has no ministers. The constitution speaks only of the +principal officers of the executive departments. "He," the President, +"may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each +of the executive departments." But in practice he has his cabinet, +and the irresponsibility of that cabinet would practically cease +if the members of it were subjected to the questionings of the two +Houses. With us the rule which prohibits servants of the State from +going into Parliament is, like many of our constitutional rules, hard +to be defined, and yet perfectly understood. It may perhaps be said, +with the nearest approach to a correct definition, that permanent +servants of the State may not go into Parliament, and that those may +do so whose services are political, depending for the duration of +their term on the duration of the existing ministry. But even this +would not be exact, seeing that the Master of the Rolls and the +officers of the army and navy can sit in Parliament. The absence +of the President's ministers from Congress certainly occasions +much confusion, or rather prohibits a more thorough political +understanding between the executive and the legislative than now +exists. In speaking of the Government of the United States in the +next chapter, I shall be constrained to allude again to this +subject.* + + *It will be alleged by Americans that the introduction into + Congress of the President's ministers would alter all the + existing relations of the President and of Congress, and would + at once produce that Parliamentary form of Government which + England possesses, and which the States have chosen to avoid. + Such a change would elevate Congress, and depress the President. + No doubt this is true. Such elevation, however, and such + depression seem to me to be the two things needed. + +The duties of the House of Representatives are solely legislative. +Those of the Senate are legislative and executive--as with us those +of the Upper House are legislative and judicial. The House of +Representatives is always open to the public. The Senate is so open +when it is engaged on legislative work; but it is closed to the +public when engaged in executive session. No treaties can be made by +the President, and no appointments to high offices confirmed without +the consent of the Senate; and this consent must be given--as regards +the confirmation of treaties--by two-thirds of the members present. +This law gives to the Senate the power of debating with closed +doors upon the nature of all treaties, and upon the conduct of the +Government as evinced in the nomination of the officers of State. +It also gives to the Senate a considerable control over the foreign +relations of the Government. I believe that this power is often used, +and that by it the influence of the Senate is raised much above +that of the Lower House. This influence is increased again by the +advantage of that superior statecraft and political knowledge which +the six years of the senator gives him over the two years of the +representative. The tried representative, moreover, very frequently +blossoms into a senator; but a senator does not frequently fade into +a representative. Such occasionally is the case, and it is not even +unconstitutional for an ex-President to re-appear in either House. +Mr. Benton, after thirty years' service in the Senate, sat in the +House of Representatives. Mr. Crittenden, who was returned as senator +by Kentucky, I think seven times, now sits in the Lower House; and +John Quincy Adams appeared as a representative from Massachusetts +after he had filled the Presidential chair. + +And, moreover, the Senate of the United States is not debarred from +an interference with money bills, as the House of Lords is debarred +with us. "All bills for raising revenue," says the seventh section +of the first article of the constitution, "shall originate with the +House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with +amendments as on other bills." By this the Senate is enabled to have +an authority in the money matters of the nation almost equal to that +held by the Lower House,--an authority quite sufficient to preserve +to it the full influence of its other powers. With us the House +of Commons is altogether in the ascendant, because it holds and +jealously keeps to itself the exclusive command of the public purse. + +Congress can levy custom duties in the United States, and always has +done so; hitherto the national revenue has been exclusively raised +from custom duties. It cannot levy duties on imports. It can levy +excise duties, and is now doing so; hitherto it has not done so. It +can levy direct taxes, such as an income-tax and a property-tax; it +hitherto has not done so, but now must do so. It must do so, I think +I am justified in saying; but its power of doing this is so hampered +by constitutional enactment, that it would seem that the constitution +as regards this heading must be altered before any scheme can be +arranged by which a moderately just income-tax can be levied and +collected. This difficulty I have already mentioned, but perhaps it +will be well that I should endeavour to make the subject more plain. +It is specially declared, "That all duties, imposts, and excises +shall be uniform throughout the United States." And again, "That no +capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion +to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken." And +again, in the words before quoted, "Representatives and direct taxes +shall be apportioned among the several States which shall be included +in this Union, according to their respective numbers." By these +repeated rules it has been intended to decree that the separate +States shall bear direct taxation according to their population and +the consequent number of their representatives; and this intention +has been made so clear, that no direct taxation can be levied in +opposition to it without an evident breach of the constitution. To +explain the way in which this will work, I will name the two States +of Rhode Island and Iowa as opposed to each other, and the two States +of Massachusetts and Indiana as opposed to each other. Rhode Island +and Massachusetts are wealthy Atlantic States, containing, as regards +enterprise and commercial success, the cream of the population of the +United States. Comparing them in the ratio of population, I believe +that they are richer than any other States. They return between them +thirteen representatives, Rhode Island sending two and Massachusetts +eleven. Iowa and Indiana also send thirteen representatives, Iowa +sending two, and being thus equal to Rhode Island; Indiana sending +eleven and being thus equal to Massachusetts. Iowa and Indiana are +western States; and though I am not prepared to say that they are +the poorest States of the Union, I can assert that they are exactly +opposite in their circumstances to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. +The two Atlantic States of New England are old established, rich, +and commercial. The two western States I have named are full of +new immigrants, are comparatively poor, and are agricultural. +Nevertheless any direct taxation levied on those in the East and +on those in the West must be equal in its weight. Iowa must pay as +much as Rhode Island; Indiana must pay as much as Massachusetts. +But Rhode Island and Massachusetts could pay without the sacrifice +of any comfort to its people, without any sensible suffering, an +amount of direct taxation which would crush the States of Iowa and +Indiana,--which indeed no tax-gatherer could collect out of those +States. Rhode Island and Massachusetts could with their ready money +buy Iowa and Indiana; and yet the income-tax to be collected from +the poor States is to be the same in amount as that collected from +the rich States. Within each individual State the total amount of +income-tax or of other direct taxation to be levied from that State +may be apportioned as the State may think fit; but an income-tax of +two per cent. on Rhode Island would probably produce more than an +income-tax of ten per cent. in Iowa; whereas Rhode Island could pay +an income-tax of ten per cent. easier than could Iowa one of two per +cent. + +It would in fact appear that the constitution as at present framed is +fatal to all direct taxation. Any law for the collection of direct +taxation levied under the constitution would produce internecine +quarrel between the western States and those which border on the +Atlantic. The western States would not submit to the taxation. The +difficulty which one here feels is that which always attends an +attempt at finality in political arrangements. One would be inclined +to say at once that the law should be altered, and that as the money +required is for the purposes of the Union and for State purposes, +such a change should be made as would enable Congress to levy an +income-tax on the general income of the nation. But Congress cannot +go beyond the constitution. + +It is true that the constitution is not final, and that it contains +an express article ordaining the manner in which it may be amended. +And perhaps I may as well explain here the manner in which this can +be done, although by doing so, I am departing from the order in which +the constitution is written. It is not final, and amendments have +been made to it. But the making of such amendments is an operation +so ponderous and troublesome, that the difficulty attached to any +such change envelops the constitution with many of the troubles of +finality. With us there is nothing beyond an act of parliament. An +act of parliament with us cannot be unconstitutional. But no such +power has been confided to Congress, or to Congress and the President +together. No amendment of the constitution can be made without +the sanction of the State legislatures. Congress may propose any +amendments, as to the expediency of which two-thirds of both Houses +shall be agreed; but before such amendments can be accepted they must +be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States, or +by conventions in three-fourths of the States, "as the one or the +other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress." Or Congress, +instead of proposing the amendments, may, on an application from the +legislatures of two-thirds of the different States, call a convention +for the proposing of them. In which latter case the ratification by +the different States must be made after the same fashion as that +required in the former case. I do not know that I have succeeded +in making clearly intelligible the circumstances under which the +constitution can be amended; but I think I may have succeeded in +explaining that those circumstances are difficult and tedious. In a +matter of taxation why should States agree to an alteration proposed +with the very object of increasing their proportion of the national +burden? But unless such States will agree,--unless Rhode Island, +Massachusetts, and New York will consent to put their own necks into +the yoke,--direct taxation cannot be levied on them in a manner +available for national purposes. I do believe that Rhode Island and +Massachusetts at present possess a patriotism sufficient for such an +act. But the mode of doing the work will create disagreement, or at +any rate, tedious delay and difficulty. How shall the constitution be +constitutionally amended while one-third of the States are in revolt? + +In the eighth section of its first article the Constitution gives +a list of the duties which Congress shall perform,--of things, in +short, which it shall do, or shall have power to do:--To raise taxes; +to regulate commerce and the naturalization of citizens; to coin +money and protect it when coined; to establish postal communication; +to make laws for defence of patents and copyrights; to constitute +national courts of law inferior to the Supreme Court; to punish +piracies; to declare war; to raise, pay for, and govern armies, +navies, and militia; and to exercise exclusive legislation in a +certain district which shall contain the seat of Government of the +United States, and which is therefore to be regarded as belonging to +the nation at large, and not to any particular State. This district +is now called the district of Columbia. It is situated on the Potomac +and contains the city of Washington. + +Then the ninth section of the same article declares what Congress +shall not do. Certain immigration shall not be prohibited; _the +privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended_, +except under certain circumstances; no ex post facto law shall be +passed; no direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the +census; no tax shall be laid on exports; no money shall be drawn from +the treasury but by legal appropriation; no title of nobility shall +be granted. + +The above are lists or catalogues of the powers which Congress has, +and of the powers which Congress has not; of what Congress may do, +and of what Congress may not do; and having given them thus seriatim, +I may here perhaps be best enabled to say a few words as to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the +United States. It is generally known that this privilege has been +suspended during the existence of the present rebellion very many +times; that this has been done by the executive, and not by Congress; +and that it is maintained by the executive, and by those who defend +the conduct of the now acting executive of the United States, that +the power of suspending the writ has been given by the constitution +to the President, and not to Congress. I confess that I cannot +understand how any man, familiar either with the wording or with the +spirit of the constitution should hold such an argument. To me it +appears manifest that the executive, in suspending the privilege of +the writ without the authority of Congress, has committed a breach +of the constitution. Were the case one referring to our British +constitution, a plain man, knowing little of Parliamentary usage, +and nothing of law lore, would probably feel some hesitation in +expressing any decided opinion on such a subject, seeing that our +constitution is unwritten. But the intention has been that every +citizen of the United States should know and understand the rules +under which he is to live,--and he that runs may read. + +As this matter has been argued by Mr. Horace Binney, a lawyer of +Philadelphia, much trusted, of very great and of deserved eminence +throughout the States, in a pamphlet in which he defends the +suspension of the privilege of the writ by the President, I will take +the position of the question as summed up by him in his last page, +and compare it with that clause in the constitution by which the +suspension of the privilege under certain circumstances is decreed; +and to enable me to do this I will, in the first place, quote the +words of the clause in question:-- + +"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended +unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may +require it." It is the second clause of that section which states +what Congress shall not do. + +Mr. Binney argues as follows:--"The conclusion of the whole matter +is this: that the constitution itself is the law of the privilege, +and of the exception to it; that the exception is expressed in the +constitution, and that the constitution gives effect to the act of +suspension when the conditions occur; that the conditions consist of +two matters of fact,--one a naked matter of fact, and the other a +matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, that is to say, rebellion and +the public danger, or the requirement of public safety." By these +words Mr. Binney intends to imply that the constitution itself gave +the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and itself prescribes the +taking away of that privilege under certain circumstances. But this +is not so. The constitution does not prescribe the suspension of the +privilege of the writ under any circumstances. It says that it shall +not be suspended except under certain circumstances. Mr. Binney's +argument, if I understand it, then goes on as follows. As the +constitution prescribes the circumstances under which the privilege +of the writ shall be suspended, the one circumstance being the naked +matter-of-fact rebellion, and the other circumstance the public +safety supposed to have been endangered by such rebellion,--which Mr. +Binney calls a matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, the constitution +must be presumed itself to suspend the privilege of the writ. Whether +the President or Congress be the agent of the constitution in this +suspension is not matter of moment. Either can only be an agent, +and as Congress cannot act executively, whereas the President must +ultimately be charged with the executive administration of the +order for that suspension, which has in fact been issued by the +constitution itself, therefore the power of exercising the suspension +of the writ may properly be presumed to be in the hands of the +President, and not to be in the hands of Congress. + +If I follow Mr. Binney's argument, it amounts to so much. But it +seems to me that Mr. Binney is wrong in his premises, and wrong in +his conclusion. The article of the constitution in question does not +define the conditions under which the privilege of the writ shall +be suspended. It simply states that this privilege shall never be +suspended, except under certain conditions. It shall not be suspended +unless when the public safety may require such suspension on account +of rebellion or invasion. Rebellion or invasion is not necessarily to +produce such suspension. There is indeed no naked matter of fact to +guide either President or Congress in the matter, and therefore I say +that Mr. Binney is wrong in his premises. Rebellion or invasion might +occur twenty times over, and might even endanger the public safety, +without justifying the suspension of the privilege of the writ +under the constitution. I say also that Mr. Binney is wrong in his +conclusion. The public safety must require the suspension before the +suspension can be justified, and such requirement must be a matter +for judgment, and for the exercise of discretion. Whether or no there +shall be any suspension is a matter for deliberation,--not one simply +for executive action, as though it were already ordered. There is no +matter-of-fact conclusion from facts. Should invasion or rebellion +occur, and should the public safety, in consequence of such rebellion +or invasion, require the suspension of the privilege of the writ, +then, and only then, may the privilege be suspended. But to whom +is the power, or rather the duty, of exercising this discretion +delegated? Mr. Binney says that "there is no express delegation of +the power in the constitution." I maintain that Mr. Binney is again +wrong, and that the constitution does expressly delegate the power, +not to the President, but to Congress. This is done so clearly, to my +mind, that I cannot understand the misunderstanding which has existed +in the States upon the subject. The first article of the constitution +treats "of the legislature." The second article treats "of the +executive." The third treats "of the judiciary." After that there +are certain "miscellaneous articles," so called. The eighth section +of the first article gives, as I have said before, a list of things +which the legislature or Congress shall do. The ninth section gives +a list of things which the legislature or Congress shall not do. The +second item in this list is the prohibition of any suspension of +the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, except under certain +circumstances. This prohibition is therefore expressly placed upon +Congress, and this prohibition contains the only authority under +which the privilege can be constitutionally suspended. Then comes the +article on the executive, which defines the powers that the President +shall exercise. In that article there is no word referring to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ. He that runs may read. + +I say, therefore, that Mr. Lincoln's Government has committed a +breach of the constitution in taking upon itself to suspend the +privilege;--a breach against the letter of the constitution. It has +assumed a power which the constitution has not given it,--which, +indeed, the constitution, by placing it in the hands of another body, +has manifestly declined to put into the hands of the executive; +and it has also committed a breach against the spirit of the +constitution. The chief purport of the constitution is to guard the +liberties of the people, and to confide to a deliberative body the +consideration of all circumstances by which those liberties may be +affected. The President shall command the army; but Congress shall +raise and support the army. Congress shall declare war. Congress +shall coin money. Congress, by one of its bodies, shall sanction +treaties. Congress shall establish such law courts as are not +established by the constitution. Under no circumstances is the +President to decree what shall be done. But he is to do those things +which the constitution has decreed or which Congress shall decree. +It is monstrous to suppose that power over the privilege of the +writ of habeas corpus would, among such a people, and under such a +constitution, be given without limit to the chief officer, the only +condition being that there should be some rebellion. Such rebellion +might be in Utah territory; or some trouble in the uttermost bounds +of Texas would suffice. Any invasion, such as an inroad by the +savages of Old Mexico upon New Mexico, would justify an arbitrary +President in robbing all the people of all the States of their +liberties! A squabble on the borders of Canada would put such a power +into the hands of the President for four years; or the presence of an +English frigate in the St. Juan channel might be held to do so. I say +that such a theory is monstrous. + +And the effect of this breach of the constitution at the present day +has been very disastrous. It has taught those who have not been close +observers of the American struggle to believe that, after all, the +Americans are indifferent as to their liberties. Such pranks have +been played before high heaven by men utterly unfitted for the use +of great power, as have scared all the nations. Mr. Lincoln, the +President by whom this unconstitutional act has been done, apparently +delegated his assumed authority to his minister, Mr. Seward. Mr. +Seward has revelled in the privilege of unrestrained arrests, and has +locked men up with reason and without. He has instituted passports +and surveillance; and placed himself at the head of an omnipresent +police system with all the gusto of a Fouché, though luckily without +a Fouché's craft or cunning. The time will probably come when Mr. +Seward must pay for this,--not with his life or liberty, but with +his reputation and political name. But in the mean time his lettres +de cachet have run everywhere through the States. The pranks which +he played were absurd, and the arrests which he made were grievous. +After a while, when it became manifest that Mr. Seward had not found +a way to success, when it was seen that he had inaugurated no great +mode of putting down rebellion, he apparently lost his power in the +cabinet. The arrests ceased, the passports were discontinued, and the +prison-doors were gradually opened. Mr. Seward was deposed, not from +the cabinet, but from the premiership of the cabinet. The suspension +of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was not countermanded, +but the operation of the suspension was allowed to become less +and less onerous; and now, in April, 1862, within a year of the +commencement of the suspension, it has, I think, nearly died out. +The object in hand now is rather that of getting rid of political +prisoners, than of taking others. + +This assumption by the government of an unconstitutional power has, +as I have said, taught many lookers-on to think that the Americans +are indifferent to their liberties. I myself do not believe that +such a conclusion would be just. During the present crisis the +strong feeling of the people--that feeling which for the moment has +been dominant--has been one in favour of the government as against +rebellion. There has been a passionate resolution to support the +nationality of the nation. Men have felt that they must make +individual sacrifices, and that such sacrifices must include a +temporary suspension of some of their constitutional rights. But I +think that this temporary suspension is already regarded with jealous +eyes;--with an increasing jealousy which will have created a reaction +against such policy as that which Mr. Seward has attempted, long +before the close of Mr. Lincoln's Presidency. I know that it is wrong +in a writer to commit himself to prophecies, but I find it impossible +to write upon this subject without doing so. As I must express a +surmise on this subject, I venture to prophesy that the Americans +of the States will soon show that they are not indifferent to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. On that +matter of the illegality of the suspension by the President I feel +in my own mind that there is no doubt. + +The second article of the constitution treats of the executive, and +is very short. It places the whole executive power in the hands of +the President, and explains with more detail the mode in which the +President shall be chosen, than the manner after which the duties +shall be performed. The first section states that the executive +shall be vested in a President, who shall hold his office for four +years. With him shall be chosen a Vice-President. I may here explain +that the Vice-President, as such, has no power either political or +administrative. He is, ex officio, the speaker of the Senate; and +should the President die, or be by other cause rendered unable to +act as President, the Vice-President becomes President either for +the remainder of the Presidential term or for the period of the +President's temporary absence. Twice since the constitution was +written, the President has died and the Vice-President has taken +his place. No President has vacated his position, even for a period, +through any cause other than death. + +Then come the rules under which the President and Vice-President +shall be elected,--with reference to which there has been an +amendment of the constitution subsequent to the fourth presidential +election. This was found to be necessary by the circumstances of the +contest between John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. It was +then found that the complications in the method of election created +by the original clause were all but unendurable, and the constitution +was amended. + +I will not describe in detail the present mode of election, as the +doing so would be tedious and unnecessary. Two facts I wish, however, +to make specially noticeable and clear. The first is, that the +President of the United States is now chosen by universal suffrage; +and the second is, that the constitution expressly intended that the +President should not be chosen by universal suffrage, but by a body +of men who should enjoy the confidence and fairly represent the will +of the people. The framers of the constitution intended so to write +the words, that the people themselves should have no more immediate +concern in the nomination of the President than in that of the +Senate. They intended to provide that the election should be made in +a manner which may be described as thoroughly conservative. Those +words, however, have been inefficient for their purpose. They have +not been violated. But the spirit has been violated, while the words +have been held sacred,--and the Presidential elections are now +conducted on the widest principles of universal suffrage. They are +essentially democratic. + +The arrangement, as written in the constitution, is that each State +shall appoint a body of electors equal in number to the senators and +representatives sent by that State to Congress, and that thus a body +or college of electors shall be formed equal in number to the two +joint Houses of Congress, by which the President shall be elected. No +member of Congress, however, can be appointed an elector. Thus New +York, with thirty-three representatives in the Lower House, would +name thirty-five electors; and Rhode Island, with two members in the +Lower House, would name four electors;--in each case two being added +for the two senators. + +It may perhaps be doubted whether this theory of an election by +electors has ever been truly carried out. It was probably the case +even at the election of the first Presidents after Washington, that +the electors were pledged in some informal way as to the candidate +for whom they should vote; but the very idea of an election by +electors has been abandoned since the Presidency of General Jackson. +According to the theory of the constitution the privilege and the +duty of selecting a best man as President was to be delegated to +certain best men chosen for that purpose. This was the intention of +those who framed the constitution. It may, as I have said, be doubted +whether this theory has ever availed for action; but since the days +of Jackson it has been absolutely abandoned. The intention was +sufficiently conservative. The electors to whom was to be confided +this great trust, were to be chosen in their own States as each State +might think fit. The use of universal suffrage for this purpose was +neither enjoined nor forbidden in the separate States,--was neither +treated as desirable or undesirable by the constitution. Each State +was left to judge how it would elect its own electors. But the +President himself was to be chosen by those electors and not by the +people at large. The intention is sufficiently conservative, but the +intention is not carried out. + +The electors are still chosen by the different States in conformity +with the bidding of the constitution. The constitution is exactly +followed in all its biddings, as far as the wording of it is +concerned; but the whole spirit of the document has been evaded in +the favour of democracy, and universal suffrage in the Presidential +elections has been adopted. The electors are still chosen, it is +true; but they are only chosen as the mouthpiece of the people's +choice, and not as the mind by which that choice shall be made. We +have all heard of Americans voting for a ticket,--for the democratic +ticket, or the republican ticket. All political voting in the States +is now managed by tickets. As regards these Presidential elections, +each party decides on a candidate. Even this primary decision is +a matter of voting among the party itself. When Mr. Lincoln was +nominated as its candidate by the republican party, the names of no +less than thirteen candidates were submitted to the delegates who +were sent to a convention at Chicago, assembled for the purpose of +fixing upon a candidate. At that convention, Mr. Lincoln was chosen +as the republican candidate; and in that convention was in fact +fought the battle which was won in Mr. Lincoln's favour, although +that convention was what we may call a private arrangement, wholly +irrespective of any constitutional enactment. Mr. Lincoln was then +proclaimed as the republican candidate, and all republicans were held +as bound to support him. When the time came for the constitutional +election of the electors, certain names were got together in each +State as representing the republican interest. These names formed +the republican ticket, and any man voting for them voted in fact +for Lincoln. There were three other parties, each represented by a +candidate, and each had its own ticket in the different States. It +is not to be supposed that the supporters of Mr. Lincoln were very +anxious about their ticket in Alabama, or those of Mr. Breckinridge +as to theirs in Massachusetts. In Alabama, a democratic slave-ticket +would of course prevail. In Massachusetts, a republican free-soil +ticket would do so. But it may, I think, be seen that in this way +the electors have in reality ceased to have any weight in the +elections,--have in very truth ceased to have the exercise of any +will whatever. They are mere names, and no more. Stat nominis umbra. +The election of the President is made by universal suffrage, and not +by a college of electors. The words as they are written are still +obeyed; but the constitution in fact has been violated, for the +spirit of it has been changed in its very essence. + +The President must have been born a citizen of the United States. +This is not necessary for the holder of any other office or for a +senator or representative; he must be thirty-four years old at the +time of his election. + +His executive power is almost unbounded. He is much more powerful +than any minister can be with us, and is subject to a much lighter +responsibility. He may be impeached by the House of Representatives +before the Senate, but that impeachment only goes to the removal +from office and permanent disqualification for office. But in these +days, as we all practically understand, responsibility does not mean +the fear of any great punishment, but the necessity of accounting +from day to day for public actions. A leading statesman has but +slight dread of the axe, but is in hourly fear of his opponent's +questions. The President of the United States is subject to no such +questionings; and as he does not even require a majority in either +House for the maintenance of his authority, his responsibility sits +upon him very slightly. Seeing that Mr. Buchanan has escaped any +punishment for maladministration, no President need fear the anger +of the people. + +The President is Commander-in-chief of the army and of the navy. He +can grant pardons,--as regards all offences committed against the +United States. He has no power to pardon an offence committed against +the laws of any State, and as to which the culprit has been tried +before the tribunals of that State. He can make treaties; but such +treaties are not valid till they have been confirmed by two-thirds +of the senators present in executive session. He appoints all +ambassadors and other public officers,--but subject to the +confirmation of the Senate. He can convene either or both Houses of +Congress at irregular times, and under certain circumstances can +adjourn them. His executive power is in fact almost unlimited; and +this power is solely in his own hands, as the constitution knows +nothing of the President's ministers. According to the constitution +these officers are merely the heads of his bureaux. An Englishman, +however, in considering the executive power of the President, and +in making any comparison between that and the executive power of +any officer or officers attached to the Crown in England, should +always bear in mind that the President's power, and even authority, +is confined to the Federal Government, and that he has none +with reference to the individual States. Religion, education, the +administration of the general laws which concern every man and +woman, and the real de facto Government which comes home to every +house;--these things are not in any way subject to the President of +the United States. + +His legislative power is also great. He has a veto upon all acts of +Congress. This veto is by no means a dead letter, as is the veto +of the Crown with us; but it is not absolute. The President, if he +refuses his sanction to a bill sent up to him from Congress, returns +it to that House in which it originated, with his objections in +writing. If, after that, such bill shall again pass through both the +Senate and the House of Representatives, receiving in each House the +approvals of two-thirds of those present, then such bill becomes law +without the President's sanction. Unless this be done the President's +veto stops the bill. This veto has been frequently used, but no bill +has yet been passed in opposition to it. + +The third article of the constitution treats of the judiciary of the +United States, but as I purpose to write a chapter devoted to the law +courts and lawyers of the States, I need not here describe at length +the enactments of the constitution on this head. It is ordained that +all criminal trials, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by +jury. + +There are after this certain miscellaneous articles, some of which +belong to the constitution as it stood at first, and others of which +have been since added as amendments. A citizen of one State is to +be a citizen of every State. Criminals from one State shall not +be free from pursuit in other States. Then comes a very material +enactment:--"No person held to service or labour in one State, under +the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any +law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour; +but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service +or labour may be due." In speaking of a person held to labour the +constitution intends to speak of a slave, and the article amounts to +a fugitive slave law. If a slave run away out of South Carolina and +find his way into Massachusetts, Massachusetts shall deliver him up +when called upon to do so by South Carolina. The words certainly are +clear enough. But Massachusetts strongly objects to the delivery +of such men when so desired. Such men she has delivered up, with +many groanings and much inward perturbation of spirit. But it is +understood, not in Massachusetts only, but in the free-soil States +generally, that fugitive slaves shall not be delivered up by the +ordinary action of the laws. There is a feeling strong as that which +we entertain with reference to the rendition of slaves from Canada. +With such a clause in the constitution as that, it is hardly too much +to say that no free-soil State will consent to constitutional action. +Were it expunged from the constitution, no slave State would consent +to live under it. It is a point as to which the advocates of slavery +and the enemies of slavery cannot be brought to act in union. But on +this head I have already said what little I have to say. + +New States may be admitted by Congress, but the bounds of no old +State shall be altered without the consent of such State. Congress +shall have power to rule and dispose of the territories and property +of the United States. The United States guarantee every State a +republican form of Government; but the constitution does not define +that form of Government. An ordinary citizen of the United States, +if asked, would probably say that it included that description of +franchise which I have called universal suffrage. Such, however, was +not the meaning of those who framed the constitution. The ordinary +citizen would probably also say that it excluded the use of a king, +though he would, I imagine, be able to give no good reason for saying +so. I take a republican government to be that in which the care of +the people is in the hands of the people. They may use an elected +President, an hereditary king, or a chief magistrate called by any +other name. But the magistrate, whatever be his name, must be the +servant of the people and not their lord. He must act for them and at +their bidding,--not they at his. If he do so, he is the chief officer +of a republic;--as is our Queen with us. + +The United States' constitution also guarantees to each State +protection against invasion, and, if necessary, against domestic +violence,--meaning, I presume, internal violence. The words domestic +violence might seem to refer solely to slave insurrections; but such +is not the meaning of the words. The free State of New York would be +entitled to the assistance of the Federal Government in putting down +internal violence, if unable to quell such violence by her own power. + +This constitution, and the laws of the United States made in +pursuance of it, are to be held as the supreme law of the land. +The judges of every State are to be bound thereby, let the laws +or separate constitution of such State say what they will to the +contrary. Senators and others are to be bound by oath to support +the constitution; but no religious test shall be required as a +qualification to any office. + +In the amendments to the constitution, it is enacted that Congress +shall make no law as to the establishment of any religion, or +prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and also that it shall not +abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of petition.--The +Government, however, as is well known, has taken upon itself to +abridge the freedom of the press.--The right of the people to bear +arms shall not be infringed. Then follow various clauses intended +for the security of the people in reference to the administration of +the laws. They shall not be troubled by unreasonable searches. They +shall not be made to answer for great offences except by indictment +of a grand jury. They shall not be put twice in jeopardy for the +same offence. They shall not be compelled to give evidence against +themselves. Private property shall not be taken for public use +without compensation. Accused persons in criminal proceedings shall +be entitled to speedy and public trial. They shall be confronted with +the witnesses against them, and shall have assistance of counsel. +Suits in which the value controverted is above 20 dollars (£4) shall +be tried before juries. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor +cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. In all which enactments +we see, I think, a close resemblance to those which have been +time-honoured among ourselves. + +The remaining amendments apply to the mode in which the President and +Vice-President shall be elected, and of them I have already spoken. + +The constitution is signed by Washington as President,--as President +and Deputy from Virginia. It is signed by deputies from all the +other States, except Rhode Island. Among the signatures is that of +Alexander Hamilton, from New York; of Franklin, heading a crowd in +Pennsylvania, in the capital of which State the convention was held; +and that of James Madison, the future President, from Virginia. + +In the beginning of this chapter I have spoken of the splendid +results attained by those who drew up the constitution; and then, as +though in opposition to the praise thus given to their work, I have +insisted throughout the chapter both on the insufficiency of the +constitution and on the breaches to which it has been subjected. +I have declared my opinion that it is inefficient for some of its +required purposes, and have said that, whether inefficient or +efficient, it has been broken and in some degree abandoned. I +maintain, however, that in this I have not contradicted myself. A +boy, who declares his purpose of learning the Æneid by heart, will +be held as being successful if at the end of the given period he can +repeat eleven books out of the twelve. Nevertheless the reporter, in +summing up the achievement, is bound to declare that that other book +has not been learned. Under this constitution of which I have been +speaking, the American people have achieved much material success +and great political power. As a people they have been happy and +prosperous. Their freedom has been secured to them, and for a +period of seventy-five years they have lived and prospered without +subjection to any form of tyranny. This in itself is much, and +should, I think, be held as a preparation for greater things to +follow. Such, I think, should be our opinion, although the nation +is at the present burdened by so heavy a load of troubles. That any +written constitution should serve its purposes and maintain its +authority in a nation for a dozen years is in itself much for its +framers. Where are now the constitutions which were written for +France? But this constitution has so wound itself into the affections +of the people, has become a mark for such reverence and love, has, +after a trial of three quarters of a century, so recommended itself +to the judgment of men, that the difficulty consists in touching +it, not in keeping it. Eighteen or twenty millions of people who +have lived under it,--in what way do they regard it? Is not that +the best evidence that can be had respecting it? Is it to them an old +woman's story, a useless parchment, a thing of old words at which +all must now smile? Heaven mend them, if they reverence it more, as +I fear they do, than they reverence their Bible. For them, after +seventy-five years of trial, it has almost the weight of inspiration. +In this respect,--with reference to this worship of the work of their +forefathers, they may be in error. But that very error goes far to +prove the excellence of the code. When a man has walked for six +months over stony ways in the same boots, he will be believed when he +says that his boots are good boots. No assertion to the contrary from +any bystander will receive credence, even though it be shown that a +stitch or two has come undone, and that some required purpose has not +effectually been carried out. The boots have carried the man over his +stony roads for six months, and they must be good boots. And so I say +that the constitution must be a good constitution. + +As to that positive breach of the constitution which has, as I +maintain, been committed by the present Government, although I have +been at some trouble to prove it, I must own that I do not think +very much of it. It is to be lamented, but the evil admits, I think, +of easy repair. It has happened at a period of unwonted difficulty, +when the minds of men were intent rather on the support of that +nationality which guarantees their liberties, than on the enjoyment +of those liberties themselves, and the fault may be pardoned if it +be acknowledged. But it is essential that it should be acknowledged. +In such a matter as that there should at any rate be no doubt. Now, +in this very year of the rebellion, it may be well that no clamour +against Government should arise from the people, and thus add to +the difficulties of the nation. But it will be bad, indeed, for the +nation if such a fault shall have been committed by this Government +and shall be allowed to pass unacknowledged, unrebuked,--as though +it were a virtue and no fault. I cannot but think that the time will +soon come in which Mr. Seward's reading of the constitution and Mr. +Lincoln's assumption of illegal power under that reading will receive +a different construction in the States than that put upon it by Mr. +Binney. + +But I have admitted that the constitution itself is not perfect. +It seems to me that it requires to be amended on two separate +points;--especially on two; and I cannot but acknowledge that there +would be great difficulty in making such amendments. That matter +of direct taxation is the first. As to that I shall speak again in +referring to the financial position of the country. I think, however, +that it must be admitted, in any discussion held on the constitution +of the United States, that the theory of taxation as there laid down +will not suffice for the wants of a great nation. If the States are +to maintain their ground as a great national power, they must agree +among themselves to bear the cost of such greatness. While a custom +duty was sufficient for the public wants of the United States, this +fault in the constitution was not felt. But now that standing armies +have been inaugurated, that iron-clad ships are held as desirable, +that a great national debt has been founded, custom duties will +suffice no longer, nor will excise duties suffice. Direct taxation +must be levied, and such taxation cannot be fairly levied without a +change in the constitution. But such a change may be made in direct +accordance with the spirit of the constitution, and the necessity for +such an alteration cannot be held as proving any inefficiency in the +original document for the purposes originally required. + +As regards the other point which seems to me to require amendment, +I must acknowledge that I am about to express simply my own opinion. +Should Americans read what I write, they may probably say that I +am recommending them to adopt the blunders made by the English in +their practice of government. Englishmen, on the other hand, may +not improbably conceive that a system which works well here under a +monarchy, would absolutely fail under a presidency of four years' +duration. Nevertheless I will venture to suggest that the government +of the United States would be improved in all respects, if the +gentlemen forming the President's cabinet were admitted to seats +in Congress. At present they are virtually irresponsible. They are +constitutionally little more than head clerks. This was all very well +while the Government of the United States was as yet a small thing; +but now it is no longer a small thing. The President himself cannot +do all, nor can he be, in truth, responsible for all. A cabinet, such +as is our cabinet, is necessary to him. Such a cabinet does exist, +and the members of it take upon themselves the honours which are +given to our cabinet ministers. But they are exempted from all that +parliamentary contact which, in fact, gives to our cabinet ministers +their adroitness, their responsibility, and their position in the +country. On this subject also I must say another word or two further +on. + +But how am I to excuse the constitution on those points as to which +it has, as I have said, fallen through,--in respect to which it has +shown itself to be inefficient by the weakness of its own words? +Seeing that all the executive power is intrusted to the President, it +is especially necessary that the choice of the President should be +guarded by constitutional enactments;--that the President should be +chosen in such a manner as may seem best to the concentrated wisdom +of the country. The President is placed in his seat for four years. +For that term he is irremovable. He acts without any majority in +either of the legislative Houses. He must state reasons for his +conduct, but he is not responsible for those reasons. His own +judgment is his sole guide. No desire of the people can turn him out; +nor need he fear any clamour from the press. If an officer so high in +power be needed, at any rate the choice of such an officer should be +made with the greatest care. The constitution has decreed how such +care should be exercised, but the constitution has not been able to +maintain its own decree. The constituted electors of the President +have become a mere name; and that officer is chosen by popular +election, in opposition to the intention of those who framed the +constitution. The effect of this may be seen in the characters of the +men so chosen. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, the two Adamses, and +Jackson were the owners of names that have become known in history. +They were men who have left their marks behind them. Those in Europe +who have read of anything, have read of them. Americans, whether as +republicans they admire Washington and the Adamses, or as democrats +hold by Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, do not at any rate blush for +their old Presidents. But who has heard of Polk, of Pierce, and of +Buchanan? What American is proud of them? In the old days the name +of a future President might be surmised. He would probably be a man +honoured in the nation; but who now can make a guess as to the next +President? In one respect a guess may be made with some safety. The +next President will be a man whose name has as yet offended no one by +its prominence. But one requisite is essential for a President; he +must be a man whom none as yet have delighted to honour. + +This has come of universal suffrage; and seeing that it has come in +spite of the constitution, and not by the constitution, it is very +bad. Nor in saying this am I speaking my own conviction so much +as that of all educated Americans with whom I have discussed the +subject. At the present moment universal suffrage is not popular. +Those who are the highest among the people certainly do not love +it. I doubt whether the masses of the people have ever craved it. +It has been introduced into the Presidential elections by men called +politicians--by men who have made it a matter of trade to dabble +in state affairs, and who have gradually learned to see how the +constitutional law, with reference to the Presidential electors, +could be set aside without any positive breach of the constitution.* + + *On this matter one of the best, and best informed Americans that + I have known told me that he differed from me. "It introduced + itself," said he. "It was the result of social and political + forces. Election of the President by popular choice became a + necessity." The meaning of this is, that in regard to their + Presidential elections the United States drifted into universal + suffrage. I do not know that his theory is one more comfortable + for his country than my own. + +Whether or no any backward step can now be taken,--whether these +elections can again be put into the hands of men fit to exercise a +choice in such a matter,--may well be doubted. Facilis descensus +Averni. But the recovery of the downward steps is very difficult. On +that subject, however, I hardly venture here to give an opinion. I +only declare what has been done, and express my belief that it has +not been done in conformity with the wishes of the people,--as it +certainly has not been done in conformity with the intention of the +constitution. + +In another matter a departure has been made from the conservative +spirit of the constitution. This departure is equally grave with the +other, but it is one which certainly does admit of correction. I +allude to the present position assumed by many of the senators, and +to the instructions given to them by the State legislatures, as to +the votes which they shall give in the Senate. An obedience on their +part to such instructions is equal in its effects to the introduction +of universal suffrage into the elections. It makes them hang upon the +people, divests them of their personal responsibility, takes away +all those advantages given to them by a six years' certain tenure of +office, and annuls the safety secured by a conservative method of +election. Here again I must declare my opinion that this democratic +practice has crept into the Senate without any expressed wish of +the people. In all such matters the people of the nation has been +strangely undemonstrative. It has been done as part of a system which +has been used for transferring the political power of the nation +to a body of trading politicians who have become known and felt as +a mass, and not known and felt as individuals. I find it difficult +to describe the present political position of the States in this +respect. The millions of the people are eager for the constitution, +are proud of their power as a nation, and are ambitious of national +greatness. But they are not, as I think, especially desirous of +retaining political influences in their own hands. At many of the +elections it is difficult to induce them to vote. They have among +them a half-knowledge that politics is a trade in the hands of the +lawyers, and that they are the capital by which those political +tradesmen carry on their business. These politicians are all lawyers. +Politics and law go together as naturally as the possession of land +and the exercise of magisterial powers do with us. It may be well +that it should be so, as the lawyers are the best educated men of the +country, and need not necessarily be the most dishonest. Political +power has come into their hands, and it is for their purposes and by +their influences that the spread of democracy has been encouraged. + +As regards the Senate, the recovery of their old dignity and former +position is within their own power. No amendment of the constitution +is needed here, nor has the weakness come from any insufficiency of +the constitution. The Senate can assume to itself to-morrow its own +glories, and can, by doing so, become the saviours of the honour and +glory of the nation. It is to the Senate that we must look for that +conservative element which may protect the United States from the +violence of demagogues on one side and from the despotism of military +power on the other. The Senate, and the Senate only, can keep the +President in check. The Senate also has a power over the Lower House +with reference to the disposal of money, which deprives the House +of Representatives of that exclusive authority which belongs to our +House of Commons. It is not simply that the House of Representatives +cannot do what is done by the House of Commons. There is more than +this. To the Senate, in the minds of all Americans, belongs that +superior prestige, that acknowledged possession of the greater +power and fuller scope for action, which is with us as clearly the +possession of the House of Commons. The United States' Senate can be +conservative, and can be so by virtue of the constitution. The love +of the constitution in the hearts of all Americans is so strong that +the exercise of such power by the Senate would strengthen rather than +endanger its position. I could wish that the senators would abandon +their money payments, but I do not imagine that that will be done +exactly in these days. + +I have now endeavoured to describe the strength of the constitution +of the United States, and to explain its weakness. The great question +is at this moment being solved, whether or no that constitution will +still be found equal to its requirements. It has hitherto been the +mainspring in the government of the people. They have trusted with +almost childlike confidence to the wisdom of their founders, and +have said to their rulers,--"There; in those words, you must find +the extent and the limit of your powers. It is written down for +you, so that he who runs may read." That writing down, as it were, +at a single sitting, of a sufficient code of instructions for the +governors of a great nation, had not hitherto in the world's history +been found to answer. In this instance it has, at any rate, answered +better than in any other, probably because the words so written +contained in them less pretence of finality in political wisdom than +other written constitutions have assumed. A young tree must bend, or +the winds will certainly break it. For myself I can honestly express +my hope that no storm may destroy this tree. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE GOVERNMENT. + + +In speaking of the American constitution I have said so much of the +American form of government that but little more is left to me to say +under that heading. Nevertheless, I should hardly go through the work +which I have laid out for myself if I did not endeavour to explain +more continuously, and perhaps more graphically, than I found myself +able to do in the last chapter, the system on which public affairs +are managed in the United States. + +And here I must beg my readers again to bear in mind how moderate is +the amount of governing which has fallen to the lot of the government +of the United States; how moderate, as compared with the amount which +has to be done by the Queen's officers of state for Great Britain, or +by the Emperor, with such assistance as he may please to accept from +his officers of state, for France. That this is so must be attributed +to more than one cause; but the chief cause is undoubtedly to be +found in the very nature of a federal government. The States are +individually sovereign, and govern themselves as to all internal +matters. All the judges in England are appointed by the Crown; but in +the United States only a small proportion of the judges are nominated +by the President. The greater number are servants of the different +States. The execution of the ordinary laws for the protection of men +and property does not fall on the government of the United States, +but on the executives of the individual States,--unless in some +special matters, which will be defined in the next chapter. Trade, +education, roads, religion, the passing of new measures for the +internal or domestic comfort of the people,--all these things are +more or less matters of care to our government. In the States they +are matters of care to the governments of each individual State, but +are not so to the central government at Washington. + +But there are other causes which operate in the same direction, and +which have hitherto enabled the Presidents of the United States, with +their ministers, to maintain their positions without much knowledge +of statecraft, or the necessity for that education in state matters +which is so essential to our public men. In the first place, the +United States have hitherto kept their hands out of foreign politics. +If they have not done so altogether, they have so greatly abstained +from meddling in them that none of that thorough knowledge of the +affairs of other nations has been necessary to them which is so +essential with us, and which seems to be regarded as the one thing +needed in the cabinets of other European nations. This has been a +great blessing to the United States, but it has not been an unmixed +blessing. It has been a blessing because the absence of such care has +saved the country from trouble and from expense. But such a state of +things was too good to last; and the blessing has not been unmixed, +seeing that now, when that absence of concern in foreign matters +has been no longer possible, the knowledge necessary for taking a +dignified part in foreign discussions has been found wanting. Mr. +Seward is now the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the States, and it +is hardly too much to say that he has made himself a laughing-stock +among the diplomatists of Europe, by the mixture of his ignorance and +his arrogance. His reports to his own ministers during the single +year of his office, as published by himself apparently with great +satisfaction, are a monument not so much of his incapacity as of his +want of training for such work. We all know his long state papers +on the "Trent" affair. What are we to think of a statesman who +acknowledges the action of his country's servant to have been wrong, +and in the same breath declares that he would have held by that +wrong, had the material welfare of his country been thereby improved? +The United States have now created a great army and a great debt. +They will soon also have created a great navy. Affairs of other +nations will press upon them, and they will press against the affairs +of other nations. In this way statecraft will become necessary to +them; and by degrees their ministers will become habile, graceful, +adroit;--and perhaps crafty, as are the ministers of other nations. + +And, moreover, the United States have had no outlying colonies or +dependencies, such as an India and Canada are to us, as Cuba is and +Mexico was to Spain, and as were the provinces of the Roman empire. +Territories she has had, but by the peculiar beneficence of her +political arrangements, these territories have assumed the guise +of sovereign States, and been admitted into federal partnership on +equal terms, with a rapidity which has hardly left to the central +Government the reality of any dominion of its own. We are inclined to +suppose that these new States have been allowed to assume their equal +privileges and State rights because they have been contiguous to +the old States--as though it were merely an extension of frontier. +But this has not been so. California and Oregon have been very much +further from Washington than the Canadas are from London. Indeed they +are still further, and I hardly know whether they can be brought much +nearer than Canada is to us, even with the assistance of railways. +But nevertheless California and Oregon were admitted as States, +the former as quickly and the latter much more quickly than its +population would seem to justify Congress in doing, according to +the received ratio of population. A preference in this way has been +always given by the United States to a young population over one that +was older. Oregon with its 60,000 inhabitants has one representative. +New York with 4,000,000 inhabitants has thirty-three. But in order +to be equal with Oregon, New York should have sixty-six. In this way +the outlying populations have been encouraged to take upon themselves +their own governance, and the governing power of the President and +his cabinet has been kept within moderate limits. + +But not the less is the position of the President very dominant in +the eyes of us Englishmen by reason of the authority with which he +is endowed. It is not that the scope of his power is great, but that +he is so nearly irresponsible in the exercise of that power. We know +that he can be impeached by the representatives and expelled from +his office by the verdict of the Senate; but this, in fact, does +not amount to much. Responsibility of this nature is doubtless very +necessary, and prevents ebullitions of tyranny such as those in which +a Sultan or an Emperor may indulge; but it is not that responsibility +which especially recommends itself to the minds of free men. So much +of responsibility they take as a matter of course, as they do the +air which they breathe. It would be nothing to us to know that Lord +Palmerston could be impeached for robbing the Treasury, or Lord +Russell punished for selling us to Austria. It is well that such laws +should exist, but we do not in the least suspect those noble lords +of such treachery. We are anxious to know, not in what way they may +be impeached and beheaded for great crimes, but by what method they +may be kept constantly straight in small matters. That they are true +and honest is a matter of course. But they must be obedient also, +discreet, capable, and above all things of one mind with the public. +Let them be that; or if not they, then with as little delay as may +be, some others in their place. That with us is the meaning of +ministerial responsibility. To that responsibility all the cabinet is +subject. But in the Government of the United States there is no such +responsibility. The President is placed at the head of the executive +for four years, and while he there remains no man can question +him. It is not that the scope of his power is great. Our own Prime +Minister is doubtless more powerful,--has a wider authority. But it +is that within the scope of his power the President is free from all +check. There are no reins, constitutional or unconstitutional, by +which he can be restrained. He can absolutely repudiate a majority +of both Houses, and refuse the passage of any act of Congress even +though supported by those majorities. He can retain the services of +ministers distasteful to the whole country. He can place his own +myrmidons at the head of the army and navy,--or can himself take the +command immediately on his own shoulders. All this he can do, and +there is no one that can question him. + +It is hardly necessary that I should point out the fundamental +difference between our King or Queen, and the President of the United +States. Our Sovereign, we all know, is not responsible. Such is the +nature of our constitution. But there is not on that account any +analogy between the irresponsibility of the Queen and that of the +President. The Queen can do no wrong; but therefore, in all matters +of policy and governance, she must be ruled by advice. For that +advice her ministers are responsible; and no act of policy or +governance can be done in England as to which responsibility does +not immediately settle on the shoulders appointed to bear it. But +this is not so in the States. The President is nominally responsible. +But from that every-day working responsibility, which is to us so +invaluable, the President is in fact free. + +I will give an instance of this. Now, at this very moment of my +writing, news has reached us that President Lincoln has relieved +General Maclellan from the command of the whole army, that he has +given separate commands to two other generals,--to General Halleck, +namely, and alas! to General Fremont, and that he has altogether +altered the whole organization of the military command as it +previously existed. This he did not only during war, but with +reference to a special battle, for the special fighting of which he, +as ex-officio Commander-in-Chief of the forces, had given orders. I +do not hereby intend to criticise this act of the President's, or to +point out that that has been done which had better have been left +undone. The President, in a strategetical point of view, may have +been,--very probably has been, quite right. I, at any rate, cannot +say that he has been wrong. But then neither can anybody else say +so with any power of making himself heard. Of this action of the +President's, so terribly great in its importance to the nation, no +one has the power of expressing any opinion to which the President +is bound to listen. For four years he has this sway, and at the end +of four years he becomes so powerless that it is not then worth the +while of any demagogue in a fourth-rate town to occupy his voice with +that President's name. The anger of the country as to the things done +both by Pierce and Buchanan is very bitter. But who wastes a thought +upon either of these men? A past President in the United States is of +less consideration than a past Mayor in an English borough. Whatever +evil he may have done during his office, when out of office he is not +worth the powder which would be expended in an attack. + +But the President has his ministers as our Queen has hers. In one +sense he has such ministers. He has high state servants who under +him take the control of the various departments, and exercise among +them a certain degree of patronage and executive power. But they are +the President's ministers, and not the ministers of the people. Till +lately there has been no chief minister among them, nor am I prepared +to say that there is any such chief at present. According to the +existing theory of the government these gentlemen have simply been +the confidential servants of the commonwealth under the President, +and have been attached each to his own department without concerted +political alliance among themselves, without any acknowledged chief +below the President, and without any combined responsibility even +to the President. If one minister was in fault--let us say the +Postmaster-General,--he alone was in fault, and it did not fall to +the lot of any other minister either to defend him, or to declare +that his conduct was indefensible. Each owed his duty and his defence +to the President alone; and each might be removed alone, without +explanation given by the President to the others. I imagine that the +late practice of the President's cabinet has in some degree departed +from this theory; but if so, the departure has sprung from individual +ambition rather than from any preconcerted plan. Some one place in +the cabinet has seemed to give to some one man an opportunity of +making himself pre-eminent, and of this opportunity advantage has +been taken. I am not now intending to allude to any individual, but +am endeavouring to indicate the way in which a ministerial cabinet, +after the fashion of our British cabinet, is struggling to get itself +created. No doubt the position of Foreign Secretary has for some time +past been considered as the most influential under the President. +This has been so much the case that many have not hesitated to call +the Secretary of State the chief minister. At the present moment, +May, 1862, the gentleman who is at the head of the war department +has, I think, in his own hands greater power than any of his +colleagues. + +It will probably come to pass before long that one special minister +will be the avowed leader of the cabinet, and that he will be +recognized as the chief servant of the State under the President. Our +own cabinet, which now-a-days seems with us to be an institution as +fixed as Parliament and as necessary as the throne, has grown by +degrees into its present shape, and is not, in truth, nearly so old +as many of us suppose it to be. It shaped itself, I imagine, into its +present form, and even into its present joint responsibility, during +the reign of George III. It must be remembered that even with us +there is no such thing as a constitutional Prime Minister, and that +our Prime Minister is not placed above the other ministers in any +manner that is palpable to the senses. He is paid no more than the +others; he has no superior title; he does not take the highest rank +among them; he never talks of his subordinates, but always of his +colleagues; he has a title of his own, that of First Lord of the +Treasury, but it implies no headship in the cabinet. That he is the +head of all political power in the nation, the Atlas who has to bear +the globe, the god in whose hands rest the thunderbolts and the +showers, all men do know. No man's position is more assured to him. +But the bounds of that position are written in no book, are defined +by no law, have settled themselves not in accordance with the +recorded wisdom of any great men, but as expediency and the fitness +of political things in Great Britain have seemed from time to time to +require. This drifting of great matters into their proper places is +not as closely in accordance with the idiosyncrasies of the American +people as it is with our own. They would prefer to define by words, +as the French do, what shall be the exact position of every public +servant connected with their Government; or rather of every public +servant with whom the people shall be held as having any concern. +But nevertheless, I think it will come to pass that a cabinet will +gradually form itself at Washington as it has done at London, and +that of that cabinet there will be some recognized and ostensible +chief. + +But a Prime Minister in the United States can never take the place +there which is taken here by our Premier. Over our Premier there is +no one politically superior. The highest political responsibility of +the nation rests on him. In the States this must always rest on the +President, and any minister, whatever may be his name or assumed +position, can only be responsible through the President. And it is +here especially that the working of the United States system of +Government seems to me deficient,--appears as though it wanted +something to make it perfect and round at all points. Our ministers +retire from their offices, as do the Presidents; and indeed the +ministerial term of office with us, though of course not fixed, is +in truth much shorter than the Presidential term of four years. But +our ministers do not, in fact, ever go out. At one time they take one +position, with pay, patronage, and power; and at another time another +position, without these good things; but in either position they are +acting as public men, and are, in truth, responsible for what they +say and do. But the President, on whom it is presumed that the whole +of the responsibility of the United States Government rests, goes out +at a certain day, and of him no more is heard. There is no future +before him to urge him on to constancy; no hope of other things +beyond, of greater honours and a wider fame, to keep him wakeful in +his country's cause. He has already enrolled his name on the list of +his country's rulers, and received what reward his country can give +him. Conscience, duty, patriotism may make him true to his place. +True to his place, in a certain degree, they will make him. But +ambition and hope of things still to come are the moving motives in +the minds of most men. Few men can allow their energies to expand +to their fullest extent in the cold atmosphere of duty alone. The +President of the States must feel that he has reached the top of the +ladder, and that he soon will have done with life. As he goes out he +is a dead man. And what can be expected from one who is counting the +last lingering hours of his existence? "It will not be in my time," +Mr. Buchanan is reported to have said, when a friend spoke to him +with warning voice of the coming rebellion. "It will not be in my +time." In the old days, before democracy had prevailed in upsetting +that system of Presidential election which the constitution had +intended to fix as permanent, the Presidents were generally +re-elected for a second term. Of the seven first Presidents five +were sent back to the White House for a second period of four years. +But this has never been done since the days of General Jackson; nor +will it be done, unless a stronger conservative reaction takes place +than the country even as yet seems to promise. As things have lately +ordered themselves, it may almost be said that no man in the Union +would be so improbable a candidate for the Presidency as the outgoing +President. And it has been only natural that it should be so. Looking +at the men themselves who have lately been chosen, the fault has not +consisted in their non-reelection, but in their original selection. +There has been no desire for great men; no search after a man of such +a nature, that when tried the people should be anxious to keep him. +"It will not be in my time," says the expiring President. And so, +without dismay, he sees the empire of his country slide away from +him. + +A President, with the possibility of re-election before him, would +be as a minister who goes out, knowing that he may possibly come +in again before the session is over,--and perhaps believing that +the chances of his doing so are in his favour. Under the existing +political phase of things in the United States, no President has any +such prospect;--but the ministers of the President have that chance. +It is no uncommon thing at present for a minister under one President +to reappear as a minister under another; but a statesman has no +assurance that he will do so because he has shown ministerial +capacity. We know intimately the names of all our possible +ministers,--too intimately as some of us think,--and would be taken +much by surprise if a gentleman without an official reputation were +placed at the head of a high office. If something of this feeling +prevailed as to the President's cabinet, if there were some assurance +that competent statesmen would be appointed as Secretaries of State, +a certain amount of national responsibility would by degrees attach +itself to them, and the President's shoulders would, to that amount, +be lightened. As it is, the President pretends to bear a burden +which, if really borne, would indicate the possession of Herculean +shoulders. But, in fact, the burden at present is borne by no one. +The government of the United States is not in truth responsible +either to the people or to Congress. + +But these ministers, if it be desired that they shall have weight +in the country, should sit in Congress either as senators or as +representatives. That they cannot so sit without an amendment of the +constitution I have explained in the previous chapter; and any such +amendment cannot be very readily made. Without such seats they cannot +really share the responsibility of the President, or be in any degree +amenable to public opinion for the advice which they give in their +public functions. It will be said that the constitution has expressly +intended that they should not be responsible, and such, no doubt, has +been the case. But the constitution, good as it is, cannot be taken +as perfect. The government has become greater than seems to have been +contemplated when that code was drawn up. It has spread itself as it +were over a wider surface, and has extended to matters which it was +not then necessary to touch. That theory of governing by the means +of little men was very well while the government itself was small. +A President and his clerks may have sufficed when there were from +thirteen to eighteen States; while there were no territories, or none +at least that required government; while the population was still +below five millions; while a standing army was an evil not known and +not feared; while foreign politics was a troublesome embroglio in +which it was quite unnecessary that the United States should take a +part. Now there are thirty-four States. The territories populated by +American citizens stretch from the States on the Atlantic to those on +the Pacific. There is a population of thirty million souls. At the +present moment the United States are employing more soldiers than any +other nation, and have acknowledged the necessity of maintaining a +large army even when the present troubles shall be over. In addition +to this the United States have occasion for the use of statecraft +with all the great kingdoms of Europe. That theory of ruling by +little men will not do much longer. It will be well that they should +bring forth their big men and put them in the place of rulers. + +The President has at present seven ministers. They are the Secretary +of State, who is supposed to have the direction of Foreign Affairs; +the Secretary of the Treasury, who answers to our Chancellor of the +Exchequer; the Secretaries of the Army and of the Navy; the Minister +of the Interior; the Attorney-General; and the Postmaster-General. +If these officers were allowed to hold seats in one House or in the +other,--or rather if the President were enjoined to place in these +offices men who were known as members of Congress, not only would the +position of the President's ministers be enhanced and their weight +increased, but the position also of Congress would be enhanced +and the weight of Congress would be increased. I may, perhaps, +best exemplify this by suggesting what would be the effect on +our Parliament by withdrawing from it the men who at the present +moment,--or at any moment,--form the Queen's cabinet. I will not say +that by adding to Congress the men who usually form the President's +cabinet, a weight would be given equal to that which the withdrawal +of the British cabinet would take from the British Parliament. I +cannot pay that compliment to the President's choice of servants. But +the relationship between Congress and the President's ministers would +gradually come to resemble that which exists between Parliament and +the Queen's ministers. The Secretaries of State and of the Treasury +would after a while obtain that honour of leading the Houses which is +exercised by our high political officers, and the dignity added to +the positions would make the places worthy of the acceptance of great +men. It is hardly so at present. The career of one of the President's +ministers is not a very high career as things now stand; nor is the +man supposed to have achieved much who has achieved that position. I +think it would be otherwise if the ministers were the leaders of the +legislative Houses. To Congress itself would be given the power of +questioning and ultimately of controlling these ministers. The power +of the President would no doubt be diminished as that of Congress +would be increased. But an alteration in that direction is in itself +desirable. It is the fault of the present system of government in the +United States that the President has too much of power and weight, +while the Congress of the nation lacks power and weight. As matters +now stand, Congress has not that dignity of position which it should +hold; and it is without it because it is not endowed with that +control over the officers of the government which our Parliament is +enabled to exercise. + +The want of this close connection with Congress and the President's +ministers has been so much felt, that it has been found necessary +to create a medium of communication. This has been done by a system +which has now become a recognized part of the machinery of the +government, but which is, I believe, founded on no regularly +organized authority. At any rate no provision is made for it in the +constitution; nor, as far as I am aware, has it been established by +any special enactment or written rule. Nevertheless, I believe I +am justified in saying that it has become a recognized link in the +system of government adopted by the United States. In each House +standing committees are named, to which are delegated the special +consideration of certain affairs of state. There are, for instance, +committees of foreign affairs, of finance, the judiciary committee, +and others of a similar nature. To these committees are referred all +questions which come before the House bearing on the special subject +to which each is devoted. Questions of taxation are referred to the +finance committee before they are discussed in the House; and the +House, when it goes into such discussion, has before it the report of +the committee. In this way very much of the work of the legislature +is done by branches of each House, and by selected men whose time and +intellects are devoted to special subjects. It is easy to see that +much time and useless debate may be thus saved, and I am disposed +to believe that this system of committees has worked efficiently +and beneficially. The mode of selection of the members has been +so contrived as to give to each political party that amount of +preponderance in each committee which such party holds in the House. +If the democrats have in the Senate a majority, it would be within +their power to vote none but democrats into the committee on finance; +but this would be manifestly unjust to the republican party, and the +injustice would itself frustrate the object of the party in power; +therefore the democrats simply vote to themselves a majority in each +committee, keeping to themselves as great a preponderance in the +committee as they have in the whole House, and arranging also that +the chairman of the committee shall belong to their own party. By +these committees the chief legislative measures of the country are +originated and inaugurated,--as they are with us by the ministers of +the Crown, and the chairman of each committee is supposed to have +a certain amicable relation with that minister who presides over +the office with which his committee is connected. Mr. Sumner is at +present chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, and he is +presumed to be in connection with Mr. Seward, who, as Secretary of +State, has the management of the foreign relations of the Government. + +But it seems to me that this supposed connection between the +committees and the ministers is only a makeshift, showing by its +existence the absolute necessity of close communication between the +executive and the legislative, but showing also by its imperfections +the great want of some better method of communication. In the first +place the chairman of the committee is in no way bound to hold any +communication with the minister. He is simply a senator, and as such +has no ministerial duties, and can have none. He holds no appointment +under the President, and has no palpable connection with the +executive. And then it is quite as likely that he may be opposed in +politics to the minister as that he may agree with him. If the two +be opposed to each other on general politics, it may be presumed +that they cannot act together in union on one special subject. +Nor, whether they act in union or do not so act, can either have +any authority over the other. The minister is not responsible to +Congress, nor is the chairman of the committee in any way bound +to support the minister. It is presumed that the chairman must +know the minister's secrets, but the chairman may be bound by party +considerations to use those secrets against the minister. + +The system of committees appears to me to be good as regards the work +of legislation. It seems well adapted to effect economy of time and +the application of special men to special services. But I am driven +to think that that connection between the chairmen of the committees +and the ministers, which I have attempted to describe, is an +arrangement very imperfect in itself, but plainly indicating the +necessity of some such close relation between the executive and the +legislature of the United States as does exist in the political +system of Great Britain. With us the Queen's minister has a greater +weight in Parliament than the President's minister could hold in +Congress, because the Queen is bound to employ a minister in whom the +Parliament has confidence. As soon as such confidence ceases, the +minister ceases to be minister. As the Crown has no politics of its +own, it is simply necessary that the minister of the day should hold +the politics of the people as testified by their representatives. The +machinery of the President's Government cannot be made to work after +this fashion. The President himself is a political officer, and the +country is bound to bear with his politics for four years, whatever +those politics may be. The ministry which he selects on coming to +his seat will probably represent a majority in Congress, seeing that +the same suffrages which have elected the President will also have +elected the Congress. But there exists no necessity on the part of +the President to employ ministers who shall carry with them the +support of Congress. If, however, the ministers sat in Congress,--if +it were required of each minister that he should have a seat either +in one House or in the other,--the President would, I think, find +himself constrained to change a ministry in which Congress should +decline to confide. It might not be so at first, but there would be a +tendency in that direction. + +The governing powers do not rest exclusively with the President, or +with the President and his ministers; they are shared in a certain +degree with the Senate, which sits from time to time in executive +Session, laying aside at such periods its legislative character. It +is this executive authority which lends so great a dignity to the +Senate, gives it the privilege of preponderating over the other +House, and makes it the political safeguard of the nation. The +questions of government as to which the Senate is empowered to +interfere are soon told. All treaties made by the President must be +sanctioned by the Senate; and all appointments made by the President +must be confirmed by the Senate. The list is short, and one is +disposed to think, when first hearing it, that the thing itself does +not amount to much. But it does amount to very much; it enables the +Senate to fetter the President, if the Senate should be so inclined, +both as regards foreign politics and home politics. A Secretary +for Foreign Affairs at Washington may write what despatches he +pleases without reference to the Senate; but the Senate interferes +before those despatches can have resulted in any fact which may +be detrimental to the nation. It is not only that the Senate is +responsible for such treaties as are made, but that the President +is deterred from the making of treaties for which the Senate would +decline to make itself responsible. Even though no treaty should +ever be refused its sanction by the Senate, the protecting power of +the Senate in that matter would not on that account have been less +necessary or less efficacious. Though the bars with which we protect +our house may never have been tried by a thief, we do not therefore +believe that our house would have been safe if such bars had +been known to be wanting. And then, as to that matter of state +appointments, is it not the fact that all governing powers consist in +the selection of the agents by whom the action of Government shall +be carried on? It must come to this, I imagine, when the argument +is pushed home. The power of the most powerful man depends only +on the extent of his authority over his agents. According to the +constitution of the United States, the President can select no agent +either at home or abroad, for purposes either of peace or war, or +to the employment of whom the Senate does not agree with him. Such +a rule as this should save the nation from the use of disreputable +agents as public servants. It might, perhaps, have done more towards +such salvation than it has as yet effected;--and it may well be hoped +that it will do more in future. + +Such are the executive powers of the Senate; and it is, I think, +remarkable that the Senate has always used these powers with extreme +moderation. It has never shown a factious inclination to hinder +Government by unnecessary interference, or a disposition to clip +the President's wings by putting itself altogether at variance with +him. I am not quite sure whether some fault may not have lain on the +other side; whether the Senate may not have been somewhat slack in +exercising the protective privileges given to it by the constitution. +And here I cannot but remark how great is the deference paid to all +governors and edicts of Government throughout the United States. +One would have been disposed to think that such a feeling would be +stronger in an old country such as Great Britain than in a young +country such as the States. But I think that it is not so. There +is less disposition to question the action of government either at +Washington or at New York, than there is in London. Men in America +seem to be content when they have voted in their governors, and to +feel that for them all political action is over until the time shall +come for voting for others. And this feeling, which seems to prevail +among the people, prevails also in both Houses of Congress. Bitter +denunciations against the President's policy or the President's +ministers are seldom heard. Speeches are not often made with the +object of impeding the action of Government. That so small and so +grave a body as the Senate should abstain from factious opposition to +the Government when employed on executive functions was perhaps to +be expected. It is of course well that it should be so. I confess, +however, that it has appeared to me that the Senate has not used the +power placed in its hands as freely as the constitution has intended. +But I look at the matter as an Englishman, and as an Englishman I +can endure no government action which is not immediately subject to +Parliamentary control. + +Such are the governing powers of the United States. I think it will +be seen that they are much more limited in their scope of action than +with us; but within that scope of action much more independent and +self-sufficient. And, in addition to this, those who exercise power +in the United States are not only free from immediate responsibility, +but are not made subject to the hope or fear of future judgment. +Success will bring no award, and failure no punishment. I am not +aware that any political delinquency has ever yet brought down +retribution on the head of the offender in the United States, or +that any great deed has been held as entitling the doer of it to his +country's gratitude. Titles of nobility they have none; pensions they +never give; and political disgrace is unknown. The line of politics +would seem to be cold and unalluring. It is cold;--and would be +unalluring, were it not that as a profession it is profitable. In +much of this I expect that a change will gradually take place. The +theory has been that public affairs should be in the hands of little +men. The theory was intelligible while the public affairs were small; +but they are small no longer, and that theory, I fancy, will have +to alter itself. Great men are needed for the government, and in +order to produce great men a career of greatness must be opened to +them. I can see no reason why the career and the men should not be +forthcoming. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS OF THE UNITED STATES. + + +I do not propose to make any attempt to explain in detail the +practices and rules of the American Courts of Law. No one but a +lawyer should trust himself with such a task, and no lawyer would be +enabled to do so in the few pages which I shall here devote to the +subject. My present object is to explain, as far as I may be able to +do so, the existing political position of the country. As this must +depend more or less upon the power vested in the hands of the judges, +and upon the tenure by which those judges hold their offices, I shall +endeavour to describe the circumstances of the position in which the +American judges are placed; the mode in which they are appointed; the +difference which exists between the national judges and the State +judges; and the extent to which they are or are not held in high +esteem by the general public whom they serve. + +It will, I think, be acknowledged that this last matter is one of +almost paramount importance to the welfare of a country. At home in +England we do not realize the importance to us in a political as +well as social view of the dignity and purity of our judges, because +we take from them all that dignity and purity can give as a matter +of course. The honesty of our bench is to us almost as the honesty +of heaven. No one dreams that it can be questioned or become +questionable, and therefore there are but few who are thankful for +its blessings. Few Englishmen care to know much about their own +courts of law, or are even aware that the judges are the protectors +of their liberties and property. There are the men, honoured on +all sides, trusted by every one, removed above temptation, holding +positions which are coveted by all lawyers. That it is so is enough +for us; and as the good thence derived comes to us so easily, we +forget to remember that we might possibly be without it. The law +courts of the States have much in their simplicity and the general +intelligence of their arrangements to recommend them. In all ordinary +causes justice is done with economy, with expedition, and I believe +with precision. But they strike an Englishman at once as being +deficient in splendour and dignity, as wanting that reverence which +we think should be paid to words falling from the bench, and as being +in danger as to that purity, without which a judge becomes a curse +among a people, a chief of thieves, and an arch-minister of the Evil +One. I say as being in danger;--not that I mean to hint that such +want of purity has been shown, or that I wish it to be believed that +judges with itching palms do sit upon the American bench; but because +the present political tendency of the State arrangements threatens +to produce such danger. We in England trust implicitly in our +judges,--not because they are Englishmen, but because they are +Englishmen carefully selected for their high positions. We should +soon distrust them if they were elected by universal suffrage from +all the barristers and attorneys practising in the different courts; +and so elected only for a period of years, as is the case with +reference to many of the State judges in America. Such a mode of +appointment would, in our estimation, at once rob them of their +prestige. And our distrust would not be diminished if the pay +accorded to the work were so small that no lawyer in good practice +could afford to accept the situation. When we look at a judge in +court, venerable beneath his wig and adorned with his ermine, we do +not admit to ourselves that that high officer is honest because he +is placed above temptation by the magnitude of his salary. We do not +suspect that he, as an individual, would accept bribes and favour +suitors if he were in want of money. But, still, we know as a fact +that an honest man, like any other good article, must be paid for at +a high price. Judges and bishops expect those rewards which all men +win who rise to the highest steps on the ladder of their profession. +And the better they are paid, within measure, the better they will be +as judges and bishops. Now, the judges in America are not well paid, +and the best lawyers cannot afford to sit upon the bench. + +With us the practice of the law and the judicature of our law courts +are divided. We have Chancery barristers and Common Law barristers; +and we have Chancery Courts and Courts of Common Law. In the States +there is no such division. It prevails neither in the national or +federal courts of the United States, nor in the courts of any of the +separate States. The code of laws used by the Americans is taken +almost entirely from our English laws,--or rather, I should say, the +federal code used by the nation is so taken, and also the various +codes of the different States,--as each State takes whatever laws it +may think fit to adopt. Even the precedents of our courts are held as +precedents in the American courts, unless they chance to jar against +other decisions given specially in their own courts with reference to +cases of their own. In this respect the founders of the American law +proceedings have shown a conservation bias and a predilection for +English written and traditional law, which are much at variance with +that general democratic passion for change by which we generally +presume the Americans to have been actuated at their revolution. But +though they have kept our laws, and still respect our reading of +those laws, they have greatly altered and simplified our practice. +Whether a double set of courts for Law and Equity are or are not +expedient, either in the one country or in the other, I do not +pretend to know. It is, however, the fact that there is no such +division in the States. + +Moreover there is no division in the legal profession. With us +we have barristers and attorneys. In the States the same man is +both barrister and attorney; and, which is perhaps in effect more +startling, every lawyer is presumed to undertake law cases of every +description. The same man makes your will, sells your property, +brings an action for you of trespass against your neighbour, +defends you when you are accused of murder, recovers for you +two-and-sixpence, and pleads for you in an argument of three days' +length when you claim to be the sole heir to your grandfather's +enormous property. I need not describe how terribly distinct with +us is the difference between an attorney and a barrister, or how +much further than the poles asunder is the future Lord Chancellor, +pleading before the Lords Justices at Lincoln's Inn, from the +gentleman who at the Old Bailey is endeavouring to secure the +personal liberty of the ruffian who a week or two since walked off +with all your silver spoons. In the States no such differences are +known. A lawyer there is a lawyer, and is supposed to do for any +client any work that a lawyer may be called on to perform. But though +this is the theory, and as regards any difference between attorney +and barrister is altogether the fact, the assumed practice is not, +and cannot be maintained as regards the various branches of a +lawyer's work. When the population was smaller, and the law cases +were less complicated, the theory and the practice were no doubt +alike. As great cities have grown up, and properties large in amount +have come under litigation, certain lawyers have found it expedient +and practicable to devote themselves to special branches of their +profession. But this, even up to the present time, has not been done +openly as it were, or with any declaration made by a man as to his +own branch of his calling. I believe that no such declaration on his +part would be in accordance with the rules of the profession. He +takes a partner, however, and thus attains his object;--or more than +one partner, and then the business of the house is divided among them +according to their individual specialities. One will plead in court, +another will give chamber-counsel, and a third will take that lower +business which must be done, but which first-rate men hardly like to +do. + +It will easily be perceived that law in this way will be made +cheaper to the litigant. Whether or no that may be an unadulterated +advantage, I have my doubts. I fancy that the united professional +incomes of all the lawyers in the States would exceed in amount those +made in England. In America every man of note seems to be a lawyer, +and I am told that any lawyer who will work may make a sure income. +If it be so, it would seem that Americans per head pay as much or +more for their law as men do in England. It may be answered that they +get more law for their money. That may be possible, and even yet +they may not be gainers. I have been inclined to think that there +is an unnecessarily slow and expensive ceremonial among us in the +employment of barristers through a third party; it has seemed that +the man of learning, on whose efforts the litigant really depends, is +divided off from his client and employer by an unfair barrier, used +only to enhance his own dignity and give an unnecessary grandeur +to his position. I still think that the fault with us lies in this +direction. But I feel that I am less inclined to demand an immediate +alteration in our practice than I was before I had seen any of the +American courts of law. + +It should be generally understood that lawyers are the leading men in +the States, and that the governance of the country has been almost +entirely in their hands ever since the political life of the nation +became full and strong. All public business of importance falls +naturally into their hands, as with us it falls into the hands of men +of settled wealth and landed property. Indeed, the fact on which I +insist is much more clear and defined in the States than it is with +us. In England the lawyers also obtain no inconsiderable share of +political and municipal power. The latter is perhaps more in the +hands of merchants and men in trade than of any other class; and even +the highest seats of political greatness are more open with us to the +world at large than they seem to be in the States to any that are not +lawyers. Since the days of Washington every President of the United +States has, I think, been a lawyer, excepting General Taylor. Other +Presidents have been generals, but then they have also been lawyers. +General Jackson was a successful lawyer. Almost all the leading +politicians of the present day are lawyers. Seward, Cameron, Welles, +Stanton, Chase, Sumner, Crittenden, Harris, Fessenden, are all +lawyers. Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Cass were lawyers. Hamilton and +Jay were lawyers. Any man with an ambition to enter upon public life +becomes a lawyer as a matter of course. It seems as though a study +and practice of the law were necessary ingredients in a man's +preparation for political life. I have no doubt that a very large +proportion of both Houses of legislature would be found to consist of +lawyers. I do not remember that I know of the circumstance of more +than one senator who is not a lawyer. Lawyers form the ruling class +in America as the landowners do with us. With us that ruling class is +the wealthiest class; but this is not so in the States. It might be +wished that it were so. + +The great and ever-present difference between the national or federal +affairs of the United States government, and the affairs of the +government of each individual State should be borne in mind at all +times by those who desire to understand the political position of the +States. Till this be realized no one can have any correct idea of the +bearings of politics in that country. As a matter of course we in +England have been inclined to regard the Government and Congress of +Washington as paramount throughout the States, in the same way that +the Government of Downing Street and the Parliament of Westminster +are paramount through the British isles. Such a mistake is natural; +but not the less would it be a fatal bar to any correct understanding +of the constitution of the United States. The national and State +governments are independent of each other, and so also are the +national and State tribunals. Each of these separate tribunals has +its own judicature, its own judges, its own courts, and its own +functions. Nor can the supreme tribunal at Washington exercise any +authority over the proceedings of the Courts in the different States, +or influence the decisions of their judges. For not only are the +national judges and the State judges independent of each other; but +the laws in accordance with which they are bound to act, may be +essentially different. The two tribunals, those of the nation and +of the State, are independent and final in their several spheres. +On a matter of State jurisprudence no appeal lies from the supreme +tribunal of New York or Massachusetts to the supreme tribunal of the +nation at Washington. + +The national tribunals are of two classes. First, there is the +Supreme Court specially ordained by the constitution. And then there +are such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time see fit to +establish. Congress has no power to abolish the Supreme Court, or to +erect another tribunal superior to it. This court sits at Washington, +and is a final court of appeal from the inferior national courts +of the federal empire. A system of inferior courts, inaugurated by +Congress, has existed for about sixty years. Each State for purposes +of national jurisprudence is constituted as a district; some few +large States, such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, being +divided into two districts. Each district has one district court +presided over by one judge. National causes in general, both civil +and criminal, are commenced in these district courts, and those +involving only small amounts are ended there. Above these district +courts are the national circuit courts, the districts or States +having been grouped into circuits as the counties are grouped with +us. To each of these circuits is assigned one of the judges of the +Supreme Court of Washington, who is the ex-officio judge of that +circuit, and who therefore travels as do our Common Law judges. In +each district he sits with the judge of that district, and they two +together form the circuit court. Appeals from the district court +lie to the circuit court in cases over a certain amount, and also +in certain criminal cases. It follows therefore that appeals lie +from one judge to the same judge when sitting with another,--an +arrangement which would seem to be fraught with some inconvenience. +Certain causes, both civil and criminal, are commenced in the circuit +courts. From the circuit courts the appeal lies to the Supreme Court +at Washington; but such appeal beyond the circuit court is not +allowed in cases which are of small magnitude or which do not involve +principles of importance. If there be a division of opinion in the +circuit court the case goes to the Supreme Court;--from whence it +might be inferred that all cases brought from the district court to +the circuit court would be sent on to the Supreme Court, unless the +circuit judge agreed with the district judge; for the district judge +having given his judgment in the inferior court, would probably +adhere to it in the superior court. No appeal lies to the Supreme +Court at Washington in criminal cases. + +All questions that concern more than one State, or that are litigated +between citizens of different States, or which are international in +their bearing, come before the national judges. All cases in which +foreigners are concerned, or the rights of foreigners, are brought +or may be brought into the national courts. So also are all causes +affecting the Union itself, or which are governed by the laws of +Congress and not by the laws of any individual State. All questions +of Admiralty law and maritime jurisdiction, and cases affecting +ambassadors or consuls, are there tried. Matters relating to the +Post-office, to the Customs, the collection of national taxes, to +patents, to the army and navy, and to the mint, are tried in the +national courts. The theory is that the national tribunals shall +expound and administer the national laws and treaties, protect +national offices and national rights; and that foreigners and +citizens of other States shall not be required to submit to the +decisions of the State tribunals;--in fact, that national tribunals +shall take cognizance of all matters as to which the general +government of the nation is responsible. In most of such cases the +national tribunals have exclusive jurisdiction. In others it is +optional with the plaintiff to select his tribunal. It is then +optional with the defendant, if brought into a State court, to +remain there or to remove his cause into the national tribunal. The +principle is, that either at the beginning, or ultimately, such +questions shall or may be decided by the national tribunals. If in +any suit properly cognizable in a State court the decision should +turn on a clause in the constitution, or on a law of the United +States, or on the act of a national offence, or on the validity of +a national act, an appeal lies to the Supreme Court of the United +States and to its officers. The object has been to give to the +national tribunals of the nation full cognizance of its own laws, +treaties, and congressional acts. + +The judges of all the national tribunals, of whatever grade or rank, +hold their offices for life, and are removable only on impeachment. +They are not even removable on an address of Congress; thus holding +on a firmer tenure even than our own judges, who may, I believe, be +moved on an address by Parliament. The judges in America are not +entitled to any pension or retiring allowances; and as there is not, +as regards the judges of the national courts, any proviso that they +shall cease to sit after a certain age, they are, in fact, immoveable +whatever may be their infirmities. Their position in this respect +is not good, seeing that their salaries will hardly admit of their +making adequate provision for the evening of life. The salary of +the Chief Justice of the United States is only £1300 per annum. All +judges of the national courts of whatever rank are appointed by the +President, but their appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. +This proviso, however, gives to the Senate practically but little +power, and is rarely used in opposition to the will of the President. +If the President name one candidate, who on political grounds is +distasteful to a majority of the Senate, it is not probable that a +second nomination made by him will be more satisfactory. This seems +now to be understood, and the nomination of the cabinet ministers +and of the judges, as made by the President, are seldom set aside or +interfered with by the Senate, unless on grounds of purely personal +objection. + +The position of the national judges as to their appointments and mode +of tenure is very different from that of the State judges, to whom in +a few lines I shall more specially allude. This should, I think, be +specially noticed by Englishmen when criticising the doings of the +American courts. I have observed statements made to the effect that +decisions given by American judges as to international or maritime +affairs affecting English interests could not be trusted, because +the judges so giving them would have been elected by popular vote, +and would be dependent on the popular voice for reappointment. This +is not so. Judges are appointed by popular vote in very many of +the States. But all matters affecting shipping, and all questions +touching foreigners are tried in the national courts before judges +who have been appointed for life. I should not myself have had any +fear with reference to the ultimate decision in the affair of Slidell +and Mason had the "Trent" been carried into New York. I would, +however, by no means say so much had the cause been one for trial +before the tribunals of the State of New York. + +I have been told that we in England have occasionally fallen into +the error of attributing to the Supreme Court at Washington a quasi +political power which it does not possess. This court can give no +opinion to any department of the Government, nor can it decide upon +or influence any subject that has not come before it as a regularly +litigated case in law. Though especially founded by the constitution, +it has no peculiar power under the constitution, and stands in no +peculiar relation either to that or to Acts of Congress. It has no +other power to decide on the constitutional legality of an act of +Congress or an act of a State legislature or of a public officer than +every court, State and national, high and low, possesses and is bound +to exercise. It is simply the national court of last appeal. + +In the different States such tribunals have been established as each +State by its constitution and legislation has seen fit to adopt. The +States are entirely free on this point. The usual course is to have +one Supreme Court, sometimes called by that name, sometimes the +Court of Appeals, and sometimes the Court of Errors. Then they have +such especial courts as their convenience may dictate. The State +jurisprudence includes all causes not expressly or by necessary +implication secured to the national courts. The tribunals of the +States have exclusive control over domestic relations, religion, +education, the tenure and descent of land, the inheritance of +property, police regulations, municipal economy, and all matters +of internal trade. In this category of course come the relations +of husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, owner +and slave, guardian and ward, tradesman and apprentice. So also +do all police and criminal regulations not external in their +character,--highways, railroads, canals, schools, colleges, the +relief of paupers, and those thousand other affairs of the world +by which men are daily surrounded in their own homes and their own +districts. As to such subjects Congress can make no law, and over +them Congress and the national tribunals have no jurisdiction. +Congress cannot say that a man shall be hung for murder in New York; +nor if a man be condemned to be hung in New York can the President +pardon him. The legislature of New York must say whether or no +hanging shall be the punishment adjudged to murder in that State; +and the Governor of the State of New York must pronounce the man's +pardon,--if it be that he is to be pardoned. But Congress must decide +whether or no a man shall be hung for murder committed on the high +seas, or in the national forts or arsenals; and in such a case it is +for the President to give or to refuse the pardon. + +The judges of the States are appointed as the constitution or the +laws of each State may direct in that matter. The appointments, I +think, in all the old States were formerly vested in the Governor. In +some States such is still the case. In some, if I am not mistaken, +the nomination is now made, directly, by the legislature. But in +most of the States the power of appointing has been claimed by the +people, and the judges are voted in by popular election, just as the +President of the Union and the Governors of the different States +are voted in. There has for some years been a growing tendency in +this direction, and the people in most of the States have claimed +the power;--or rather the power has been given to the people by +politicians who have wished to get into their hands in this way the +patronage of the courts. But now, at the present moment, there is +arising a strong feeling of the inexpediency of appointing judges in +such a manner. An antidemocratic bias is taking possession of men's +minds, causing a reaction against that tendency to universal suffrage +in everything which prevailed before the war began. As to this matter +of the mode of appointing judges, I have heard but one opinion +expressed; and I am inclined to think that a change will be made in +one State after another, as the constitutions of the different States +are revised. Such revisions take place generally at periods of about +twenty-five years' duration. If, therefore, it be acknowledged that +the system be bad, the error can be soon corrected. + +Nor is this mode of appointment the only evil that has been adopted +in the State judicatures. The judges in most of the States are not +appointed for life, nor even during good behaviour. They enter their +places for a certain term of years, varying from fifteen down, I +believe, to seven. I do not know whether any are appointed for a term +of less than seven years. When they go out they have no pensions; and +as a lawyer who has been on the bench for seven years can hardly +recall his practice, and find himself at once in receipt of his old +professional income, it may easily be imagined how great will be +the judge's anxiety to retain his position on the bench. This he +can do only by the universal suffrages of the people, by political +popularity, and a general standing of that nature which enables a man +to come forth as the favourite candidate of the lower orders. This +may or may not be well when the place sought for is one of political +power,--when the duties required are political in all their bearings. +But no one can think it well when the place sought for is a judge's +seat on the bench;--when the duties required are solely judicial. +Whatever hitherto may have been the conduct of the judges in the +courts of the different States, whether or no impurity has yet crept +in, and the sanctity of justice has yet been outraged, no one can +doubt the tendency of such an arrangement. At present even a few +visits to the courts constituted in this manner will convince an +observer that the judges on the bench are rather inferior than +superior to the lawyers who practise before them. The manner of +address, the tone of voice, the lack of dignity in the judge, and the +assumption by the lawyer before him of a higher authority than his, +all tell this tale. And then the judges in these courts are not paid +at a rate which will secure the services of the best men. They vary +in the different States, running from about £600 to about £1000 per +annum. But a successful lawyer practising in the courts in which +these judges sit, not unfrequently earns £3000 a year. A professional +income of £2000 a year is not considered very high. When the +different conditions of the bench are considered, when it is +remembered that the judge may lose his place after a short term of +years, and that during that short term of years he receives a payment +much less than that earned by his successful professional brethren, +it can hardly be expected that first-rate judges should be found. The +result is seen daily in society. You meet Judge This and Judge That, +not knowing whether they are ex-judges or in-judges; but you soon +learn that your friends do not hold any very high social position on +account of their forensic dignity. + +It is, perhaps, but just to add that in Massachusetts, which I cannot +but regard as in many respects the noblest of the States, the judges +are appointed by the Governor, and are appointed for life. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE FINANCIAL POSITION. + + +The Americans are proud of much that they have done in this war, and +indeed much has been done which may justify pride; but of nothing are +they so proud as of the noble dimensions and quick growth of their +Government debt. That Mr. Secretary Chase, the American Chancellor +of the Exchequer, participates in this feeling I will not venture to +say; but if he do not, he is well nigh the only man in the States +who does not do so. The amount of expenditure has been a subject of +almost national pride, and the two million of dollars a day which has +been roughly put down as the average cost of the war, has always been +mentioned by northern men in a tone of triumph. This feeling is, I +think, intelligible; and although we cannot allude to it without a +certain amount of inward sarcasm,--a little gentle laughing in the +sleeve, at the nature of this national joy, I am not prepared to say +that it is altogether ridiculous. If the country be found able and +willing to pay the bill, this triumph in the amount of the cost will +hereafter be regarded as having been anything but ridiculous. In +private life an individual will occasionally be known to lavish his +whole fortune on the accomplishment of an object which he conceives +to be necessary to his honour. If the object be in itself good, and +if the money be really paid, we do not laugh at such a man for the +sacrifices which he makes. + +For myself, I think that the object of the northern States in this +war has been good. I think that they could not have avoided the +war without dishonour, and that it was incumbent on them to make +themselves the arbiters of the future position of the South, whether +that future position shall or shall not be one of secession. This +they could only do by fighting. Had they acceded to secession +without a civil war, they would have been regarded throughout Europe +as having shown themselves inferior to the South, and would for +many years to come have lost that prestige which their spirit and +energy had undoubtedly won for them; and in their own country such +submission on their part would have practically given to the South +the power of drawing the line of division between the two new +countries. That line, so drawn, would have given Virginia, Maryland, +Kentucky, and Missouri to the southern Republic. The great effect of +the war to the North will be, that the northern men will draw the +line of secession, if any such line be drawn. I still think that such +line will ultimately be drawn, and that the southern States will be +allowed to secede. But if it be so, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri will not be found among these seceding States; and the line +may not improbably be driven south of North Carolina and Tennessee. +If this can be so, the object of the war will, I think, hereafter +be admitted to have been good. Whatever may be the cost in money of +joining the States which I have named to a free-soil northern people, +instead of allowing them to be buried in that dismal swamp, which +a confederacy of southern slave States will produce, that cost can +hardly be too much. At the present moment there exists in England a +strong sympathy with the South, produced partly by the unreasonable +vituperation with which the North treated our Government at the +beginning of the war, and by the capture of Mason and Slidell; partly +also by that feeling of good-will which a looker-on at a combat +always has for the weaker side. But, although this sympathy does +undoubtedly exist, I do not imagine that many Englishmen are of +opinion that a confederacy of southern slave States will ever offer +to the general civilization of the world very many attractions. It +cannot be thought that the South will equal the North in riches, in +energy, in education, or general well-being. Such has not been our +experience of any slave country; such has not been our experience of +any tropical country; and such especially has not been our experience +of the southern States of the North American Union. I am no +abolitionist; but to me it seems impossible that any Englishman +should really advocate the cause of slavery against the cause of +free soil. There are the slaves, and I know that they cannot be +abolished,--neither they nor their chains; but, for myself, I will +not willingly join my lot with theirs. I do not wish to have dealings +with the African negro either as a free man or as a slave, if I can +avoid them, believing that his employment by me in either capacity +would lead to my own degradation.* Such, I think, are the feelings of +Englishmen generally on this matter. And if such be the case, will it +not be acknowledged that the northern men have done well to fight for +a line which shall add five or six States to that Union which will in +truth be a union of free men, rather than to that Confederacy which, +even if successful, must owe its success to slavery? + + *In saying this I fear that I shall be misunderstood, let me + use what foot-note or other mode of protestation I may to guard + myself. In thus speaking of the African negro, I do not venture to + despise the work of God's hands. That He has made the negro, for + His own good purposes, as He has the Esquimaux, I am aware. And I + am aware that it is my duty, as it is the duty of us all, to see + that no injury be done to him, and, if possible, to assist him in + his condition. When I declare that I desire no dealings with the + negro, I speak of him in the position in which I now find him, + either as a free servant or a slave. In either position he impedes + the civilization and the progress of the white man. + +In considering this matter it must be remembered that the five +or six States of which we are speaking are at present slave +States, but that, with the exception of Virginia,--of part only of +Virginia,--they are not wedded to slavery. But even in Virginia, +great as has been the gain which has accrued to that unhappy State +from the breeding of slaves for the southern market,--even in +Virginia slavery would soon die out if she were divided from the +South, and joined to the North. In those other States, in Maryland, +in Kentucky, and in Missouri there is no desire to perpetuate the +institution. They have been slave States, and as such have resented +the rabid abolition of certain northern orators. Had it not been for +those orators, and their oratory, the soil of Kentucky would now have +been free. Those five or six States are now slave States; but a line +of secession drawn south of them will be the line which cuts off +slavery from the North. If those States belong to the North when +secession shall be accomplished, they will belong to it as free +States; but if they belong to the South, they will belong to the +South as slave States. If they belong to the North, they will become +rich as the North is, and will share in the education of the North. +If they belong to the South they will become poor as the South +is, and will share in the ignorance of the South. If we presume +that secession will be accomplished,--and I for one am of that +opinion,--has it not been well that a war should be waged with +such an object as this? If those five or six States can be gained, +stretching east and west from the Atlantic to the centre of the +continent, hundreds of miles beyond the Mississippi, and north and +south over four degrees of latitude,--if that extent of continent can +be added to the free soil of the northern territory, will not the +contest that has done this have been worth any money that can have +been spent on it? + +So much as to the object to be gained by the money spent on the war! +And I think that in estimating the nature of the financial position +which the war has produced, it was necessary that we should consider +the value of the object which has been in dispute. The object I +maintain has been good. Then comes the question whether or no the +bill will be fairly paid;--whether they who have spent the money will +set about that disagreeable task of settling the account with a true +purpose and an honest energy. And this question splits itself into +two parts. Will the Americans honestly wish to pay the bill; and if +they do so wish, will they have the power to pay it? Again that last +question must be once more divided. Will they have the power to pay, +as regards the actual possession of the means, and if possessing +them, will they have the power of access to those means? + +The nation has obtained for itself an evil name for repudiation. We +all know that Pennsylvania behaved badly about her money affairs, +although she did at last pay her debts. We all know that Mississippi +has behaved very badly about her money affairs, and has never paid +her debts, nor does she intend to pay them. And, which is worse than +this, for it applies to the nation generally and not to individual +States, we all know that it was made a matter of boast in the States +that in the event of a war with England the enormous amount of +property held by Englishmen in the States should be confiscated. +That boast was especially made in the mercantile city of New York; +and when the matter was discussed it seemed as though no American +realized the iniquity of such a threat. It was not apparently +understood that such a confiscation on account of a war would be an +act of national robbery justified simply by the fact that the power +of committing it would be in the hands of the robbers. Confiscation +of so large an amount of wealth would be a smart thing, and men did +not seem to perceive that any disgrace would attach to it in the eyes +of the world at large. I am very anxious not to speak harsh words of +the Americans; but when questions arise as to pecuniary arrangements +I find myself forced to acknowledge that great precaution is at any +rate necessary. + +But, nevertheless, I am not sure that we shall be fair if we allow +ourselves to argue as to the national purpose in this matter from +such individual instances of dishonesty as those which I have +mentioned. I do not think it is to be presumed that the United States +as a nation will repudiate its debts because two separate States may +have been guilty of repudiation. Nor am I disposed to judge of the +honesty of the people generally from the dishonest threatenings of +New York, made at a moment in which a war with England was considered +imminent. I do believe that the nation, as a nation, will be as ready +to pay for the war as it has been ready to carry on the war. That +"ignorant impatience of taxation," to which it is supposed that we +Britons are very subject, has not been a complaint rife among the +Americans generally. We, in England, are inclined to believe that +hitherto they have known nothing of the merits and demerits of +taxation, and have felt none of its annoyances, because their entire +national expenditure has been defrayed by light Custom duties; but +the levies made in the separate States for State purposes, or chiefly +for municipal purposes, have been very heavy. They are, however, +collected easily, and, as far as I am aware, without any display of +ignorant impatience. Indeed, an American is rarely impatient of any +ordained law. Whether he be told to do this, or to pay for that, or +to abstain from the other, he does do and pay and abstain without +grumbling, provided that he has had a hand in voting for those +who made the law and for those who carry out the law. The people +generally have, I think, recognized the fact that they will have to +put their necks beneath the yoke, as the peoples of other nations +have put theirs, and support the weight of a great national debt. +When the time comes for the struggle,--for the first uphill heaving +against the terrible load which they will henceforth have to drag +with them in their career, I think it will be found that they are not +ill-inclined to put their shoulders to the work. + +Then as to their power of paying the bill! We are told that the +wealth of a nation consists in its labour, and that that nation is +the most wealthy which can turn out of hand the greatest amount of +work. If this be so the American States must form a very wealthy +nation, and as such be able to support a very heavy burden. No one, +I presume, doubts that that nation which works the most, or works +rather to the best effect, is the richest. On this account England is +richer than other countries, and is able to bear, almost without the +sign of an effort, a burden which would crush any other land. But +of this wealth the States own almost as much as Great Britain owns. +The population of the northern States is industrious, ambitious of +wealth, and capable of work as is our population. It possesses, or is +possessed by, that restless longing for labour which creates wealth +almost unconsciously. Whether this man be rich or be a bankrupt, +whether the bankers of that city fail or make their millions, the +creative energies of the American people will not become dull. +Idleness is impossible to them, and therefore poverty is impossible. +Industry and intellect together will always produce wealth; and +neither industry nor intellect is ever wanting to an American. They +are the two gifts with which the fairy has endowed him. When she +shall have added honesty as a third, the tax-gatherer can desire no +better country in which to exercise his calling. + +I cannot myself think that all the millions that are being spent +would weigh upon the country with much oppression, if the weight were +once properly placed upon the muscles that will have to bear it. The +difficulty will be in the placing of the weight. It has, I know, +been argued that the circumstances under which our national debt +has extended itself to its present magnificent dimensions cannot be +quoted as parallel to those of the present American debt, because we, +while we were creating the debt, were taxing ourselves very heavily, +whereas the Americans have gone a-head with the creation of their +debt before they have levied a shilling on themselves towards the +payment of those expenses for which the debt has been encountered. +But this argument, even if it were true in its gist, goes no way +towards proving that the Americans will be unable to pay. The +population of the present free-soil States is above eighteen +millions; that of the States which will probably belong to the Union +if secession be accomplished is about twenty-two millions. At a time +when our debt had amounted to six hundred millions sterling, we +had no population such as that to bear the burden. It may be said +that we had more amassed wealth than they have. But I take it that +the amassed wealth of any country can go but a very little way in +defraying the wants or in paying the debts of a people. We again come +back to the old maxim, that the labour of a country is its wealth; +and that a country will be rich or poor in accordance with the +intellectual industry of its people. + +But the argument drawn from that comparison between our own conduct +when we were creating our debt, and the conduct of the Americans +while they have been creating their debt,--during the twelve months +from April 1, 1861, to March 31, 1862, let us say,--is hardly a fair +argument. We, at any rate, knew how to tax ourselves,--if only the +taxes might be forthcoming. We were already well used to the work; +and a minister with a willing House of Commons had all his material +ready to his hand. It has not been so in the United States. The +difficulty has not been with the people who should pay the taxes, but +with the minister and the Congress which did not know how to levy +them. Certainly not as yet have those who are now criticising the +doings on the other side of the water, a right to say that the +American people are unwilling to make personal sacrifices for the +carrying out of this war. No sign has as yet been shown of an +unwillingness on the part of the people to be taxed. But wherever +a sign could be given, it has been given on the other side. The +separate States have taxed themselves very heavily for the support +of the families of the absent soldiers. The extra allowances made +to maimed men, amounting generally to twenty-four shillings a month, +have been paid by the States themselves, and have been paid almost +with too much alacrity. + +I am of opinion that the Americans will show no unwillingness to pay +the amount of taxation which must be exacted from them; and I also +think that as regards their actual means they will have the power +to pay it. But as regards their power of obtaining access to those +means, I must confess that I see many difficulties in their way. +In the first place they have no financier,--no man who by natural +aptitude and by long continued contact with great questions of +finance, has enabled himself to handle the money affairs of a nation +with a master's hand. In saying this I do not intend to impute any +blame to Mr. Chase, the present Secretary at the Treasury. Of his +ability to do the work properly, had he received the proper training, +I am not able to judge. It is not that Mr. Chase is incapable. He may +be capable or incapable. But it is that he has not had the education +of a national financier, and that he has no one at his elbow to help +him who has had that advantage. + +And here we are again brought to that general absence of state craft +which has been the result of the American system of government. I am +not aware that our Chancellors of the Exchequer have in late years +always been great masters of finance; but they have at any rate been +among money men and money matters, and have had financiers at their +elbows if they have not deserved the name themselves. The very fact +that a Chancellor of the Exchequer sits in the House of Commons and +is forced in that House to answer all questions on the subject of +finance, renders it impossible that he should be ignorant of the +rudiments of the science. If you put a white cap on a man's head and +place him in a kitchen, he will soon learn to be a cook. But he will +never be made a cook by standing in the dining-room and seeing the +dishes as they are brought up. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is our +cook; and the House of Commons, not the Treasury chambers, is his +kitchen. Let the Secretary of the United States Treasury sit in the +House of Representatives. He would learn more there by contest with +opposing members than he can do by any amount of study in his own +chamber. + +But the House of Representatives itself has not as yet learned its +own lesson with reference to taxation. When I say that the United +States are in want of a financier, I do not mean that the deficiency +rests entirely with Mr. Chase. This necessity for taxation, and for +taxation at so tremendous a rate, has come suddenly, and has found +the representatives of the people unprepared for such work. To us, as +I conceive, the science of taxation, in which we certainly ought to +be great, has come gradually. We have learned by slow lessons what +taxes will be productive, under what circumstances they will be most +productive, and at what point they will be made unproductive by their +own weight. We have learned what taxes may be levied so as to afford +funds themselves, without injuring the proceeds of other taxes, and +we know what taxes should be eschewed as being specially oppressive +to the general industry and injurious to the well-being of the +nation. This has come of much practice, and even we, with all our +experience, have even got something to learn. But the public men +in the States who are now devoting themselves to this matter of +taxing the people have, as yet, no such experience. That they +have inclination enough for the work is, I think, sufficiently +demonstrated by the national tax bill, the wording of which is now +before me, and which will have been passed into law before this +volume can be published. It contains a list of every taxable article +on the earth or under the earth. A more sweeping catalogue of +taxation was probably never put forth. The Americans, it has been +said by some of us, have shown no disposition to tax themselves for +this war; but before the war has as yet been well twelve months in +operation, a bill has come out with a list of taxation so oppressive, +that it must, as regards many of its items, act against itself and +cut its own throat. It will produce terrible fraud in its evasion, +and create an army of excise officers who will be as locusts over +the face of the country. Taxes are to be laid on articles which I +should have said that universal consent had declared to be unfit for +taxation. Salt, soap, candles, oil, and other burning fluids, gas, +pins, paper, ink, and leather, are to be taxed. It was at first +proposed that wheat-flour should be taxed, but that item has, I +believe, been struck out of the bill in its passage through the +House. All articles manufactured of cotton, wool, silk, worsted, +flax, hemp, jute, india-rubber, gutta percha, wood (?), glass, +pottery wares, leather, paper, iron, steel, lead, tin, copper, zinc, +brass, gold and silver, horn, ivory, bone, bristles, wholly or in +part, or of other materials, are to be taxed;--provided always that +books, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, and reviews shall not be +regarded as manufactures. It will be said that the amount of taxation +to be levied on the immense number of manufactured articles which +must be included in this list will be light,--the tax itself being +only 3 per cent. ad valorem. But with reference to every article, +there will be the necessity of collecting this 3 per cent.! As +regards each article that is manufactured, some government official +must interfere to appraise its value and to levy the tax. Who shall +declare the value of a barrel of wooden nutmegs; or how shall +the Excise-officer get his tax from every cobbler's stall in the +country? And then tradesmen are to pay licences for their trades,--a +confectioner £2, a tallow-chandler £2, a horsedealer £2. Every man +whose business it is to sell horses shall be a horsedealer. True. But +who shall say whether or no it be a man's business to sell horses? +An apothecary £2, a photographer £2, a pedlar £4, £3, £2, or £1, +according to his mode of travelling. But if the gross receipts of any +of the confectioners, tallow-chandlers, horsedealers, apothecaries, +photographers, pedlars, or the like do not exceed £200 a year, then +such tradesmen shall not be required to pay for any licence at all. +Surely such a proviso can only have been inserted with the express +view of creating fraud and ill blood! But the greatest audacity has, +I think, been shown in the levying of personal taxes,--such taxes +as have been held to be peculiarly disagreeable among us, and have +specially brought down upon us the contempt of lightly-taxed people, +who, like the Americans, have known nothing of domestic interference. +Carriages are to be taxed,--as they are with us. Pianos also are to +be taxed, and plate. It is not signified by this clause that such +articles shall pay a tax, once for all, while in the maker's hands, +which tax would no doubt fall on the future owner of such piano or +plate; in such case the owner would pay, but would pay without any +personal contact with the tax-gatherer. But every owner of a piano or +of plate is to pay annually according to the value of the articles +he owns. But perhaps the most audacious of all the proposed taxes +is that on watches. Every owner of a watch is to pay 4_s._ a year +for a gold watch and 2_s._ a year for a silver watch! The American +tax-gatherers will not like to be cheated. They will be very keen in +searching for watches. But who can say whether they or the carriers +of watches will have the best of it in such a hunt. The tax-gatherers +will be as hounds ever at work on a cold scent. They will now be +hot and angry, and then dull and disheartened. But the carriers of +watches who do not choose to pay will generally, one may predict, be +able to make their points good. + +With such a tax bill,--which I believe came into action on the 1st of +May, 1862,--the Americans are not fairly open to the charge of being +unwilling to tax themselves. They have avoided none of the irritating +annoyances of taxation, as also they have not avoided, or attempted +to lighten for themselves, the dead weight of the burden. The dead +weight they are right to endure without flinching; but their mode of +laying it on their own backs justifies me, I think, in saying that +they do not yet know how to obtain access to their own means. But +this bill applies simply to matters of excise. As I have said before, +Congress, which has hitherto supported the government by custom +duties, has also the power of levying excise duties, and now, in its +first session since the commencement of the war, has begun to use +that power without much hesitation or bashfulness. As regards their +taxes levied at the Custom House, the government of the United States +has always been inclined to high duties, with the view of protecting +the internal trade and manufactures of the country. The amount +required for national expenses was easily obtained, and these duties +were not regulated, as I think, so much with a view to the amount +which might be collected, as to that of the effect which the tax +might have in fostering native industry. That, if I understand it, +was the meaning of Mr. Morrill's bill, which was passed immediately +on the secession of the southern members of Congress, and which +instantly enhanced the price of all foreign manufactured goods in the +States. But now the desire for protection, simply as protection, has +been swallowed up in the acknowledged necessity for revenue; and the +only object to be recognized in the arrangement of the custom duties +is the collection of the greatest number of dollars. This is fair +enough. If the country can at such a crisis raise a better revenue +by claiming a shilling a pound on coffee than it can by claiming +sixpence, the shilling may be wisely claimed, even though many may +thus be prohibited from the use of coffee. But then comes the great +question, What duty will really give the greatest product? At what +rate shall we tax coffee so as to get at the people's money? If it be +so taxed that people won't use it, the tax cuts its own throat. There +is some point at which the tax will be most productive; and also +there is a point up to which the tax will not operate to the serious +injury of the trade. Without the knowledge which should indicate +these points, a Chancellor of the Exchequer, with his myrmidons, +would be groping in the dark. As far as we can yet see, there is not +much of such knowledge either in the Treasury Chambers or the House +of Representatives at Washington. + +But the greatest difficulty which the States will feel in obtaining +access to their own means of taxation, is that which is created by +the constitution itself, and to which I alluded when speaking of +the taxing powers which the constitution had given to Congress, and +those which it had denied to Congress. As to custom duties and excise +duties, Congress can do what it pleases, as can the House of Commons. +But Congress cannot levy direct taxation according to its own +judgment. In those matters of customs and excise, Congress and the +Secretary of the Treasury will probably make many blunders; but +having the power they will blunder through, and the money will be +collected. But direct taxation, in an available shape, is beyond the +power of Congress under the existing rule of the constitution. No +income-tax, for instance, can be laid on the general incomes of the +United States, that shall be universal throughout the States. An +income-tax can be levied, but it must be levied in proportion to the +representation. It is as though our Chancellor of the Exchequer, in +collecting an income-tax, were obliged to demand the same amount of +contribution from the town of Chester as from the town of Liverpool, +because both Chester and Liverpool return two Members to Parliament. +In fitting his tax to the capacity of Chester, he would be forced to +allow Liverpool to escape unscathed. No skill in money matters on +the part of the Treasury Secretary, and no aptness for finance on +the part of the Committee on Ways and Means, can avail here. The +constitution must apparently be altered before any serviceable resort +can be had to direct taxation. And yet, at such an emergency as +that now existing, direct taxation would probably give more ready +assistance than can be afforded either by the Customs or the Excise. + +It has been stated to me that this difficulty in the way of direct +taxation can be overcome without any change in the constitution. +Congress could only levy from Rhode Island the same amount of +income-tax that it might levy from Iowa; but it will be competent to +the legislature of Rhode Island itself to levy what income-tax it may +please on itself; and to devote the proceeds to national or federal +purposes. Rhode Island may do so; and so may Massachusetts, New +York, Connecticut, and the other rich Atlantic States. They may +tax themselves according to their riches, while Iowa, Illinois, +Wisconsin, and such-like States are taxing themselves according to +their poverty. I cannot myself think that it would be well to trust +to the generosity of the separate States for the finances needed by +the national Government. We should not willingly trust to Yorkshire +or Sussex to give us their contributions to the national income, +especially if Yorkshire and Sussex had small Houses of Commons of +their own, in which that question of giving might be debated. It may +be very well for Rhode Island or New York to be patriotic! But what +shall be done with any State that declines to evince such patriotism? +The legislatures of the different States may be invited to impose a +tax of 5 per cent. on all incomes in each State; but what will be +done if Pennsylvania, for instance, should decline, or Illinois +should hesitate? What if the legislature of Massachusetts should +offer 6 per cent., or that of New Jersey decide that 4 per cent. +was sufficient? For a while the arrangement might possibly be made +to answer the desired purpose. During the first ebullition of high +feeling, the different States concerned might possibly vote the +amount of taxes required for federal purposes. I fear it would not be +so, but we may allow that the chance is on the card. But it is not +conceivable that such an arrangement should be continued when, after +a year or two, men came to talk over the war with calmer feelings +and a more critical judgment. The State legislatures would become +inquisitive, opinionative, and probably factious. They would be +unwilling to act in so great a matter under the dictation of the +federal Congress; and by degrees one, and then another, would decline +to give its aid to the central government. However broadly the +acknowledgment may have been made, that the levying of direct taxes +was necessary for the nation, each State would be tempted to argue +that a wrong mode and a wrong rate of levying had been adopted, and +words would be forthcoming instead of money. A resort to such a mode +of taxation would be a bad security for government Stock. + +All matters of taxation, moreover, should be free from any taint +of generosity. A man who should attempt to lessen the burdens of +his country by gifts of money to its Exchequer would be laying his +country under an obligation, for which his country would not thank +him. The gifts here would be from States, and not from individuals; +but the principle would be the same. I cannot imagine that the United +States' Government would be willing to owe its revenue to the good +will of different States, or its want of revenue to their caprice. If +under such an arrangement the western States were to decline to vote +the quota of income-tax or property-tax to which the eastern States +had agreed,--and in all probability they would decline,--they would +in fact be seceding. They would thus secede from the burdens of their +general country; but in such event no one could accuse such States of +unconstitutional secession. + +It is not easy to ascertain with precision what is the present amount +of debt due by the United States; nor probably has any tolerably +accurate guess been yet given of the amount to which it may be +extended during the present war. A statement made in the House of +Representatives, by Mr. Spaulding, a member of the Committee of Ways +and Means, on the 29th of January last, may perhaps be taken as +giving as trustworthy information as any that can be obtained. I have +changed Mr. Spaulding's figures from dollars into pounds, that they +may be more readily understood by English readers. + + + There was Due up to July 1,1861 £18,173,566 + " Added in July and August 5,379,357 + " Borrowed in August 10,000,000 + " Borrowed in October 10,000,000 + " Borrowed in November 10,000,000 + " Amount of Treasury Demand + Notes issued 7,800,000 + ----------- + £61,352,923 + + +This was the amount of the debt due up to January 15th, 1862. Mr. +Spaulding then calculates that the sum required to carry on the +Government up to July 1st, 1862, will be £68,647,077. And that a +further sum of £110,000,000 will be wanted on or before the 1st +of July, 1863. Thus the debt at that latter date would stand as +follows:-- + + + Amount of Debt up to January, 1862 £61,352,923 + Added by July 1st, 1862 68,647,077 + Again added by July 1st, 1863 110,000,000 + ------------ + £240,000,000 + + +The first of these items may no doubt be taken as accurate. The +second has probably been founded on facts which leave little doubt +as to its substantial truth. The third, which professes to give the +proposed expense of the war for the forthcoming year, viz. from 1st +July, 1862, to 30th June, 1863, must necessarily have been obtained +by a very loose estimate. No one can say what may be the condition of +the country during the next year,--whether the war may then be raging +throughout the southern States, or whether the war may not have +ceased altogether. The North knows little or nothing of the capacity +of the South. How little it knows may be surmised from the fact that +the whole southern army of Virginia retreated from their position at +Manassas before the northern generals knew that they were moving; and +that when they were gone no word whatever was left of their numbers. +I do not believe that the northern Government is even yet able to +make any probable conjecture as to the number of troops which the +southern confederacy is maintaining, and if this be so, they can +certainly make no trustworthy estimates as to their own expenses for +the ensuing year. + +Two hundred and forty millions is, however, the sum named by a +gentleman presumed to be conversant with the matter, as the amount +of debt which may be expected by midsummer, 1863; and if the war +be continued till then, it will probably be found that he has not +exceeded the mark. It is right, however, to state that Mr. Chase in +his estimate does not rate the figures so high. He has given it as +his opinion that the debt will be about one hundred and four millions +in July, 1862, and one hundred and eighty millions in July, 1863. As +to the first amount, with reference to which a tolerably accurate +calculation may probably be made, I am inclined to prefer the +estimate as given by the member of the committee; and as to the +other, which hardly, as I think, admits of any calculation, his +calculation is at any rate as good as that made in the Treasury. + +But it is the immediate want of funds, and not the prospective debt +of the country, which is now doing the damage. In this opinion Mr. +Chase will probably agree with me; but readers on this side of the +water will receive what I say with a smile. Such a state of affairs +is certainly one that has not uncommonly been reached by financiers; +it has also often been experienced by gentlemen in the management of +their private affairs. It has been common in Ireland, and in London +has created the wealth of the pawnbrokers. In the States at the +present time the government is very much in this condition. The +prospective wealth of the country is almost unbounded, but there is +great difficulty in persuading any pawnbroker to advance money on the +pledge. In February last Mr. Chase was driven to obtain the sanction +of the legislature for paying the national creditors by bills drawn +at twelve months' date, and bearing 6 per cent. interest. It is the +old story of the tailor who calls with his little account, and draws +on his insolvent debtor at ninety days. If the insolvent debtor be +not utterly gone as regards solvency he will take up the bill when +due, even though he may not be able to pay a simple debt. But then, +if he be utterly insolvent, he can do neither the one nor the other! +The Secretary of the Treasury, when he asked for permission to +accept these bills,--or to issue these certificates, as he calls +them,--acknowledged to pressing debts of over five millions sterling +which he could not pay; and to further debts of eight millions +which he could not pay, but which he termed floating;--debts, if +I understand him, which were not as yet quite pressing. Now I +imagine that to be a lamentable condition for any Chancellor of an +Exchequer,--especially as a confession is at the same time made +that no advantageous borrowing is to be done under the existing +circumstances. When a Chancellor of the Exchequer confesses that he +cannot borrow on advantageous terms, the terms within his reach must +be very bad indeed. This position is indeed a sad one, and at any +rate justifies me in stating that the immediate want of funds is +severely felt. + +But the very arguments which have been used to prove that the country +will be ultimately crushed by the debt, are those which I should use +to prove that it will not be crushed. A comparison has more than once +been made between the manner in which our debt was made, and that in +which the debt of the United States is now being created; and the +great point raised in our favour is, that while we were borrowing +money we were also taxing ourselves, and that we raised as much by +taxes as we did by loans. But it is too early in the day to deny to +the Americans the credit which we thus take to ourselves. We were a +tax-paying nation when we commenced those wars which made our great +loans necessary, and only went on in that practice which was habitual +to us. I do not think that the Americans could have taxed themselves +with greater alacrity than they have shown. Let us wait, at any rate, +till they shall have had time for the operation, before we blame +them for not making it. It is then argued that we in England did not +borrow nearly so fast as they have borrowed in the States. That is +true. But it must be remembered that the dimensions and proportions +of wars now are infinitely greater than they were when we began to +borrow. Does any one imagine that we would not have borrowed faster, +if by faster borrowing we could have closed the war more speedily? +Things go faster now than they did then. Borrowing for the sake of a +war may be a bad thing to do,--as also it may be a good thing; but if +it be done at all, it should be so done as to bring the war to the +end with what greatest despatch may be possible. + +The only fair comparison, as it seems to me, which can be drawn +between the two countries with reference to their debts, and the +condition of each under its debt, should be made to depend on the +amount of the debt and probable ability of the country to bear that +burden. The amount of the debt must be calculated by the interest +payable on it, rather than by the figures representing the actual sum +due. If we debit the United States Government with seven per cent. +on all the money borrowed by them, and presume that amount to have +reached in July, 1863, the sum named by Mr. Spaulding, they will then +have loaded themselves with an annual charge of £16,800,000 sterling. +It will have been an immense achievement to have accomplished in so +short a time, but it will by no means equal the annual sum with which +we are charged. And, moreover, the comparison will have been made in +a manner that is hardly fair to the Americans. We pay our creditors +three per cent. now that we have arranged our affairs, and have +settled down into the respectable position of an old gentleman whose +estates, though deeply mortgaged, are not over-mortgaged. But we did +not get our money at three per cent. while our wars were on hand, and +there yet existed some doubt as to the manner in which they might be +terminated. + +This attempt, however, at guessing what may be the probable amount of +the debt at the close of the war is absolutely futile. No one can as +yet conjecture when the war may be over, or what collateral expenses +may attend its close. It may be the case that the government in +fixing some boundary between the future United States and the future +southern Confederacy, will be called on to advance a very large sum +of money as compensation for slaves who shall have been liberated +in the border States, or have been swept down south into the cotton +regions with the retreating hordes of the southern army. The total +of the bill cannot be reckoned up while the work is still unfinished. +But, after all, that question as to the amount of the bill is not +to us the question of the greatest interest. Whether the debt +shall amount to two, or three, or even to four hundred millions +sterling,--whether it remain fixed at its present modest dimensions, +or swell itself out to the magnificent proportions of our British +debt,--will the resources of the country enable it to bear such +a burden? Will it be found that the Americans share with us that +elastic power of endurance which has enabled us to bear a weight that +would have ruined any other people of the same number? Have they the +thews and muscles, the energy and endurance, the power of carrying +which we possess? They have got our blood in their veins, and have +these qualities gone with the blood? It is of little avail either +to us or to the truth that we can show some difference between our +position and their position which may seem to be in our favour. They, +doubtless, could show other points of difference on the other side. +With us, in the early years of this century, it was a contest for +life and death, in which we could not stop to count the cost,--in +which we believed that we were fighting for all that we cared to call +our own, and in which we were resolved that we would not be beaten, +as long as we had a man to fight and a guinea to spend. Fighting in +this mind we won. Had we fought in any other mind, I think I may say +that we should not have won. To the Americans of the northern States +this also is a contest for life and death. I will not here stay to +argue whether this need have been so. I think they are right; but +this at least must be accorded to them--that having gone into this +matter of civil war, it behoves them to finish it with credit to +themselves. There are many Englishmen who think that we were wrong to +undertake the French war; but there is, I take it, no Englishman who +thinks that we ought to have allowed ourselves to be beaten when we +had undertaken it. To the Americans it is now a contest of life and +death. They also cannot stop to count the cost. They also will go on +as long as they have a dollar to spend or a man to fight. + +It appears that we were paying fourteen millions a year interest on +our national debt in the year 1796. I take this statement from an +article in "The Times," in which the question of the finances of the +United States is handled. But our population in 1796 was only sixteen +millions. I estimate the population of the northern section of the +United States, as the States will be after the war, at twenty-two +millions. In the article alluded to these northern Americans are now +stated to be twenty millions. If then we, in 1796, could pay fourteen +millions a year with a population of sixteen millions, the United +States, with a population of twenty or twenty-two millions, will be +able to pay the sixteen or seventeen millions sterling of interest +which will become due from them,--if their circumstances of payment +are as good as were ours. They can do that and more than that if +they have the same means per man as we had. And as the means per man +resolves itself at last into the labour per man, it may be said that +they can pay what we could pay, if they can and will work as hard as +we could and did work. That which did not crush us will not crush +them, if their future energy be equal to our past energy. + +And on this question of energy I think that there is no need for +doubt. Taking man for man and million for million, the Americans are +equal to the English in intellect and industry. They create wealth at +any rate as fast as we have done. They develop their resources, and +open out the currents of trade, with an energy equal to our own. They +are always at work, improving, utilizing, and creating. Austria, as I +take it, is succumbing to monetary difficulties, not because she has +been extravagant, but because she has been slow at progress;--because +it has been the work of her rulers to repress rather than encourage +the energies of her people; because she does not improve, utilize, +and create. England has mastered her monetary difficulties because +the genius of her government and her people has been exactly opposite +to the genius of Austria. And the States of America will master +their money difficulties, because they are born of England, and are +not born of Austria. What! Shall our eldest child become bankrupt +in its first trade difficulty; be utterly ruined by its first +little commercial embarrassment? The child bears much too strong a +resemblance to its parent for me to think so. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE POST-OFFICE. + + +Any Englishman or Frenchman residing in the American States +cannot fail to be struck with the inferiority of the Post-office +arrangements in that country to those by which they are accommodated +in their own country. I have not been a resident in the States, and +as a traveller might probably have passed the subject without special +remark, were it not that the service of the Post-office has been my +own profession for many years. I could therefore hardly fail to +observe things which to another man would have been of no material +moment. At first I was inclined to lean heavily in my judgment upon +the deficiencies of a department which must be of primary importance +to a commercial nation. It seemed that among a people so intelligent, +and so quick in all enterprises of trade, a well arranged Post-office +would have been held to be absolutely necessary, and that all +difficulties would have been made to succumb in their efforts to +put that establishment, if no other, upon a proper footing. But +as I looked into the matter, and in becoming acquainted with +the circumstances of the Post-office learned the extent of the +difficulties absolutely existing, I began to think that a very great +deal had been done, and that the fault, as to that which had been +left undone, rested, not with the Post-office officials, but was +attributable partly to political causes altogether outside the +Post-office, and partly,--perhaps chiefly,--to the nature of the +country itself. + +It is, I think, undoubtedly true that the amount of accommodation +given by the Post-office of the States is small,--as compared with +that afforded in some other countries, and that that accommodation +is lessened by delays and uncertainty. The point which first struck +me was the inconvenient hours at which mails were brought in and +despatched. Here, in England, it is the object of our Post-office to +carry the bulk of our letters at night; to deliver them as early as +possible in the morning, and to collect them and take them away for +despatch as late as may be in the day;--so that the merchant may +receive his letters before the beginning of his day's business, and +despatch them after its close. The bulk of our letters is handled in +this manner, and the advantage of such an arrangement is manifest. +But it seemed that in the States no such practice prevailed. Letters +arrived at any hour in the day miscellaneously, and were despatched +at any hour, and I found that the postmaster at one town could never +tell me with certainty when letters would arrive at another. If the +towns were distant, I would be told that the conveyance might take +about two or three days; if they were near, that my letter would get +to hand "some time to-morrow." I ascertained, moreover, by painful +experience that the whole of a mail would not always go forward by +the first despatch. As regarded myself this had reference chiefly to +English letters and newspapers.--"Only a part of the mail has come," +the clerk would tell me. With us the owners of that part which did +not "come," would consider themselves greatly aggrieved and make +loud complaint. But, in the States, complaints made against official +departments are held to be of little moment. + +Letters also in the States are subject to great delays by +irregularities on railways. One train does not hit the town of its +destination before another train, to which it is nominally fitted, +has been started on its journey. The mail trains are not bound to +wait; and thus, in the large cities, far distant from New York, +great irregularity prevails. It is, I think, owing to this,--at any +rate partly to this,--that the system of telegraphing has become so +prevalent. It is natural that this should be so between towns which +are in the due course of post perhaps forty-eight hours asunder; but +the uncertainty of the post increases the habit, to the profit, of +course, of the companies which own the wires,--but to the manifest +loss of the Post-office. + +But the deficiency which struck me most forcibly in the American +Post-office, was the absence of any recognized official delivery of +letters. The United States Post-office does not assume to itself +the duty of taking letters to the houses of those for whom they are +intended, but holds itself as having completed the work for which +the original postage has been paid, when it has brought them to the +window of the Post-office of the town to which they are addressed. +It is true that in most large towns,--though by no means in all,--a +separate arrangement is made by which a delivery is afforded to those +who are willing to pay a further sum for that further service; but +the recognized official mode of delivery is from the office window. +The merchants and persons in trade have boxes at the windows, for +which they pay. Other old-established inhabitants in towns, and +persons in receipt of a considerable correspondence, receive their +letters by the subsidiary carriers and pay for them separately. But +the poorer classes of the community, those persons among which it +is of such paramount importance to increase the blessing of letter +writing, obtain their letters from the Post-office windows. + +In each of these cases the practice acts to the prejudice of the +department. In order to escape the tax on delivery, which varies +from two cents to one cent a letter, all men in trade, and many who +are not in trade, hold office boxes; consequently immense space is +required. The space given at Chicago, both to the public without and +to the officials within, for such delivery, is more than four times +that required at Liverpool for the same purpose. But Liverpool is +three times the size of Chicago. The corps of clerks required for the +window delivery is very great, and the whole affair is cumbrous in +the extreme. The letters at most offices are given out through little +windows, to which the inquirer is obliged to stoop. There he finds +himself opposite to a pane of glass with a little hole; and when the +clerk within shakes his head at him, he rarely believes but what his +letters are there if he could only reach them. But in the second +case, the tax on the delivery, which is intended simply to pay the +wages of the men who take them out, is paid with a bad grace; it robs +the letter of its charm, and forces it to present itself in the +guise of a burden. It makes that disagreeable which for its own sake +the Post-office should strive in every way to make agreeable. This +practice, moreover, operates as a direct prevention to a class of +correspondence, which furnishes in England a large proportion of the +revenue of the Post-office. Mercantile houses in our large cities +send out thousands of trade circulars, paying postage on them; but +such circulars would not be received, either in England or elsewhere, +if a demand for postage were made on their delivery. Who does not +receive these circulars in our country by the dozen, consigning them +generally to the waste-paper basket, after a most cursory inspection? +As regards the sender, the transaction seems to us often to be very +vain; but the Post-office gets its penny. So also would the American +Post-office get its three cents. + +But the main objection in my eyes to the American Post-office system +is this,--that it is not brought nearer to the poorer classes. +Everybody writes or can write in America, and therefore the +correspondence of their millions should be, million for million, at +any rate equal to ours. But it is not so: and this, I think, comes +from the fact that communication by Post-office is not made easy to +the people generally. Such communication is not found to be easy by +a man who has to attend at a Post-office window on the chance of +receiving a letter. When no arrangement more comfortable than that +is provided, the Post-office will be used for the necessities of +letter-writing, but will not be esteemed as a luxury. And thus not +only do the people lose a comfort which they might enjoy, but the +Post-office also loses that revenue which it might make. + +I have said that the correspondence circulating in the United States +is less than that of the United Kingdom. In making any comparison +between them I am obliged to arrive at facts, or rather at the +probabilities of facts, in a somewhat circuitous mode, as the +Americans have kept no account of the number of letters which pass +through their post-offices in a year. We can, however, make an +estimate which, if incorrect, shall not at any rate be incorrect +against them. The gross postal revenue of the United States, for the +year ended 30th June, 1861, was in round figures £1,700,000. This was +the amount actually earned, exclusive of a sum of £140,000 paid to +the Post-office by the government for the carriage of what is called +in that country free mail matter; otherwise, books, letters, and +parcels franked by members of Congress. The gross postal revenue +of the United Kingdom was in the last year, in round figures, +£3,358,000, exclusive of a sum of £179,000 claimed as earned for +carrying official postage, and also exclusive of £127,866, that +being the amount of money order commission which in this country is +considered a part of the Post-office revenue. In the United States +there is at present no money order office. In the United Kingdom +the sum of £3,358,000 was earned by the conveyance and delivery of + + + 593 millions of letters, + 73 millions of newspapers, + 12 millions of books. + + +What number of each was conveyed through the post in the United +States we have no means of knowing; but presuming the average rate +of postage on each letter in the States to be the same as it is in +England, and presuming also that letters, newspapers, and books +circulated in the same proportion there as they do with us, the sum +above named of £1,700,000 will have been earned by carrying about 300 +millions of letters. But the average rate of postage in the States +is, in fact, higher than it is in England. The ordinary single rate +of postage there is three cents or three half-pence, whereas with us +it is a penny; and if three half-pence might be taken as the average +rate in the United States, the number of letters would be reduced +from 300 to 200 millions a year. There is however a class of letters +which in the States are passed through the Post-office at the rate of +one halfpenny a letter, whereas there is no rate of postage with us +less than a penny. Taking these halfpenny letters into consideration, +I am disposed to regard the average rate of American postage at +about five farthings, which would give the number of letters at 250 +millions. We shall at any rate be safe in saying that the number is +considerably less than 300 millions, and that it does not amount to +half the number circulated with us. But the difference between our +population and their population is not great. The population of the +States during the year in question was about 27 millions, exclusive +of slaves, and that of the British isles was about 29 millions. No +doubt, in the year named, the correspondence of the States had been +somewhat disturbed by the rebellion; but that disturbance, up to +the end of June, 1861, had been very trifling. The division of +the southern from the northern States, as far as the Post-office +was concerned, did not take place till the end of May, 1861; and +therefore but one month in the year was affected by the actual +secession of the South. The gross postal revenue of the States which +have seceded was, for the year prior to secession, twelve hundred +thousand five hundred dollars, and for that one month of June +it would therefore have been a little over one hundred thousand +dollars, or £20,000. That sum may therefore be presumed to have +been abstracted by secession from the gross annual revenue of the +Post-office. Trade, also, was no doubt injured by the disturbance +in the country, and the circulation of letters was, as a matter +of course, to some degree affected by this injury; but it seems +that the gross revenue of 1861 was less than that of 1860 by only +one thirty-sixth. I think, therefore, that we may say, making all +allowance that can be fairly made, that the number of letters +circulating in the United Kingdom is more than double that which +circulates, or ever has circulated, in the United States. + +That this is so, I attribute not to any difference in the people +of the two countries,--not to an aptitude for letter writing +among us which is wanting with the Americans,--but to the greater +convenience and wider accommodation of our own Post-office. As I +have before stated, and will presently endeavour to show, this wider +accommodation is not altogether the result of better management on +our part. Our circumstances as regards the Post-office have had in +them less of difficulties than theirs. But it has arisen in great +part from better management; and in nothing is their deficiency so +conspicuous as in the absence of a free delivery for their letters. + +In order that the advantages of the Post-office should reach all +persons, the delivery of letters should extend not only to towns, +but to the country also. In France all letters are delivered free. +However remote may be the position of a house or cottage, it is not +too remote for the postman. With us all letters are not delivered; +but the exceptions refer to distant solitary houses and to localities +which are almost without correspondence. But in the United States +there is no free delivery, and there is no delivery at all except in +the large cities. In small towns, in villages, even in the suburbs +of the largest cities, no such accommodation is given. Whatever may +be the distance, people expecting letters must send for them to the +Post-office;--and they who do not expect them, leave their letters +uncalled for. Brother Jonathan goes out to fish in these especial +waters with a very large net. The little fish, which are profitable, +slip through; but the big fish, which are by no means profitable, are +caught,--often at an expense greater than their value. + +There are other smaller sins upon which I could put my finger,--and +would do so were I writing an official report upon the subject of +the American Post-office. In lieu of doing so, I will endeavour +to explain how much the States' office has done in this matter of +affording Post-office accommodation,--and how great have been the +difficulties in the way of Post-office reformers in that country. + +In the first place, when we compare ourselves to them, we must +remember that we live in a tea-cup, and they in a washing-tub. As +compared with them we inhabit towns which are close to each other. +Our distances, as compared with theirs, are nothing. From London to +Liverpool the line of railway traverses about two hundred miles, but +the mail train which conveys the bags for Liverpool, carries the +correspondence of probably four or five millions of persons. The +mail train from New York to Buffalo passes over about four hundred +miles, and on its route serves not one million. A comparison of this +kind might be made with the same effect between any of our great +internal mail routes and any of theirs. Consequently, the expense of +conveyance to them is, per letter, very much greater than with us, +and the American Post-office is as a matter of necessity driven to +an economy in the use of railways for the Post-office service, which +we are not called on to practise. From New York to Chicago is nearly +1000 miles. From New York to St. Louis is over 1600. I need not say +that in England we know nothing of such distances, and that therefore +our task has been comparatively easy. Nevertheless the States have +followed in our track, and have taken advantage of Sir Rowland Hill's +wise audacity in the reduction of postage with greater quickness than +any other nation but our own. Through all the States letters pass for +three cents over a distance less than 3000 miles. For distances above +3000 miles the rate is ten cents or five-pence. This increased rate +has special reference to the mails for California, which are carried +daily across the whole continent at a cost to the States Government +of two hundred thousand pounds a year. + +With us the chief mail trains are legally under the management of the +Postmaster-General. He fixes the hours at which they shall start and +arrive, being of course bound by certain stipulations as to pace. He +can demand trains to run over any line at any hour, and can in this +way secure the punctuality of mail transportation. Of course such +interference on the part of a government official in the working of +a railway is attended with a very heavy expense to the Government. +Though the British Post-office can demand the use of trains at any +hour, and as regards those trains can make the despatch of mails +paramount to all other matters, the British Post-office cannot +fix the price to be paid for such work. This is generally done by +arbitration, and of course for such services the payment is very +high. No such practice prevails in the States. The Government has no +power of using the mail lines as they are used by our Post-office, +nor could the expense of such a practice be borne or nearly borne by +the proceeds of letters in the States. Consequently the Post-office +is put on a par with ordinary customers, and such trains are used +for mail matter as the directors of each line may see fit to use for +other matter. Hence it occurs that no offence against the Post-office +is committed when the connection between different mail trains +is broken. The Post-office takes the best it can get, paying as +other customers pay, and grumbling as other customers grumble when +the service rendered falls short of that which has been promised. + +It may, I think, easily be seen that any system such as ours, +carried across so large a country, would go on increasing in cost +at an enormous ratio. The greater the distance, the greater is the +difficulty in securing the proper fitting of fast-running trains. +And moreover, it must be remembered that the American lines have +been got up on a very different footing from ours, at an expense per +mile of probably less than a fifth of that laid out on our railways. +Single lines of rail are common, even between great towns with large +traffic. At the present moment--May, 1862--the only railway running +into Washington, that namely from Baltimore, is a single line over +the greater distance. The whole thing is necessarily worked at a +cheaper rate than with us; not because the people are poorer, but +because the distances are greater. As this is the case throughout +the whole railway system of the country, it cannot be expected that +such despatch and punctuality should be achieved in America as are +achieved here, in England, or in France. As population and wealth +increase, it will come. In the mean time that which has been already +done over the extent of the vast North American continent is +very wonderful. I think, therefore, that complaint should not +be made against the Washington Post-office, either on account +of the inconvenience of the hours, or on the head of occasional +irregularity. So much has been done in reducing the rate to three +cents, and in giving a daily mail throughout the States, that the +department should be praised for energy, and not blamed for apathy. + +In the year ended 30th June, 1861, the gross revenue of the +Post-office of the States was, as I have stated, £1,700,000. In +the same year its expenditure was in round figures £2,720,000. +Consequently there was an actual loss, to be made up out of general +taxation, amounting to £1,020,000. In the accounts of the American +officers this is lessened by £140,000, that sum having been +arbitrarily fixed by the Government as the amount earned by the +Post-office in carrying free mail matter. We have a similar system in +computing the value of the service rendered by our Post-office to the +Government in carrying government despatches; but with us the amount +named as the compensation depends on the actual weight carried. If +the matter so carried be carried solely on the Government service, +as is I believe the case with us, any such claim on behalf of the +Post-office is apparently unnecessary. The Crown works for the Crown, +as the right hand works for the left. The Post-office pays no rates +or taxes, contributes nothing to the poor, runs its mails on turnpike +roads free of toll, and gives receipts on unstamped paper. With us +no payment is in truth made, though the Post-office in its accounts +presumes itself to have received the money. But in the States the +sum named is handed over by the State Treasury to the Post-office +Treasury. Any such statement of credit does not in effect alter the +real fact, that over a million sterling is required as a subsidy by +the American Post-office, in order that it may be enabled to pay its +way. In estimating the expenditure of the office the department at +Washington debits itself with the sums paid for the ocean transit of +its mails, amounting to something over £150,000. We also now do the +same, with the much greater sum paid by us for such service, which +now amounts to £949,228, or nearly a million sterling. Till lately +this was not paid out of the Post-office moneys, and the Post-office +revenue was not debited with the amount. + +Our gross Post-office revenue is, as I have said, £3,358,250. As +before explained, this is exclusive of the amount earned by the +money order department, which, though managed by the authorities of +the Post-office, cannot be called a part of the Post-office; and +exclusive also of the official postage, which is, in fact, never +received. The expenditure of our British Post-office, inclusive of +the sum paid for the ocean mail service, is £3,064,527. We therefore +make a net profit of £293,723 out of the Post-office, as compared +with a loss of £1,020,000, on the part of the United States. + +But perhaps the greatest difficulty with which the American +Post-office is burdened, is that "free mail matter" to which I have +alluded, for carrying which, the Post-office claims to earn £140,000, +and for the carriage of which, it might as fairly claim to earn +£1,350,000, or half the amount of its total expenditure, for I was +informed by a gentleman whose knowledge on the subject could not be +doubted, that the free mail matter so carried, equalled in bulk and +weight all that other matter which was not carried free. To such an +extent has the privilege of franking been carried in the States! All +members of both Houses frank what they please,--for in effect the +privilege is stretched to that extent. All Presidents of the Union, +past and present, can frank, as, also, all Vice-Presidents, past and +present; and there is a special act, enabling the widow of President +Polk to frank! Why it is that widows of other Presidents do not +agitate on the matter, I cannot understand. And all the Secretaries +of State can frank; and ever so many other public officers. There is +no limit in number to the letters so franked, and the nuisance has +extended itself to so huge a size, that members of Congress in giving +franks, cannot write the franks themselves. It is illegal for them +to depute to others the privilege of signing their names for this +purpose, but it is known at the Post-office that it is done. But even +this is not the worst of it. Members of the House of Representatives +have the power of sending through the post all those huge books +which, with them as with us, grow out of Parliamentary debates and +workings of Committees. This, under certain stipulations, is the +case also in England; but in England, luckily, no one values them. +In America, however, it is not so. A voter considers himself to be +noticed if he gets a book. He likes to have the book bound, and the +bigger the book may be, the more the compliment is relished. Hence it +comes to pass that an enormous quantity of useless matter is printed +and bound, only that it may be sent down to constituents and make a +show on the parlour shelves of constituents' wives. The Post-office +groans and becomes insolvent, and the country pays for the paper, the +printing, and the binding. While the public expenses of the nation +were very small, there was, perhaps, no reason why voters should not +thus be indulged; but now the matter is different, and it would be +well that the conveyance by post of these Congressional libraries +should be brought to an end. I was also assured that members very +frequently obtain permission for the printing of a speech which has +never been delivered,--and which never will be delivered,--in order +that copies may be circulated among their constituents. There is in +such an arrangement an ingenuity which is peculiarly American in its +nature. Everybody concerned is no doubt cheated by the system. The +constituents are cheated; the public, which pays, is cheated; and the +Post-office is cheated. But the House is spared the hearing of the +speech, and the result on the whole is perhaps beneficial. + +We also, within the memory of many of us, had a franking privilege, +which was peculiarly objectionable inasmuch as it operated towards +giving a free transmission of their letters by post to the rich, +while no such privilege was within reach of the poor. But with us it +never stretched itself to such an extent as it has now achieved in +the States. The number of letters for members was limited. The whole +address was written by the franking member himself, and not much +was sent in this way that was bulky. I am disposed to think that +all government and Congressional jobs in the States bear the same +proportion to government and Parliamentary jobs which have been +in vogue among us. There has been an unblushing audacity in the +public dishonesty,--what I may perhaps call the State dishonesty,--at +Washington, which I think was hardly ever equalled in London. +Bribery, I know, was disgracefully current in the days of Walpole, of +Newcastle, and even of Castlereagh;--so current, that no Englishman +has a right to hold up his own past government as a model of purity. +But the corruption with us did blush and endeavour to hide itself. +It was disgraceful to be bribed, if not so to offer bribes. But at +Washington corruption has been so common that I can hardly understand +how any honest man can have held up his head in the vicinity of the +Capitol, or of the State office. + +But the country has, I think, become tired of this. Hitherto it +has been too busy about its more important concerns, in extending +commerce, in making railways, in providing education for its youth, +to think very much of what was being done at Washington. While the +taxes were light and property was secure, while increasing population +gave daily increasing strength to the nation, the people as a body +were content with that theory of being governed by their little men. +They gave a bad name to politicians, and allowed politics, as they +say, "to slide." But all this will be altered now. The tremendous +expenditure of the last twelve months has allowed dishonesty of so +vast a grasp to make its ravages in the public pockets, that the evil +will work its own cure. Taxes will be very high, and the people will +recognize the necessity of having honest men to look after them. The +nation can no longer afford to be indifferent about its Government, +and will require to know where its money goes, and why it goes. This +franking privilege is already doomed, if not already dead. When I was +in Washington a Bill was passed through the Lower House by which it +would be abolished altogether. When I left America its fate in the +Senate was still doubtful, and I was told by many that that Bill +would not be allowed to become law without sundry alterations. But, +nevertheless, I regard the franking privilege as doomed, and offer to +the Washington Post-office officials my best congratulations on their +coming deliverance. + +The Post-office in the States is also burdened by another terrible +political evil, which in itself is so heavy, that one would at first +sight declare it to be enough to prevent anything like efficiency. +The whole of its staff is removeable every fourth year,--that is +to say, on the election of every new President. And a very large +proportion of its staff is thus removed periodically to make way +for those for whom a new President is bound to provide, by reason +of their services in sending him to the White House. They have +served him and he thus repays them by this use of his patronage in +their favour. At four hundred and thirty-four Post-offices in the +States,--those being the offices to which the highest salaries are +attached,--the President has this power, and exercises it as a +matter of course. He has the same power with reference, I believe, +to all the appointments held in the Post-office at Washington. +This practice applies by no means to the Post-office only. All the +government clerks,--clerks employed by the central government at +Washington,--are subject to the same rule. And the rule has also been +adopted in the various States with reference to State offices. + +To a stranger this practice seems so manifestly absurd, that he can +hardly conceive it possible that a government service should be +conducted on such terms. He cannot, in the first place, believe that +men of sufficient standing before the world could be found to accept +office under such circumstances; and is led to surmise that men of +insufficient standing must be employed, and that there are other +allurements to the office beyond the very moderate salaries which +are allowed. He cannot, moreover, understand how the duties can +be conducted, seeing that men must be called on to resign their +places as soon as they have learned to make themselves useful. And, +finally, he is lost in amazement as he contemplates this barefaced +prostitution of the public employ to the vilest purposes of political +manoeuvring. With us also patronage has been used for political +purposes, and to some small extent is still so used. We have not yet +sufficiently recognized the fact, that in selecting a public servant +nothing should be regarded but the advantage of the service in which +he is to be employed. But we never, in the lowest times of our +political corruption, ventured to throw over the question of service +altogether, and to declare publicly, that the one and only result to +be obtained by Government employment was political support. In the +States political corruption has become so much a matter of course, +that no American seems to be struck with the fact that the whole +system is a system of robbery. + +From sheer necessity some of the old hands are kept on when these +changes are made. Were this not done the work would come absolutely +to a dead lock. But it may be imagined how difficult it must be for +men to carry through any improvements in a great department, when +they have entered an office under such a system, and are liable to +be expelled under the same. It is greatly to the praise of those who +have been allowed to grow old in the service that so much has been +done. No men, however, are more apt at such work than Americans, +or more able to exert themselves at their posts. They are not +idle. Independently of any question of remuneration, they are not +indifferent to the well-being of the work they have in hand. They are +good public servants, unless corruption come in their way. + +While speaking on the subject of patronage, I cannot but allude +to two appointments which had been made by political interest, +and with the circumstances of which I became acquainted. In both +instances a good place had been given to a gentleman by the incoming +President,--not in return for political support, but from motives of +private friendship,--either his own friendship or that of some mutual +friend. In both instances I heard the selection spoken of with the +warmest praise, as though a noble act had been done in the nomination +of a private friend instead of a political partisan. And yet in each +case a man was appointed who knew nothing of his work; who, from +age and circumstances, was not likely to become acquainted with +his work; who, by his appointment, kept out of the place those who +did understand the work, and had earned a right to promotion by +so understanding it. Two worthy gentlemen,--for they were both +worthy,--were pensioned on the government for a term of years under +a false pretence. That this should have been done is not perhaps +remarkable; but it did seem remarkable to me that everybody regarded +such appointments as a good deed--as a deed so exceptionably good as +to be worthy of great praise. I do not allude to these selections on +account of the political vice shown by the Presidents in making them, +but on account of the political virtue;--in order that the nature +of political virtue in the States may be understood. It had never +occurred to any one to whom I spoke on the subject, that a President +in bestowing such places was bound to look for efficient work in +return for the public money which was to be paid. + +Before I end this chapter I must insert a few details respecting the +Post-office of the States, which, though they may not be specially +interesting to the general reader, will give some idea of the extent +of the department. The total number of post-offices in the States on +30th June, 1861, was 28,586. With us the number in England, Scotland, +and Ireland, at the same period was about 11,400. The population +served may be regarded as nearly the same. Our lowest salary is £3 +per annum. In the States the remuneration is often much lower. It +consists of a commission on the letters, and is sometimes less than +ten shillings a year. The difficulty of obtaining persons to hold +these offices, and the amount of work which must thereby be thrown on +what is called the "appointment branch," may be judged by the fact +that 9235 of these offices were filled up by new nominations during +the last year. When the patronage is of such a nature it is difficult +to say which give most trouble, the places which nobody wishes to +have, or those which everybody wishes to have. + +The total amount of postage on European letters, _i.e._, letters +passing between the States and Europe, in the last year as to which +accounts were kept between Washington and the European post-offices, +was £275,000. Of this over £150,000 was on letters for the United +Kingdom; and £130,000 was on letters carried by the Cunard packets. + +According to the accounts kept by the Washington office, the letters +passing from the States to Europe and from Europe to the States are +very nearly equal in number, about 101 going to Europe for every 100 +received from Europe. But the number of newspapers sent from the +States is more than double the number received in the States from +Europe. + +On 30th June, 1861, mails were carried through the then loyal States +of the Union over 140,400 miles daily. Up to 31st May preceding, at +which time the Government mails were running all through the United +States, 96,000 miles were covered in those States which had then +virtually seceded, and which in the following month were taken out +from the Post-office accounts,--making a total of 236,400 miles +daily. Of this mileage something less than one third is effected by +railways, at an average cost of about sixpence a mile. Our total +mileage per day is 151,000 miles, of which 43,823 are done by +railway, at a cost of about sevenpence-halfpenny per mile. + +As far as I could learn the servants of the Post-office are less +liberally paid in the States than with us,--excepting as regards two +classes. The first of these is that class which is paid by weekly +wages,--such as letter-carriers and porters. Their remuneration is +of course ruled by the rate of ordinary wages in the country; and +as ordinary wages are higher in the States than with us, such men +are paid accordingly. The other class is that of postmasters at +second-rate towns. They receive the same compensation as those at the +largest towns;--unless indeed there be other compensation than those +written in the books at Washington. A postmaster is paid a certain +commission on letters, till it amounts to £400 per annum: all above +that going back to the Government. So also out of the fees paid for +boxes at the window he receives any amount forthcoming, not exceeding +£400 a year; making in all a maximum of £800. The postmaster of New +York can get no more. But any moderately large town will give as +much, and in this way an amount of patronage is provided which in a +political view is really valuable. + +But with all this the people have made their way, because they have +been intelligent, industrious, and in earnest. And as the people have +made their way, so has the Post-office. The number of its offices, +the mileage it covers, its extraordinary cheapness, the rapidity with +which it has been developed, are all proofs of great things done; +and it is by no means standing still even in these evil days of war. +Improvements are even now on foot, copied in a great measure from +ourselves. Hitherto the American office has not taken upon itself +the task of returning to their writers undelivered and undeliverable +letters. This it is now going to do. It is, as I have said, shaking +off from itself that terrible incubus the franking privilege. And +the expediency of introducing a money-order office into the States, +connected with the Post-office as it is with us, is even now under +consideration. Such an accommodation is much needed in the country; +but I doubt whether the present moment, looking at the fiscal state +of the country, is well adapted for establishing it. + +I was much struck by the great extravagance in small things +manifested by the Post-office through the States, and have reason +to believe that the same remark would be equally true with regard +to other public establishments. They use needless forms without +end,--making millions of entries which no one is ever expected to +regard. Their expenditure in stationery might, I think, be reduced +by one half, and the labour might be saved which is now wasted in +the abuse of that useless stationery. Their mail-bags are made +in a costly manner, and are often large beyond all proportion or +necessity. I could greatly lengthen this list if I were addressing +myself solely to Post-office people; but as I am not doing so, I will +close these semi-official remarks with an assurance to my colleagues +in Post-office work on the other side of the water that I greatly +respect what they have done, and trust that before long they may have +renewed opportunities for the prosecution of their good work. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +AMERICAN HOTELS. + + +I find it impossible to resist the subject of inns. As I have gone on +with my journey, I have gone on with my book, and have spoken here +and there of American hotels as I have encountered them. But in the +States the hotels are so large an institution, having so much closer +and wider a bearing on social life than they do in any other country, +that I feel myself bound to treat them in a separate chapter as a +great national feature in themselves. They are quite as much thought +of in the nation as the legislature, or judicature, or literature of +the country; and any falling off in them, or any improvement in the +accommodation given, would strike the community as forcibly as a +change in the constitution, or an alteration in the franchise. + +Moreover I consider myself as qualified to write a chapter on +hotels;--not only on the hotels of America but on hotels generally. +I have myself been much too frequently a sojourner at hotels. I think +I know what an hotel should be, and what it should not be; and am +almost inclined to believe, in my pride, that I could myself fill the +position of a landlord with some chance of social success, though +probably with none of satisfactory pecuniary results. + +Of all hotels known to me, I am inclined to think that the Swiss +are the best. The things wanted at an hotel are, I fancy, mainly +as follows:--a clean bedroom with a good and clean bed,--and with +it also plenty of water. Good food, well dressed and served at +convenient hours, which hours should on occasions be allowed to +stretch themselves. Wines that shall be drinkable. Quick attendance. +Bills that shall not be absolutely extortionate, smiling faces, +and an absence of foul smells. There are many who desire more than +this;--who expect exquisite cookery, choice wines, subservient +domestics, distinguished consideration, and the strictest economy. +But they are uneducated travellers who are going through the +apprenticeship of their hotel lives;--who may probably never become +free of the travellers' guild, or learn to distinguish that which +they may fairly hope to attain from that which they can never +accomplish. + +Taking them as a whole I think that the Swiss hotels are the best. +They are perhaps a little close in the matter of cold water, but +even as to this, they generally give way to pressure. The pressure, +however, must not be violent, but gentle rather, and well continued. +Their bedrooms are excellent. Their cookery is good, and to the +outward senses is cleanly. The people are civil. The whole work of +the house is carried on upon fixed rules which tend to the comfort of +the establishment. They are not cheap, and not always quite honest. +But the exorbitance or dishonesty of their charges rarely exceeds a +certain reasonable scale, and hardly ever demands the bitter misery +of a remonstrance. + +The inns of the Tyrol are, I think, the cheapest I have known, +affording the traveller what he requires for half the price, or less +than half, that demanded in Switzerland. But the other half is taken +out in stench and nastiness. As tourists scatter themselves more +profusely, the prices of the Tyrol will no doubt rise. Let us hope +that increased prices will bring with them besoms, scrubbing-brushes, +and other much needed articles of cleanliness. + +The inns of the north of Italy are very good, and indeed, the Italian +inns throughout, as far as I know them, are much better than the name +they bear. The Italians are a civil, kindly people, and do for you, +at any rate, the best they can. Perhaps the unwary traveller may +be cheated. Ignorant of the language, he may be called on to pay +more than the man who speaks it, and who can bargain in the Italian +fashion as to price. It has often been my lot, I doubt not, to be +so cheated. But then I have been cheated with a grace that has been +worth all the money. The ordinary prices of Italian inns are by no +means high. + +I have seldom thoroughly liked the inns of Germany which I have +known. They are not clean, and water is very scarce. Smiles too are +generally wanting, and I have usually fancied myself to be regarded +as a piece of goods out of which so much profit was to be made. + +The dearest hotels I know are the French;--and certainly not the +best. In the provinces they are by no means so cleanly as those of +Italy. Their wines are generally abominable, and their cookery often +disgusting. In Paris grand dinners may no doubt be had, and luxuries +of every description,--except the luxury of comfort. Cotton-velvet +sofas and ormolu clocks stand in the place of convenient furniture, +and logs of wood, at a franc a log, fail to impart to you the heat +which the freezing cold of a Paris winter demands. They used to make +good coffee in Paris, but even that is a thing of the past. I fancy +that they import their brandy from England, and manufacture their own +cigars. French wines you may get good at a Paris hotel; but you would +drink them as good and much cheaper if you bought them in London and +took them with you. + +The worst hotels I know are in the Havana. Of course I do not speak +here of chance mountain huts, or small far-off roadside hostels in +which the traveller may find himself from time to time. All such +are to be counted apart, and must be judged on their merits, by the +circumstances which surround them. But with reference to places of +wide resort, nothing can beat the hotels of the Havana in filth, +discomfort, habits of abomination, and absence of everything which +the traveller desires. All the world does not go to the Havana, +and the subject is not, therefore, one of general interest. But in +speaking of hotels at large, so much I find myself bound to say. + +In all the countries to which I have alluded the guests of the house +are expected to sit down together at one table. Conversation is at +any rate possible, and there is the show if not the reality of +society. + +And now one word as to English inns. I do not think that we +Englishmen have any great right to be proud of them. The worst about +them is that they deteriorate from year to year instead of becoming +better. We used to hear much of the comfort of the old English +wayside inn, but the old English wayside inn has gone. The railway +hotel has taken its place, and the railway hotel is too frequently +gloomy, desolate, comfortless, and almost suicidal. In England too, +since the old days are gone, there are wanting the landlord's bow, +and the kindly smile of his stout wife. Who now knows the landlord of +an inn, or cares to inquire whether or no there be a landlady? The +old welcome is wanting, and the cheery warm air which used to atone +for the bad port and tough beef has passed away;--while the port is +still bad and the beef too often tough. + +In England, and only in England, as I believe, is maintained in hotel +life the theory of solitary existence. The sojourner at an English +inn,--unless he be a commercial traveller, and, as such, a member of +a universal, peripatetic tradesman's club,--lives alone. He has his +breakfast alone, his dinner alone, his pint of wine alone, and his +cup of tea alone. It is not considered practicable that two strangers +should sit at the same table, or cut from the same dish. Consequently +his dinner is cooked for him separately, and the hotel keeper can +hardly afford to give him a good dinner. He has two modes of life +from which to choose. He either lives in a public room,--called +a coffee-room,--and there occupies during his comfortless meal a +separate small table too frequently removed from fire and light, +though generally exposed to draughts; or else he indulges in the +luxury of a private sitting-room, and endeavours to find solace on +an old horse-hair sofa, at the cost of seven shillings a day. His +bedroom is not so arranged that he can use it as a sitting-room. +Under either phase of life he can rarely find himself comfortable, +and therefore he lives as little at an hotel as the circumstances +of his business or of his pleasure will allow. I do not think that +any of the requisites of a good inn are habitually to be found +in perfection at our Kings' Heads and White Horses, though the +falling-off is not so lamentably distressing as it sometimes is in +other countries. The bedrooms are dingy rather than dirty. Extra +payment to servants will generally produce a tub of cold water. The +food is never good, but it is usually eatable, and you may have it +when you please. The wines are almost always bad, but the traveller +can fall back upon beer. The attendance is good, provided always that +the payment for it is liberal. The cost is generally too high, and +unfortunately grows larger and larger from year to year. Smiling +faces are out of the question unless specially paid for; and as +to that matter of foul smells there is often room for improvement. +An English inn to a solitary traveller without employment is an +embodiment of dreary desolation. The excuse to be made for this is +that English men and women do not live much at inns in their own +country. + +The American inn differs from all those of which I have made mention, +and is altogether an institution apart, and a thing of itself. Hotels +in America are very much larger and more numerous than in other +countries. They are to be found in all towns, and I may almost say +in all villages. In England and on the Continent we find them on the +recognized routes of travel and in towns of commercial or social +importance. On unfrequented roads and in villages there is usually +some small house of public entertainment in which the unexpected +traveller may obtain food and shelter, and in which the expected boon +companions of the neighbourhood smoke their nightly pipes, and drink +their nightly tipple. But in the States of America the first sign +of an incipient settlement is an hotel five stories high, with an +office, a bar, a cloak-room, three gentlemen's parlours, two ladies' +parlours, a ladies' entrance, and two hundred bedrooms. + +These, of course, are all built with a view to profit, and it may be +presumed that in each case the originators of the speculation enter +into some calculation as to their expected guests. Whence are to come +the sleepers in those two hundred bedrooms, and who is to pay for the +gaudy sofas and numerous lounging chairs of the ladies' parlours? In +all other countries the expectation would extend itself simply to +travellers;--to travellers or to strangers sojourning in the land. +But this is by no means the case as to these speculations in America. +When the new hotel rises up in the wilderness, it is presumed that +people will come there with the express object of inhabiting it. The +hotel itself will create a population,--as the railways do. With us +railways run to the towns; but in the States the towns run to the +railways. It is the same thing with the hotels. + +Housekeeping is not popular with young married people in America, and +there are various reasons why this should be so. Men there are not +fixed in their employment as they are with us. If a young Benedict +cannot get along as a lawyer at Salem, perhaps he may thrive as a +shoemaker at Thermopylæ. Jefferson B. Johnson fails in the lumber +line at Eleutheria, but hearing of an opening for a Baptist preacher +at Big Mud Creek moves himself off with his wife and three children +at a week's notice. Aminadab Wiggs takes an engagement as a clerk +at a steam-boat office on the Pongowonga river, but he goes to his +employment with an inward conviction that six months will see him +earning his bread elsewhere. Under such circumstances even a large +wardrobe is a nuisance, and a collection of furniture would be as +appropriate as a drove of elephants. Then, again, young men and women +marry without any means already collected on which to commence their +life. They are content to look forward and to hope that such means +will come. In so doing they are guilty of no imprudence. It is +the way of the country; and, if the man be useful for anything, +employment will certainly come to him. But he must live on the fruits +of that employment, and can only pay his way from week to week and +from day to day. And as a third reason I think I may allege that +the mode of life found in these hotels is liked by the people who +frequent them. It is to their taste. They are happy, or at any rate +contented, at these hotels, and do not wish for household cares. As +to the two first reasons which I have given I can agree as to the +necessity of the case, and quite concur as to the expediency of +marriage under such circumstances. But as to that matter of taste, +I cannot concur at all. Anything more forlorn than a young married +woman at an American hotel, it is impossible to conceive. + +Such are the guests expected for those two hundred bedrooms. The +chance travellers are but chance additions to these, and are not +generally the main stay of the house. As a matter of course the +accommodation for travellers which these hotels afford increases +and creates travelling. Men come because they know they will be fed +and bedded at a moderate cost, and in an easy way, suited to their +tastes. With us, and throughout Europe, inquiry is made before an +unaccustomed journey is commenced, on that serious question of +wayside food and shelter. But in the States no such question is +needed. A big hotel is a matter of course, and therefore men travel. +Everybody travels in the States. The railways and the hotels have +between them so churned up the people that an untravelled man or +woman is a rare animal. We are apt to suppose that travellers make +roads, and that guests create hotels; but the cause and effect run +exactly in the other way. I am almost disposed to think that we +should become cannibals if gentlemen's legs and ladies' arms were +hung up for sale in purveyors' shops. + +After this fashion and with these intentions hotels are built. Size +and an imposing exterior are the first requisitions. Everything about +them must be on a large scale. A commanding exterior, and a certain +interior dignity of demeanour is more essential than comfort or +civility. Whatever an hotel may be it must not be "mean." In the +American vernacular the word "mean" is very significant. A mean white +in the South is a man who owns no slaves. Men are often mean, but +actions are seldom so called. A man feels mean when the bluster is +taken out of him. A mean hotel, conducted in a quiet unostentatious +manner, in which the only endeavour made had reference to the comfort +of a few guests, would find no favour in the States. These hotels +are not called by the name of any sign, as with us in our provinces. +There are no "Presidents' Heads" or "General Scotts." Nor by the name +of the landlord, or of some former landlord, as with us in London, +and in many cities of the Continent. Nor are they called from some +country or city which may have been presumed at some time to have +had special patronage for the establishment. In the nomenclature of +American hotels the speciality of American hero-worship is shown, +as in the nomenclature of their children. Every inn is a house, +and these houses are generally named after some hero, little known +probably in the world at large, but highly estimated in that locality +at the moment of the christening. + +They are always built on a plan which to a European seems to be most +unnecessarily extravagant in space. It is not unfrequently the case +that the greater portion of the ground-floor is occupied by rooms and +halls which make no return to the house whatever. The visitor enters +a great hall by the front door, and almost invariably finds it full +of men who are idling about, sitting round on stationary seats, +talking in a listless manner, and getting through their time as +though the place were a public lounging room. And so it is. The +chances are that not half the crowd are guests at the hotel. I will +now follow the visitor as he makes his way up to the office. Every +hotel has an office. To call this place the bar, as I have done too +frequently, is a lamentable error. The bar is held in a separate room +appropriated solely to drinking. To the office, which is in fact a +long open counter, the guest walks up, and there inscribes his name +in a book. This inscription was to me a moment of misery which I +could never go through with equanimity. As the name is written, and +as the request for accommodation is made, half a dozen loungers look +over your name and listen to what you say. They listen attentively, +and spell your name carefully, but the great man behind the bar does +not seem to listen or to heed you. Your destiny is never imparted +to you on the instant. If your wife or any other woman be with you, +(the word "lady" is made so absolutely distasteful in American hotels +that I cannot bring myself to use it in writing of them) she has been +carried off to a lady's waiting room, and there remains in august +wretchedness till the great man at the bar shall have decided on her +fate. I have never been quite able to fathom the mystery of these +delays. I think they must have originated in the necessity of waiting +to see what might be the influx of travellers at the moment, and then +have become exaggerated and brought to their present normal state by +the gratified feeling of almost divine power with which for the time +it invests that despotic arbiter. I have found it always the same, +though arriving with no crowd, by a conveyance of my own, when no +other expectant guests were following me. The great man has listened +to my request in silence, with an imperturbable face, and has usually +continued his conversation with some loafing friend, who at the time +is probably scrutinizing my name in the book. I have often suffered +in patience; but patience is not specially the badge of my tribe, +and I have sometimes spoken out rather freely. If I may presume +to give advice to my travelling countrymen how to act under such +circumstances I should recommend to them freedom of speech rather +than patience. The great man when freely addressed generally opens +his eyes, and selects the key of your room without further delay. I +am inclined to think that the selection will not be made in any way +to your detriment by reason of that freedom of speech. The lady in +the ballad who spoke out her own mind to Lord Bateman was sent to her +home honourably in a coach and three. Had she held her tongue we are +justified in presuming that she would have been returned on a pillion +behind a servant. + +I have been greatly annoyed by that silence on the part of the hotel +clerk. I have repeatedly asked for room, and received no syllable +in return. I have persisted in my request, and the clerk has nodded +his head at me. Until a traveller is known, these gentlemen are +singularly sparing of speech,--especially in the West. The same +economy of words runs down from the great man at the office all +through the servants of the establishment. It arises, I believe, +entirely from that want of courtesy which democratic institutions +create. The man whom you address has to make a battle against the +state of subservience, presumed to be indicated by his position, and +he does so by declaring his indifference to the person on whose wants +he is paid to attend. I have been honoured on one or two occasions by +the subsequent intimacy of these great men at the hotel offices, and +have then found them ready enough at conversation. + +That necessity of making your request for rooms before a public +audience is not in itself agreeable, and sometimes entails a +conversation which might be more comfortably made in private. "What +do you mean by a dressing-room, and why do you want one?" Now that +is a question which an Englishman feels awkward at answering before +five-and-twenty Americans, with open mouths and eager eyes; but +it has to be answered. When I left England, I was assured that +I should not find any need for a separate sitting-room, seeing +that drawing-rooms more or less sumptuous were prepared for the +accommodation of "ladies." At first we attempted to follow the advice +given to us, but we broke down. A man and his wife travelling from +town to town, and making no sojourn on his way, may eat and sleep +at an hotel without a private parlour. But an Englishwoman cannot +live in comfort for a week, or even, in comfort, for a day, at any +of these houses, without a sitting-room for herself. The ladies' +drawing-room is a desolate wilderness. The American women themselves +do not use it. It is generally empty, or occupied by some forlorn +spinster, eliciting harsh sounds from the wretched piano which it +contains. + +The price at these hotels throughout the Union is nearly always the +same, viz., two and a half dollars a day, for which a bedroom is +given, and as many meals as the guest can contrive to eat. This +is the price for chance guests. The cost to monthly boarders is, +I believe, not more than the half of this. Ten shillings a day, +therefore, covers everything that is absolutely necessary, servants +included. And this must be said in praise of these inns: that the +traveller can compute his expenses accurately, and can absolutely +bring them within that daily sum of ten shillings. This includes +a great deal of eating, a great deal of attendance, the use of +reading-rooms and smoking-rooms--which, however, always seem to +be open to the public as well as to the guests,--and a bedroom +with accommodation which is at any rate as good as the average +accommodation of hotels in Europe. In the large Eastern towns baths +are attached to many of the rooms. I always carry my own, and have +never failed in getting water. It must be acknowledged that the price +is very low. It is so low that I believe it affords, as a rule, no +profit whatsoever. The profit is made upon extra charges, and they +are higher than in any other country that I have visited. They are so +high that I consider travelling in America, for an Englishman with +his wife or family, to be more expensive than travelling in any part +of Europe. First in the list of extras comes that matter of the +sitting-room, and by that for a man and his wife the whole first +expense is at once doubled. The ordinary charge is five dollars, or +one pound a day! A guest intending to stay for two or three weeks +at an hotel, or perhaps for one week, may, by agreement, have this +charge reduced. At one inn I stayed a fortnight, and having made no +such agreement was charged the full sum. I felt myself stirred up to +complain, and did in that case remonstrate. I was asked how much I +wished to have returned,--for the bill had been paid,--and the sum I +suggested was at once handed to me. But even with such reduction the +price is very high, and at once makes the American hotel expensive. +Wine also at these houses is very costly, and very bad. The usual +price is two dollars, or eight shillings, a bottle. The people of the +country rarely drink wine at dinner in the hotels. When they do so, +they drink champagne; but their normal drinking is done separately, +at the bar, chiefly before dinner, and at a cheap rate. "A drink," +let it be what it may, invariably costs a dime, or fivepence. But +if you must have a glass of sherry with your dinner, it costs two +dollars; for sherry does not grow into pint bottles in the States. +But the guest who remains for two days can have his wine kept for +him. Washing also is an expensive luxury. The price of this is +invariable, being always fourpence for everything washed. A cambric +handkerchief or muslin dress all come out at the same price. For +those who are cunning in the matter this may do very well; but +for men and women whose cuffs and collars are numerous it becomes +expensive. The craft of those who are cunning is shown, I think, in +little internal washings, by which the cambric handkerchiefs are kept +out of the list, while the muslin dresses are placed upon it. I am +led to this surmise by the energetic measures taken by the hotel +keepers to prevent such domestic washings, and by the denunciations +which in every hotel are pasted up in every room against the +practice. I could not at first understand why I was always warned +against washing my own clothes in my own bedroom, and told that no +foreign laundress could on any account be admitted into the house. +The injunctions given on this head are almost frantic in their +energy, and therefore I conceive that hotel keepers find themselves +exposed to much suffering in the matter. At these hotels they wash +with great rapidity, sending you back your clothes in four or five +hours if you desire it. + +Another very stringent order is placed before the face of all +visitors at American hotels, desiring them on no account to leave +valuable property in their rooms. I presume that there must have been +some difficulty in this matter in bygone years, for in every State a +law has been passed declaring that hotel keepers shall not be held +responsible for money or jewels stolen out of rooms in their houses, +provided that they are furnished with safes for keeping such money, +and give due caution to their guests on the subject. The due caution +is always given, but I have seldom myself taken any notice of it. I +have always left my portmanteau open, and have kept my money usually +in a travelling desk in my room. But I never to my knowledge lost +anything. The world, I think, gives itself credit for more thieves +than it possesses. As to the female servants at American inns, they +are generally all that is disagreeable. They are uncivil, impudent, +dirty, slow,--provoking to a degree. But I believe that they keep +their hands from picking and stealing. + +I never yet made a single comfortable meal at an American hotel, or +rose from my breakfast or dinner with that feeling of satisfaction +which should, I think, be felt at such moments in a civilized land in +which cookery prevails as an art. I have had enough, and have been +healthy and am thankful. But that thankfulness is altogether a matter +apart, and does not bear upon the question. If need be I can eat food +that is disagreeable to my palate, and make no complaint. But I hold +it to be compatible with the principles of an advanced Christianity +to prefer food that is palatable. I never could get any of that +kind at an American hotel. All meal-times at such houses were to me +periods of disagreeable duty; and at this moment, as I write these +lines at the hotel in which I am still staying, I pine for an English +leg of mutton. But I do not wish it to be supposed that the fault +of which I complain,--for it is a grievous fault,--is incidental to +America as a nation. I have stayed in private houses, and have daily +sat down to dinners quite as good as any my own kitchen could afford +me. Their dinner parties are generally well done, and as a people +they are by no means indifferent to the nature of their comestibles. +It is of the hotels that I speak, and of them I again say that +eating in them is a disagreeable task,--a painful labour. It is as a +schoolboy's lesson, or the six hours' confinement of a clerk at his +desk. + +The mode of eating is as follows. Certain feeding hours are named, +which generally include nearly all the day. Breakfast from six till +ten. Dinner from one till five. Tea from six till nine. Supper from +nine till twelve. When the guest presents himself at any of these +hours he is marshalled to a seat, and a bill is put into his hand +containing the names of all the eatables then offered for his choice. +The list is incredibly and most unnecessarily long. Then it is that +you will see care written on the face of the American hotel liver, +as he studies the programme of the coming performance. With men this +passes off unnoticed, but with young girls the appearance of the +thing is not attractive. The anxious study, the elaborate reading +of the daily book, and then the choice proclaimed with clear +articulation. "Boiled mutton and caper sauce, roast duck, hashed +venison, mashed potatoes, poached eggs and spinach, stewed tomatoes. +Yes; and waiter,--some squash." There is no false delicacy in the +voice by which this order is given, no desire for a gentle whisper. +The dinner is ordered with the firm determination of an American +heroine, and in some five minutes' time all the little dishes appear +at once, and the lady is surrounded by her banquet. + +How I did learn to hate those little dishes and their greasy +contents! At a London eating-house things are often not very nice, +but your meat is put on a plate and comes before you in an edible +shape. At these hotels it is brought to you in horrid little oval +dishes, and swims in grease. Gravy is not an institution at American +hotels, but grease has taken its place. It is palpable, undisguised +grease, floating in rivers,--not grease caused by accidental bad +cookery, but grease on purpose. A beef-steak is not a beef-steak +unless a quarter of a pound of butter be added to it. Those horrid +little dishes! If one thinks of it how could they have been made to +contain Christian food? Every article in that long list is liable +to the call of any number of guests for four hours. Under such +circumstances how can food be made eatable? Your roast mutton is +brought to you raw;--if you object to that you are supplied with meat +that has been four times brought before the public. At hotels on the +continent of Europe different dinners are cooked at different hours, +but here the same dinner is kept always going. The house breakfast +is maintained on a similar footing. Huge boilers of tea and coffee +are stewed down and kept hot. To me those meals were odious. It is +of course open to any one to have separate dinners and separate +breakfasts in his own room; but by this little is gained and much +is lost. He or she who is so exclusive pays twice over for such +meals,--as they are charged as extras on the bill; and, after all, +receives the advantage of no exclusive cooking. Particles from the +public dinners are brought to the private room, and the same odious +little dishes make their appearance. + +But the most striking peculiarity of the American hotels is in their +public rooms. Of the ladies' drawing-room I have spoken. There +are two and sometimes three in one hotel, and they are generally +furnished at any rate expensively. It seems to me that the space +and the furniture are almost thrown away. At watering places, and +sea-side summer hotels they are, I presume, used; but at ordinary +hotels they are empty deserts. The intention is good, for they are +established with the view of giving to ladies at hotels the comforts +of ordinary domestic life; but they fail in their effect. Ladies will +not make themselves happy in any room, or with ever so much gilded +furniture, unless some means of happiness be provided for them. Into +these rooms no book is ever brought, no needle-work is introduced; +from them no clatter of many tongues is ever heard. On a marble table +in the middle of the room always stands a large pitcher of iced +water, and from this a cold, damp, uninviting air is spread through +the atmosphere of the ladies' drawing-room. + +Below, on the ground floor, there is, in the first place, the huge +entrance hall, at the back of which, behind a bar, the great man of +the place keeps the keys and holds his court. There are generally +seats around it, in which smokers sit,--or men not smoking but +ruminating. Opening off from this are reading rooms, smoking rooms, +shaving rooms, drinking rooms, parlours for gentlemen in which +smoking is prohibited, and which are generally as desolate as the +ladies' sitting-rooms above. In those other more congenial chambers +is always gathered together a crowd, apparently belonging in no way +to the hotel. It would seem that a great portion of an American +inn is as open to the public as an Exchange, or as the wayside of +the street. In the West, during the early months of this war, the +traveller would always see many soldiers among the crowd,--not +only officers, but privates. They sit in public seats, silent but +apparently contented, sometimes for an hour together. All Americans +are given to gatherings such as these. It is the much-loved +institution to which the name of "loafing" has been given. + +I do not like the mode of life which prevails in the American +hotels. I have come across exceptions, and know one or two that are +comfortable,--always excepting that matter of eating and drinking. +But taking them as a whole I do not like their mode of life. I feel, +however, bound to add that the hotels of Canada, which are kept, +I think, always after the same fashion, are infinitely worse than +those of the United States. I do not like the American hotels; but +I must say in their favour that they afford an immense amount of +accommodation. The traveller is rarely told that an hotel is full, so +that travelling in America is without one of those great perils to +which it is subject in Europe. It must also be acknowledged that for +the ordinary purposes of a traveller they are very cheap. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LITERATURE. + + +In speaking of the literature of any country we are, I think, too +much inclined to regard the question as one appertaining exclusively +to the writers of books,--not acknowledging, as we should do, that +the literary character of a people will depend much more upon what +it reads than what it writes. If we can suppose any people to have +an intimate acquaintance with the best literary efforts of other +countries, we should hardly be correct in saying that such a people +had no literary history of their own because it had itself produced +nothing in literature. And, with reference to those countries which +have been most fertile in the production of good books, I doubt +whether their literary histories would not have more to tell of those +ages in which much has been read than of those in which much has been +written. + +The United States have been by no means barren in the production +of literature. The truth is so far from this that their literary +triumphs are perhaps those which of all their triumphs are the most +honourable to them, and which, considering their position as a young +nation, are the most permanently satisfactory. But though they +have done much in writing, they have done much more in reading. As +producers they are more than respectable, but as consumers they are +the most conspicuous people on the earth. It is impossible to speak +of the subject of literature in America without thinking of the +readers rather than of the writers. In this matter their position is +different from that of any other great people, seeing that they share +the advantages of our language. An American will perhaps consider +himself to be as little like an Englishman as he is like a Frenchman. +But he reads Shakespeare through the medium of his own vernacular, +and has to undergo the penance of a foreign tongue before he can +understand Molière. He separates himself from England in politics and +perhaps in affection; but he cannot separate himself from England in +mental culture. It may be suggested that an Englishman has the same +advantages as regards America; and it is true that he is obtaining +much of such advantage. Irving, Prescott, and Longfellow are the same +to England as though she herself had produced them. But the balance +of advantage must be greatly in favour of America. We have given her +the work of four hundred years, and have received back in return the +work of fifty. + +And of this advantage the Americans have not been slow to avail +themselves. As consumers of literature they are certainly the most +conspicuous people on the earth. Where an English publisher contents +himself with thousands of copies an American publisher deals with +ten thousands. The sale of a new book, which in numbers would amount +to a considerable success with us, would with them be a lamentable +failure. This of course is accounted for, as regards the author +and the publisher, by the difference of price at which the book is +produced. One thousand in England will give perhaps as good a return +as the ten thousand in America. But as regards the readers there can +be no such equalization. The thousand copies cannot spread themselves +as do the ten thousand. The one book at a guinea cannot multiply +itself, let Mr. Mudie do what he will, as do the ten books at a +dollar. Ultimately there remain the ten books against the one; and +if there be not the ten readers against the one, there are five, +or four, or three. Everybody in the States has books about his +house. "And so has everybody in England," will say my English +reader, mindful of the libraries, or book-rooms, or book-crowded +drawing-rooms of his friends and acquaintances. But has my English +reader who so replies examined the libraries of many English cabmen, +of ticket porters, of warehousemen, and of agricultural labourers? +I cannot take upon myself to say that I have done so with any close +search in the States. But when it has been in my power I have done +so, and I have always found books in such houses as I have entered. +The amount of printed matter which is poured forth in streams from +the printing-presses of the great American publishers is, however, a +better proof of the truth of what I say than anything that I can have +seen myself. + +But of what class are the books that are so read? There are many +who think that reading in itself is not good unless the matter +read be excellent. I do not myself quite agree with this, thinking +that almost any reading is better than none; but I will of course +admit that good matter is better than bad matter. The bulk of the +literature consumed in the States is no doubt composed of novels,--as +it is also, now-a-days, in this country. Whether or no an unlimited +supply of novels for young people is or is not advantageous, I will +not here pretend to say. The general opinion with ourselves I take it +is, that novels are bad reading if they be bad of their kind. Novels +that are not bad are now-a-days accepted generally as indispensable +to our households. Whatever may be the weakness of the American +literary taste in this respect, it is, I think, a weakness which we +share. There are more novel readers among them than with us, but +only, I think, in the proportion that there are more readers. + +I have no hesitation in saying, that works by English authors are +more popular in the States than those written by themselves; and, +among English authors of the present day, they by no means confine +themselves to the novelists. The English names of whom I heard +most during my sojourn in the States were perhaps those of Dickens, +Tennyson, Buckle, Tom Hughes, Martin Tupper, and Thackeray. As the +owners of all these names are still living, I am not going to take +upon myself the delicate task of criticising the American taste. +I may not perhaps coincide with them in every respect. But if I be +right as to the names which I have given, such a selection shows that +they do get beyond novels. I have little doubt but that many more +copies of Dickens's novels have been sold during the last three +years, than of the works either of Tennyson or of Buckle; but such +also has been the case in England. It will probably be admitted +that one copy of the "Civilization" should be held as being equal +to five-and-twenty of "Nicholas Nickleby," and that a single "In +Memoriam" may fairly weigh down half-a-dozen "Pickwicks." Men and +women after their day's work are not always up to the "Civilization." +As a rule they are generally up to "Proverbial Philosophy," and this, +perhaps, may have had something to do with the great popularity of +that very popular work. + +I would not have it supposed that American readers despise their own +authors. The Americans are very proud of having a literature of their +own. Among the literary names which they honour, there are none, I +think, more honourable than those of Cooper and Irving. They like to +know that their modern historians are acknowledged as great authors, +and as regards their own poets will sometimes demand your admiration +for strains with which you hardly find yourself to be familiar. But +English books are, I think, the better loved;--even the English books +of the present day. And even beyond this,--with those who choose +to indulge in the costly luxuries of literature,--books printed in +England are more popular than those which are printed in their own +country; and yet the manner in which the American publishers put +out their work is very good. The book sold there at a dollar, or a +dollar and a quarter, quite equals our ordinary five shilling volume. +Nevertheless English books are preferred,--almost as strongly as are +French bonnets. Of books absolutely printed and produced in England +the supply in the States is of course small. They must necessarily be +costly, and as regards new books, are always subjected to the rivalry +of a cheaper American copy. But of the reprinted works of English +authors the supply is unlimited, and the sale very great. Almost +everything is reprinted; certainly everything which can be said to +attain any home popularity. I do not know how far English authors +may be aware of the fact; but it is undoubtedly a fact that their +influence as authors is greater on the other side of the Atlantic +than on this. It is there that they have their most numerous school +of pupils. It is there that they are recognized as teachers by +hundreds of thousands. It is of those thirty millions that they +should think, at any rate in part, when they discuss within their +own hearts that question which all authors do discuss, whether that +which they write shall in itself be good or bad,--be true or false. +A writer in England may not, perhaps, think very much of this with +reference to some trifle of which his English publisher proposes to +sell some seven or eight hundred copies. But he begins to feel that +he should have thought of it when he learns that twenty or thirty +thousand copies of the same have been scattered through the length +and breadth of the United States. The English author should feel that +he writes for the widest circle of readers ever yet obtained by the +literature of any country. He provides not only for his own country +and for the States, but for the readers who are rising by millions +in the British colonies. Canada is supplied chiefly from the presses +of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, but she is supplied with +the works of the mother country. India, as I take it, gets all her +books direct from London, as do the West Indies. Whether or no the +Australian colonies have as yet learned to reprint our books I do not +know, but I presume that they cannot do so as cheaply as they can +import them. London with us, and the three cities which I have named +on the other side of the Atlantic, are the places at which this +literature is manufactured; but the demand in the western hemisphere +is becoming more brisk than that which the old world creates. There +is, I have no doubt, more literary matter printed in London than in +all America put together. A greater extent of letter-press is put up +in London than in the three publishing cities of the States. But the +number of copies issued by the American publishers is so much greater +than those which ours put forth, that the greater bulk of literature +is with them. If this be so, the demand with them is of course +greater than it is with us. + +I have spoken here of the privilege which an English author enjoys +by reason of the ever widening circle of readers to whom he writes. +I speak of the privilege of an English author as distinguished from +that of an American author. I profess my belief that in the United +States an English author has an advantage over one of that country +merely in the fact of his being English, as a French milliner has +undoubtedly an advantage in her nationality let her merits or +demerits as a milliner be what they may. I think that English books +are better liked because they are English. But I do not know that +there is any feeling with us either for or against an author because +he is American. I believe that Longfellow stands in our judgment +exactly where he would have stood had he been a tutor at a college in +Oxford instead of a Professor at Cambridge in Massachusetts. Prescott +is read among us as an historian without any reference as to his +nationality, and by many, as I take it, in absolute ignorance of +his nationality. Hawthorne, the novelist, is quite as well known in +England as he is in his own country. But I do not know that to either +of these three is awarded any favour or is denied any justice because +he is an American. Washington Irving published many of his works in +this country, receiving very large sums for them from Mr. Murray, and +I fancy that in dealing with his publisher he found neither advantage +nor disadvantage in his nationality;--that is, of course, advantage +or disadvantage in reference to the light in which his works would be +regarded. It must be admitted that there is no jealousy in the States +against English authors. I think that there is a feeling in their +favour, but no one can at any rate allege that there is a feeling +against them. I think I may also assert on the part of my own country +that there is no jealousy here against American authors. As regards +the tastes of the people, the works of each country flow freely +through the other. That is as it should be. But when we come to the +mode of supply, things are not exactly as they should be; and I do +not believe that any one will contradict me when I say that the fault +is with the Americans. + +I presume that all my readers know the meaning of the word copyright. +A man's copyright, or right in his copy, is that amount of legal +possession in the production of his brains which has been secured to +him by the laws of his own country and by the laws of others. Unless +an author were secured by such laws, his writings would be of but +little pecuniary value to him, as the right of printing and selling +them would be open to all the world. In England and in America, and +as I conceive in all countries possessing a literature, there is such +a law securing to authors and to their heirs for a term of years the +exclusive right over their own productions. That this should be so +in England as regards English authors is so much a matter of course, +that the copyright of an author would seem to be as naturally his +own as a gentleman's deposit at his bank or his little investment in +the three per cents. The right of an author to the value of his own +productions in other countries than his own is not so much a matter +of course; but nevertheless, if such productions have any value in +other countries, that value should belong to him. This has been felt +to be the case between England and France, and treaties have been +made securing his own property to the author in each country. The +fact that the languages of England and France are different makes the +matter one of comparatively small moment. But it has been found to be +for the honour and profit of the two countries, that there should be +such a law, and an international copyright does exist. But if such +an arrangement be needed between two such countries as France and +England,--between two countries which do not speak the same language +or share the same literature,--how much more necessary must it be +between England and the United States? The literature of the one +country is the literature of the other. The poem that is popular +in London will certainly be popular in New York. The novel that is +effective among American ladies will be equally so with those of +England. There can be no doubt as to the importance of having a +law of copyright between the two countries. The only question can +be as to the expediency and the justice. At present there is no +international copyright between England and the United States, and +there is none because the States have declined to sanction any such +law. It is known by all who are concerned in the matter on either +side of the water that as far as Great Britain is concerned such a +law would meet with no impediment. + +Therefore it is to be presumed that the legislators of the States +think it expedient and just to dispense with any such law. I have +said that there can be no doubt as to the importance of the question, +seeing that the price of English literature in the States must be +most materially affected by it. Without such a law the Americans are +enabled to import English literature without paying for it. It is +open to any American publisher to reprint any work from an English +copy, and to sell his reprints without any permission obtained from +the English author or from the English publisher. The absolute +material which the American publisher sells, he takes, or can take, +for nothing. The paper, ink, and composition he supplies in the +ordinary way of business; but of the very matter which he professes +to sell,--of the book which is the object of his trade, he is enabled +to possess himself for nothing. If you, my reader, be a popular +author, an American publisher will take the choicest work of your +brain and make dollars out of it, selling thousands of copies of it +in his country, whereas you can, perhaps, only sell hundreds of it +in your own; and will either give you nothing for that he takes,--or +else will explain to you that he need give you nothing, and that in +paying you anything he subjects himself to the danger of seeing the +property which he has bought taken again from him by other persons. +If this be so that question whether or no there shall be a law +of international copyright between the two countries cannot be +unimportant. + +But it may be inexpedient that there shall be such a law. It may be +considered well, that as the influx of English books into America +is much greater than the out-flux of American books back to England, +the right of obtaining such books for nothing should be reserved, +although the country in doing so robs its own authors of the +advantage which should accrue to them from the English market. It +might perhaps be thought anything but smart to surrender such an +advantage by the passing of an international copyright bill. There +are not many trades in which the tradesman can get the chief of his +goods for nothing; and it may be thought, that the advantage arising +to the States from such an arrangement of circumstances should not +be abandoned. But how then about the justice? It would seem that +the less said upon that subject the better. I have heard no one say +that an author's property in his own works should not, in accordance +with justice, be insured to him in the one country as well as in the +other. I have seen no defence of the present position of affairs, +on the score of justice. The price of books would be enhanced by an +international copyright law, and it is well that books should be +cheap. That is the only argument used. So would mutton be cheap, if +it could be taken out of a butcher's shop for nothing! + +But I absolutely deny the expediency of the present position of the +matter, looking simply to the material advantage of the American +people in the matter, and throwing aside altogether that question +of justice. I must here, however, explain that I bring no charge +whatsoever against the American publishers. The English author is +a victim in their hands, but it is by no means their fault that he +is so. As a rule, they are willing to pay for the works of popular +English writers, but in arranging as to what payments they can make, +they must of course bear in mind the fact that they have no exclusive +right whatsoever in the things which they purchase. It is natural, +also, that they should bear in mind when making their purchases, +and arranging their prices, that they can have the very thing they +are buying without any payment at all, if the price asked do not +suit them. It is not of the publishers that I complain, or of any +advantage which they take; but of the legislators of the country, and +of the advantage which accrues, or is thought by them to accrue to +the American people from the absence of an international copyright +law. It is mean on their part to take such advantage if it existed; +and it is foolish in them to suppose that any such advantage can +accrue. The absence of any law of copyright no doubt gives to the +American publisher the power of reprinting the works of English +authors without paying for them,--seeing that the English author is +undefended. But the American publisher who brings out such a reprint +is equally undefended in his property. When he shall have produced +his book, his rival in the next street may immediately reprint it +from him, and destroy the value of his property by underselling him. +It is probable that the first American publisher will have made some +payment to the English author for the privilege of publishing the +book honestly,--of publishing it without recurrence to piracy,--and +in arranging his price with his customers he will be, of course, +obliged to debit the book with the amount so paid. If the author +receive ten cents a copy on every copy sold, the publisher must add +that ten cents to the price he charges for it. But he cannot do this +with security, because the book can be immediately reprinted, and +sold without any such addition to the price. The only security which +the American publisher has against the injury which may be so done to +him, is the power of doing other injury in return. The men who stand +high in the trade, and who are powerful because of the largeness of +their dealings, can in a certain measure secure themselves in this +way. Such a firm would have the power of crushing a small tradesman +who should interfere with him. But if the large firm commits any +such act of injustice, the little men in the trade have no power of +setting themselves right by counter injustice. I need hardly point +out what must be the effect of such a state of things upon the whole +publishing trade; nor need I say more to prove that some law which +shall regulate property in foreign copyrights would be as expedient +with reference to America, as it would be just towards England. But +the wrong done by America to herself does not rest here. It is true +that more English books are read in the States than American books +in England, but it is equally true that the literature of America is +daily gaining readers among us. That injury to which English authors +are subjected from the want of protection in the States, American +authors suffer from the want of protection here. One can hardly +believe that the legislators of the States would willingly place the +brightest of their own fellow countrymen in this position, because in +the event of a copyright bill being passed, the balance of advantage +would seem to accrue to England! + +Of the literature of the United States, speaking of literature in its +ordinary sense, I do not know that I need say much more. I regard +the literature of a country as its highest produce, believing it to +be more powerful in its general effect, and more beneficial in its +results, than either statesmanship, professional ability, religious +teaching, or commerce. And in no part of its national career have +the United States been so successful as in this. I need hardly +explain that I should commit a monstrous injustice were I to make a +comparison in this matter between England and America. Literature is +the child of leisure and wealth. It is the produce of minds which by +a happy combination of circumstances have been enabled to dispense +with the ordinary cares of the world. It can hardly be expected to +come from a young country, or from a new and still struggling people. +Looking around at our own magnificent colonies I hardly remember +a considerable name which they have produced, except that of my +excellent old friend, Sam Slick. Nothing, therefore, I think, shows +the settled greatness of the people of the States more significantly +than their firm establishment of a national literature. This +literature runs over all subjects. American authors have excelled in +poetry, in science, in history, in metaphysics, in law, in theology, +and in fiction. They have attempted all, and failed in none. What +Englishman has devoted a room to books, and devoted no portion of +that room to the productions of America? + +But I must say a word of literature in which I shall not speak of it +in its ordinary sense, and shall yet speak of it in that sense which +of all perhaps, in the present day, should be considered the most +ordinary. I mean the every-day periodical literature of the press. +Most of those who can read, it is to be hoped, read books; but all +who can read do read newspapers. Newspapers in this country are so +general that men cannot well live without them; but to men, and to +women also, in the United States they may be said to be the one chief +necessary of life. And yet in the whole length and breadth of the +United States there is not published a single newspaper which seems +to me to be worthy of praise. + +A really good newspaper,--one excellent at all points,--would indeed +be a triumph of honesty and of art! Not only is such a publication +much to be desired in America, but it is still to be desired in +Great Britain also. I used, in my younger days, to think of such +a newspaper as a possible publication, and in a certain degree I +then looked for it. Now I expect it only in my dreams. It should be +powerful without tyranny, popular without triumph, political without +party passion, critical without personal feeling, right in its +statements and just in its judgments, but right and just without +pride. It should be all but omniscient, but not conscious of its +omniscience; it should be moral, but not strait-laced; it should be +well-assured, but yet modest; though never humble, it should be free +from boasting. Above all these things it should be readable; and +above that again it should be true. I used to think that such a +newspaper might be produced, but I now sadly acknowledge to myself +the fact that humanity is not capable of any work so divine. + +The newspapers of the States generally may not only be said to have +reached none of the virtues here named, but to have fallen into +all the opposite vices. In the first place they are never true. In +requiring truth from a newspaper the public should not be anxious to +strain at gnats. A statement setting forth that a certain gooseberry +was five inches in circumference, whereas in truth its girth was only +two and a half, would give me no offence. Nor would I be offended at +being told that Lord Derby was appointed to the premiership, while in +truth the Queen had only sent for his lordship, having as yet come to +no definite arrangement. The demand for truth which may reasonably be +made upon a newspaper amounts to this,--that nothing should be stated +not believed to be true, and that nothing should be stated as to +which the truth is important, without adequate ground for such +belief. If a newspaper accuse me of swindling, it is not sufficient +that the writer believe me to be a swindler. He should have ample +and sufficient ground for such belief;--otherwise in making such a +statement he will write falsely. In our private life we all recognize +the fact that this is so. It is understood that a man is not a +whit the less a slanderer because he believes the slander which +he promulgates. But it seems to me that this is not sufficiently +recognized by many who write for the public press. Evil things are +said, and are probably believed by the writers; they are said with +that special skill for which newspaper writers have in our days +become so conspicuous, defying alike redress by law or redress by +argument; but they are too often said falsely. The words are not +measured when they are written, and they are allowed to go forth +without any sufficient inquiry into their truth. But if there be any +ground for such complaint here in England, that ground is multiplied +ten times--twenty times--in the States. This is not only shown in +the abuse of individuals, in abuse which is as violent as it is +perpetual, but in the treatment of every subject which is handled. +All idea of truth has been thrown overboard. It seems to be admitted +that the only object is to produce a sensation, and that it is +admitted by both writer and reader that sensation and veracity are +incompatible. Falsehood has become so much a matter of course with +American newspapers that it has almost ceased to be falsehood. Nobody +thinks me a liar because I deny that I am at home when I am in my +study. The nature of the arrangement is generally understood. So also +is it with the American newspapers. + +But American newspapers are also unreadable. It is very bad that +they should be false, but it is very surprising that they should +be dull. Looking at the general intelligence of the people, one +would have thought that a readable newspaper, put out with all +pleasant appurtenances of clear type, good paper, and good internal +arrangement, would have been a thing specially within their reach. +But they have failed in every detail. Though their papers are always +loaded with sensation headings, there are seldom sensation paragraphs +to follow. The paragraphs do not fit the headings. Either they cannot +be found, or if found they seem to have escaped from their proper +column to some distant and remote portion of the sheet. One is led to +presume that no American editor has any plan in the composition of +his newspaper. I never know whether I have as yet got to the very +heart's core of the daily journal, or whether I am still to go on +searching for that heart's core. Alas, it too often happens that +there is no heart's core! The whole thing seems to have been put +out at hap-hazard. And then the very writing is in itself below +mediocrity;--as though a power of expression in properly arranged +language was not required by a newspaper editor, either as regards +himself or as regards his subordinates. One is driven to suppose that +the writers for the daily press are not chosen with any view to such +capability. A man ambitious of being on the staff of an American +newspaper should be capable of much work, should be satisfied with +small pay, should be indifferent to the world's good usage, should +be rough, ready, and of long sufferance; but, above all, he should +be smart. The type of almost all American newspapers is wretched--I +think I may say of all;--so wretched that that alone forbids one to +hope for pleasure in reading them. They are ill-written, ill-printed, +ill-arranged, and in fact are not readable. They are bought, glanced +at, and thrown away. + +They are full of boastings,--not boastings simply as to their +country, their town, or their party,--but of boastings as to +themselves. And yet they possess no self-assurance. It is always +evident that they neither trust themselves, nor expect to be trusted. +They have made no approach to that omniscience which constitutes the +great marvel of our own daily press; but finding it necessary to +write as though they possessed it, they fall into blunders which +are almost as marvellous. Justice and right judgment are out of +the question with them. A political party end is always in view, +and political party warfare in America admits of any weapons. No +newspaper in America is really powerful or popular; and yet they are +tyrannical and overbearing. The "New York Herald" has, I believe, the +largest sale of any daily newspaper; but it is absolutely without +political power, and in these times of war has truckled to the +Government more basely than any other paper. It has an enormous sale, +but so far is it from having achieved popularity, that no man on any +side ever speaks a good word for it. All American newspapers deal in +politics as a matter of course; but their politics have ever regard +to men and never to measures. Vituperation is their natural political +weapon; but since the President's ministers have assumed the power +of stopping newspapers which are offensive to them, they have shown +that they can descend to a course of eulogy which is even below +vituperation. + +I shall be accused of using very strong language against the +newspaper press of America. I can only say that I do not know how to +make that language too strong. Of course there are newspapers as to +which the editors and writers may justly feel that my remarks, if +applied to them, are unmerited. In writing on such a subject, I can +only deal with the whole as a whole. During my stay in the country, +I did my best to make myself acquainted with the nature of its +newspapers, knowing in how great a degree its population depends on +them for its daily store of information. Newspapers in the States of +America have a much wider, or rather closer circulation, than they +do with us. Every man and almost every woman sees a newspaper daily. +They are very cheap, and are brought to every man's hand without +trouble to himself, at every turn that he takes in his day's work. It +would be much for the advantage of the country, that they should be +good of their kind; but, if I am able to form a correct judgment on +the matter, they are not good. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CONCLUSION. + + +In one of the earlier chapters of this volume,--now some seven or +eight chapters past,--I brought myself on my travels back to Boston. +It was not that my way homewards lay by that route, seeing that my +fate required me to sail from New York; but I could not leave the +country without revisiting my friends in Massachusetts. I have told +how I was there in the sleighing time, and how pleasant were the +mingled slush and frost of the snowy winter. In the morning the +streets would be hard and crisp, and the stranger would surely fall +if he were not prepared to walk on glaciers. In the afternoon he +would be wading through rivers,--and if properly armed at all points +with india-rubber, would enjoy the rivers as he waded. But the air +would be always kindly, and the east wind there, if it was east as +I was told, had none of that power of dominion which makes us all so +submissive to its behests in London. For myself, I believe that the +real east wind blows only in London. + +And when the snow went in Boston I went with it. The evening before +I left I watched them as they carted away the dirty uncouth blocks +which had been broken up with pickaxes in Washington Street, and was +melancholy as I reflected that I too should no longer be known in the +streets. My weeks in Boston had not been very many, but nevertheless +there were haunts there which I knew as though my feet had trodden +them for years. There were houses to which I could have gone with +my eyes blindfold; doors of which the latches were familiar to my +hands; faces which I knew so well that they had ceased to put on +for me the fictitious smiles of courtesy. Faces, houses, doors, and +haunts, where are they now? For me they are as though they had never +been. They are among the things which one would fain remember as +one remembers a dream. Look back on it as a vision and it is all +pleasant. But if you realize your vision and believe your dream to be +a fact, all your pleasure is obliterated by regret. + +I know that I shall never again be at Boston, and that I have said +that about the Americans which would make me unwelcome as a guest if +I were there. It is in this that my regret consists;--for this reason +that I would wish to remember so many social hours as though they had +been passed in sleep. They who will expect blessings from me, will +say among themselves that I have cursed them. As I read the pages +which I have written I feel that words which I intended for blessings +when I prepared to utter them have gone nigh to turn themselves into +curses. + +I have ever admired the United States as a nation. I have loved their +liberty, their prowess, their intelligence, and their progress. I +have sympathized with a people who themselves have had no sympathy +with passive security and inaction. I have felt confidence in them, +and have known, as it were, that their industry must enable them to +succeed as a people, while their freedom would insure to them success +as a nation. With these convictions I went among them wishing to +write of them good words,--words which might be pleasant for them to +read, while they might assist perhaps in producing a true impression +of them here at home. But among my good words there are so many which +are bitter, that I fear I shall have failed in my object as regards +them. And it seems to me, as I read once more my own pages, that in +saying evil things of my friends, I have used language stronger than +I intended; whereas I have omitted to express myself with emphasis +when I have attempted to say good things. Why need I have told of the +mud of Washington, or have exposed the nakedness of Cairo? Why did +I speak with such eager enmity of those poor women in the New York +cars, who never injured me, now that I think of it? Ladies of New +York, as I write this, the words which were written among you, are +printed and cannot be expunged; but I tender to you my apologies from +my home in England. And as to that Van Wyck committee! Might I not +have left those contractors to be dealt with by their own Congress, +seeing that that Congress committee was by no means inclined to spare +them? I might have kept my pages free from gall, and have sent my +sheets to the press unhurt by the conviction that I was hurting those +who had dealt kindly by me! But what then? Was any people ever truly +served by eulogy; or an honest cause furthered by undue praise? + +O my friends with thin skins,--and here I protest that a thick skin +is a fault not to be forgiven in a man or a nation, whereas a thin +skin is in itself a merit, if only the wearer of it will be the +master and not the slave of his skin,--O, my friends with thin skins, +ye whom I call my cousins and love as brethren, will ye not forgive +me these harsh words that I have spoken? They have been spoken in +love,--with a true love, a brotherly love, a love that has never been +absent from the heart while the brain was coining them. I had my task +to do, and I could not take the pleasant and ignore the painful. It +may perhaps be that as a friend I had better not have written either +good or bad. But no! To say that would indeed be to speak calumny of +your country. A man may write of you truly, and yet write that which +you would read with pleasure;--only that your skins are so thin! +The streets of Washington are muddy and her ways are desolate. The +nakedness of Cairo is very naked. And those ladies of New York--is +it not to be confessed that they are somewhat imperious in their +demands? As for the Van Wyck committee, have I not repeated the tale +which you have told yourselves? And is it not well that such tales +should be told? + +And yet ye will not forgive me; because your skins are thin, and +because the praise of others is the breath of your nostrils. + +I do not know that an American as an individual is more thin-skinned +than an Englishman; but as the representative of a nation it may +almost be said of him that he has no skin at all. Any touch comes +at once upon the net-work of his nerves and puts in operation all +his organs of feeling with the violence of a blow. And for this +peculiarity he has been made the mark of much ridicule. It shows +itself in two ways; either by extreme displeasure when anything is +said disrespectful of his country; or by the strong eulogy with which +he is accustomed to speak of his own institutions and of those of his +countrymen whom at the moment he may chance to hold in high esteem. +The manner in which this is done is often ridiculous. "Sir, what +do you think of our Mr. Jefferson Brick? Mr. Jefferson Brick, +sir, is one of our most remarkable men." And again. "Do you like +our institutions, sir? Do you find that philanthropy, religion, +philosophy, and the social virtues are cultivated on a scale +commensurate with the unequalled liberty and political advancement of +the nation?" There is something absurd in such a mode of address when +it is repeated often. But hero-worship and love of country are not +absurd; and do not these addresses show capacity for hero-worship +and an aptitude for the love of country? Jefferson Brick may not be +a hero; but a capacity for such worship is something. Indeed the +capacity is everything, for the need of a hero will at last produce +the hero needed. And it is the same with that love of country. +A people that are proud of their country will see that there is +something in their country to justify their pride. Do we not all of +us feel assured by the intense nationality of an American that he +will not desert his nation in the hour of her need? I feel that +assurance respecting them; and at those moments in which I am moved +to laughter by the absurdities of their addresses, I feel it the +strongest. + +I left Boston with the snow, and returning to New York found that +the streets there were dry and that the winter was nearly over. As +I had passed through New York to Boston the streets had been by no +means dry. The snow had lain in small mountains over which the +omnibuses made their way down Broadway, till at the bottom of that +thoroughfare, between Trinity Church and Bowling Green, alp became +piled upon alp, and all traffic was full of danger. The accursed love +of gain still took men to Wall Street, but they had to fight their +way thither through physical difficulties which must have made even +the state of the money market a matter almost of indifference to +them. They do not seem to me to manage the winter in New York so well +as they do in Boston. But now, on my last return thither, the alps +were gone, the roads were clear, and one could travel through the +city with no other impediment than those of treading on women's +dresses if one walked, or having to look after women's band-boxes and +pay their fares and take their change, if one used the omnibuses. + +And now had come the end of my adventures, and as I set my foot +once more upon the deck of the Cunard steamer I felt that my work +was done. Whether it were done ill or well, or whether indeed any +approach to the doing of it had been attained, all had been done that +I could accomplish. No further opportunity remained to me of seeing, +hearing, or of speaking. I had come out thither, having resolved to +learn a little that I might if possible teach that little to others; +and now the lesson was learned, or must remain unlearned. But in +carrying out my resolution I had gradually risen in my ambition, and +had mounted from one stage of inquiry to another, till at last I had +found myself burdened with the task of ascertaining whether or no the +Americans were doing their work as a nation well or ill; and now, if +ever, I must be prepared to put forth the result of my inquiry. As I +walked up and down the deck of the steamboat I confess I felt that I +had been somewhat arrogant. + +I had been a few days over six months in the States, and I was +engaged in writing a book of such a nature that a man might well +engage himself for six years, or perhaps for sixty, in obtaining the +materials for it. There was nothing in the form of government, or +legislature, or manners of the people, as to which I had not taken +upon myself to say something. I was professing to understand their +strength and their weakness; and was daring to censure their faults +and to eulogize their virtues. "Who is he," an American would say, +"that he comes and judges us? His judgment is nothing." "Who is he," +an Englishman would say, "that he comes and teaches us? His teaching +is of no value." + +In answer to this I have but a small plea to make. I have done +my best. I have nothing "extenuated, and have set down nought in +malice." I do feel that my volumes have blown themselves out into +proportions greater than I had intended;--greater not in mass of +pages, but in the matter handled. I am frequently addressing my own +muse, who I am well aware is not Clio, and asking her whither she +is wending. "Cease, thou wrong-headed one, to meddle with these +mysteries." I appeal to her frequently, but ever in vain. One cannot +drive one's muse, nor yet always lead her. Of the various women with +which a man is blessed, his muse is by no means the least difficult +to manage. + +But again I put in my slight plea. In doing as I have done, I have +at least done my best. I have endeavoured to judge without prejudice, +and to hear with honest ears, and to see with honest eyes. The +subject, moreover, on which I have written, is one which, though +great, is so universal in its bearings, that it may be said to admit +of being handled without impropriety by the unlearned as well as the +learned;--by those who have grown gray in the study of constitutional +lore, and by those who have simply looked on at the government of men +as we all look on at those matters which daily surround us. There are +matters as to which a man should never take a pen in hand unless he +has given to them much labour. The botanist must have learned to +trace the herbs and flowers before he can presume to tell us how God +has formed them. But the death of Hector is a fit subject for a boy's +verses though Homer also sang of it. I feel that there is scope for a +book on the United States' form of government as it was founded, and +as it has since framed itself, which might do honour to the life-long +studies of some one of those great constitutional pundits whom we +have among us; but, nevertheless, the plain words of a man who is no +pundit need not disgrace the subject, if they be honestly written, +and if he who writes them has in his heart an honest love of liberty. +Such were my thoughts as I walked the deck of the Cunard steamer. +Then I descended to my cabin, settled my luggage, and prepared +for the continuance of my work. It was fourteen days from that +time before I reached London, but the fourteen days to me were not +unpleasant. The demon of sea-sickness usually spares me, and if I can +find on board one or two who are equally fortunate--who can eat with +me, drink with me, and talk with me--I do not know that a passage +across the Atlantic is by any means a terrible evil. + +In finishing these volumes after the fashion in which they have been +written throughout, I feel that I am bound to express a final opinion +on two or three points, and that if I have not enabled myself to +do so, I have travelled through the country in vain. I am bound by +the very nature of my undertaking to say whether, according to such +view as I have enabled myself to take of them, the Americans have +succeeded as a nation politically and socially; and in doing this I +ought to be able to explain how far slavery has interfered with such +success. I am bound also, writing at the present moment, to express +some opinion as to the result of this war, and to declare whether the +North or the South may be expected to be victorious,--explaining in +some rough way what may be the results of such victory, and how such +results will affect the question of slavery. And I shall leave my +task unfinished if I do not say what may be the possible chances of +future quarrel between England and the States. That there has been +and is much hot blood and angry feeling no man doubts; but such angry +feeling has existed among many nations without any probability of +war. In this case, with reference to this ill-will that has certainly +established itself between us and that other people, is there any +need that it should be satisfied by war and allayed by blood? + +No one, I think, can doubt that the founders of the great American +Commonwealth made an error in omitting to provide some means for the +gradual extinction of slavery throughout the States. That error did +not consist in any liking for slavery. There was no feeling in favour +of slavery on the part of those who made themselves prominent at the +political birth of the nation. I think I shall be justified in saying +that at that time the opinion that slavery is itself a good thing, +that it is an institution of divine origin and fit to be perpetuated +among men as in itself excellent, had not found that favour in the +southern States in which it is now held. Jefferson, who has been +regarded as the leader of the southern or democratic party, has +left ample testimony that he regarded slavery as an evil. It is, I +think, true that he gave such testimony much more freely when he was +speaking or writing as a private individual than he ever allowed +himself to do when his words were armed with the weight of public +authority. But it is clear that, on the whole, he was opposed to +slavery, and I think there can be little doubt that he and his party +looked forward to a natural death for that evil. Calculation was made +that slavery when not recruited afresh from Africa could not maintain +its numbers, and that gradually the negro population would become +extinct. This was the error made. It was easier to look forward +to such a result and hope for such an end of the difficulty, than +to extinguish slavery by a great political movement, which must +doubtless have been difficult and costly. The northern States got +rid of slavery by the operation of their separate legislatures, some +at one date and some at others. The slaves were less numerous in +the North than in the South, and the feeling adverse to slaves was +stronger in the North than in the South. Mason and Dixon's line, +which now separates slave soil from free soil, merely indicates the +position in the country at which the balance turned. Maryland and +Virginia were not inclined to make great immediate sacrifices for the +manumission of their slaves; but the gentlemen of those States did +not think that slavery was a divine institution, destined to flourish +for ever as a blessing in their land. + +The maintenance of slavery was, I think, a political mistake;--a +political mistake, not because slavery is politically wrong, but +because the politicians of the day made erroneous calculations as +to the probability of its termination. So the income tax may be a +political blunder with us;--not because it is in itself a bad tax, +but because those who imposed it conceived that they were imposing it +for a year or two, whereas, now, men do not expect to see the end of +it. The maintenance of slavery was a political mistake; and I cannot +think that the Americans in any way lessen the weight of their own +error by protesting, as they occasionally do, that slavery was a +legacy made over to them from England. They might as well say, that +travelling in carts without springs, at the rate of three miles an +hour, was a legacy made over to them by England. On that matter of +travelling they have not been contented with the old habits left +to them, but have gone ahead and made railroads. In creating those +railways the merit is due to them; and so also is the demerit of +maintaining those slaves. + +That demerit and that mistake have doubtless brought upon the +Americans the grievances of their present position; and will, as I +think, so far be accompanied by ultimate punishment that they will +be the immediate means of causing the first disintegration of their +nation. I will leave it to the Americans themselves to say, whether +such disintegration must necessarily imply that they have failed in +their political undertaking. The most loyal citizens of the northern +States would have declared a month or two since,--and for aught +I know would declare now,--that any disintegration of the States +implied absolute failure. One stripe erased from the banner, one star +lost from the firmament, would entail upon them all the disgrace +of national defeat! It had been their boast that they would always +advance, never retreat. They had looked forward to add ever State +upon State, and territory to territory, till the whole continent +should be bound together in the same union. To go back from that now, +to fall into pieces and be divided, to become smaller in the eyes +of the nations,--to be absolutely halfed, as some would say of such +division, would be national disgrace, and would amount to political +failure. "Let us fight for the whole," such men said, and probably do +say. "To lose anything is to lose all!" + +But the citizens of the States who speak and think thus, though they +may be the most loyal, are perhaps not politically the most wise. And +I am inclined to think that that defiant claim of every star, that +resolve to possess every stripe upon the banner, had become somewhat +less general when I was leaving the country than I had found it to be +at the time of my arrival there. While things were going badly with +the North,--while there was no tale of any battle to be told except +of those at Bull's Run and Springfield, no northern man would admit +a hint that secession might ultimately prevail in Georgia or Alabama. +But the rebels had been driven out of Missouri when I was leaving +the States, they had retreated altogether from Kentucky, having +been beaten in one engagement there, and from a great portion of +Tennessee, having been twice beaten in that State. The coast of North +Carolina, and many points of the southern coast, were in the hands of +the northern army, while the army of the South was retreating from +all points into the centre of their country. Whatever may have been +the strategetical merits or demerits of the northern generals, it +is at any rate certain that their apparent successes were greedily +welcomed by the people, and created an idea that things were going +well with the cause. And, as all this took place, it seemed to me +that I heard less about the necessary integrity of the old flag. +While as yet they were altogether unsuccessful, they were minded to +make no surrender. But with their successes came the feeling, that in +taking much they might perhaps allow themselves to yield something. +This was clearly indicated by the message sent to Congress by the +President in February, 1862, in which he suggested that Congress +should make arrangements for the purchase of the slaves in the border +States; so that in the event of secession--accomplished secession--in +the gulf States, the course of those border States might be made +clear for them. They might hesitate as to going willingly with the +North, while possessing slaves,--as to setting themselves peaceably +down as a small slave adjunct to a vast free soil nation, seeing that +their property would always be in peril. Under such circumstances +a slave adjunct to the free soil nation would not long be possible. +But if it could be shown to them that in the event of their adhering +to the North, compensation would be forthcoming, then, indeed, +the difficulty in arranging an advantageous line between the two +future nations might be considerably modified. This message of the +President's was intended to signify, that secession on favourable +terms might be regarded by the North as not undesirable. Moderate men +were beginning to whisper that, after all, the gulf States were no +source either of national wealth or of national honour. Had there not +been enough at Washington of cotton lords and cotton laws? When I +have suggested that no senator from Georgia would ever again sit in +the United States senate, American gentlemen have received my remark +with a slight demur, and have then proceeded to argue the case. Six +months before they would have declaimed against me and not have +argued. + +I will leave it to Americans themselves to say whether that +disintegration of the States, should it ever be realized, will imply +that they have failed in their political undertaking. If they do not +protest that it argues failure, their feelings will not be hurt by +any such protestations on the part of others. I have said that the +blunder made by the founders of the nation with regard to slavery +has brought with it this secession as its punishment. But such +punishments come generally upon nations as great mercies. Ireland's +famine was the punishment of her imprudence and idleness, but it has +given to her prosperity and progress. And indeed, to speak with more +logical correctness, the famine was no punishment to Ireland, nor +will secession be a punishment to the northern States. In the long +result step will have gone on after step, and effect will have +followed cause, till the American people will at last acknowledge, +that all these matters have been arranged for their advantage and +promotion. It may be that a nation now and then goes to the wall, and +that things go from bad to worse with a large people. It has been so +with various nations and with many people since history was first +written. But when it has been so, the people thus punished have been +idle and bad. They have not only done evil in their generation, but +have done more evil than good, and have contributed their power to +the injury rather than to the improvement of mankind. It may be that +this or that national fault may produce or seem to produce some +consequent calamity. But the balance of good or evil things which +fall to a people's share will indicate with certainty their average +conduct as a nation. The one will be the certain consequence of the +other. If it be that the Americans of the northern States have done +well in their time, that they have assisted in the progress of the +world, and made things better for mankind rather than worse, then +they will come out of this trouble without eventual injury. That +which came in the guise of punishment for a special fault, will be a +part of the reward resulting from good conduct in the general. And as +to this matter of slavery, in which I think that they have blundered +both politically and morally,--has it not been found impossible +hitherto for them to cleanse their hands of that taint? But that +which they could not do for themselves the course of events is doing +for them. If secession establish herself, though it be only secession +of the gulf States, the people of the United States will soon be free +from slavery. + +In judging of the success or want of success of any political +institutions or of any form of government, we should be guided, I +think, by the general results, and not by any abstract rules as to +the right or wrong of those institutions or of that form. It might +be easy for a German lawyer to show that our system of trial by jury +is open to the gravest objections, and that it sins against common +sense. But if that system gives us substantial justice, and protects +us from the tyranny of men in office, the German lawyer will not +succeed in making us believe that it is a bad system. When looking +into the matter of the schools at Boston, I observed to one of +the committee of management that the statements with which I was +supplied, though they told me how many of the children went to +school, did not tell me how long they remained at school. The +gentleman replied that that information was to be obtained from the +result of the schooling of the population generally. Every boy and +girl around us could read and write, and could enjoy reading and +writing. There was therefore evidence to show that they remained at +school sufficiently long for the required purposes. It was fair that +I should judge of the system from the results. Here in England, we +generally object to much that the Americans have adopted into their +form of government, and think that many of their political theories +are wrong. We do not like universal suffrage. We do not like a +periodical change in the first magistrate; and we like quite as +little a periodical permanence in the political officers immediately +under the chief magistrate. We are, in short, wedded to our own forms +and therefore opposed by judgment to forms differing from our own. +But I think we all acknowledge that the United States, burdened as +they are with these political evils,--as we think them, have grown in +strength and material prosperity with a celerity of growth hitherto +unknown among nations. We may dislike Americans personally, we may +find ourselves uncomfortable when there, and unable to sympathize +with them when away; we may believe them to be ambitious, unjust, +self-idolatrous, or irreligious. But, unless we throw our judgment +altogether overboard, we cannot believe them to be a weak people, a +poor people, a people with low spirits or a people with idle hands. +To what is it that the government of a country should chiefly look? +What special advantages do we expect from our own government? Is it +not that we should be safe at home and respected abroad;--that laws +should be maintained, but that they should be so maintained that +they should not be oppressive? There are, doubtless, countries in +which the government professes to do much more than this for its +people,--countries in which the government is paternal; in which it +regulates the religion of the people, and professes to enforce on all +the national children respect for the governors, teachers, spiritual +pastors, and masters. But that is not our idea of a government. +That is not what we desire to see established among ourselves or +established among others. Safety from foreign foes, respect from +foreign foes and friends, security under the law and security from +the law,--this is what we expect from our government; and if I add to +this that we expect to have these good things provided at a fairly +moderate cost, I think I have exhausted the list of our requirements. + +And if the Americans with their form of government have done for +themselves all that we expect our government to do for us; if they +have with some fair approach to general excellence obtained respect +abroad and security at home from foreign foes; if they have made +life, liberty, and property safe under their laws, and have also so +written and executed their laws as to secure their people from legal +oppression,--I maintain that they are entitled to a verdict in their +favour, let us object as we may to universal suffrage, to four years' +Presidents, and four years' presidential cabinets. What, after all, +matters the theory or the system, whether it be King or President, +universal suffrage or ten-pound voter, so long as the people be free +and prosperous? King and President, suffrage by poll and suffrage by +property, are but the means. If the end be there, if the thing has +been done, King and President, open suffrage and close suffrage may +alike be declared to have been successful. The Americans have been +in existence as a nation for seventy-five years, and have achieved +an amount of foreign respect during that period greater than any +other nation ever obtained in double the time. And this has been +given to them, not in deference to the statesman-like craft of +their diplomatic and other officers, but on grounds the very +opposite of those. It has been given to them because they form a +numerous, wealthy, brave, and self-asserting nation. It is, I think, +unnecessary to prove that such foreign respect has been given to +them: but were it necessary, nothing would prove it more strongly +than the regard which has been universally paid by European +governments to the blockade placed during this war on the southern +ports by the government of the United States. Had the United States +been placed by general consent in any class of nations below the +first, England, France, and perhaps Russia would have taken the +matter into their own hands, and have settled for the States, either +united or disunited, at any rate that question of the blockade. And +the Americans have been safe at home from foreign foes; so safe, +that no other strong people but ourselves have enjoyed anything +approaching to their security since their foundation. Nor has our +security been equal to theirs if we are to count our nationality +as extending beyond the British Isles. Then as to security under +their laws and from their laws! Those laws and the system of their +management have been taken almost entirely from us, and have so been +administered that life and property have been safe, and the subject +also has been free from oppression. I think that this may be taken +for granted, seeing that they who have been most opposed to American +forms of government, have never asserted the reverse. I may be told +of a man being lynched in one State, or tarred and feathered in +another, or of a duel in a third being "fought at sight." So I may be +told also of men garotted in London, and of tithe proctors buried in +a bog without their ears in Ireland. Neither will seventy years of +continuance nor will seven hundred secure such an observance of laws +as will prevent temporary ebullition of popular feeling, or save a +people from the chance disgrace of occasional outrage. Taking the +general, life and limb and property have been as safe in the States +as in other civilized countries with which we are acquainted. + +As to their personal liberty under their laws, I know it will be said +that they have surrendered all claim to any such precious possession +by the facility with which they have now surrendered the privilege of +the writ of habeas corpus. It has been taken from them, as I have +endeavoured to show, illegally, and they have submitted to the loss +and to the illegality without a murmur! But in such a matter I do +not think it fair to judge them by their conduct in such a moment as +the present. That this is the very moment in which to judge of the +efficiency of their institutions generally, of the aptitude of those +institutions for the security of the nation, I readily acknowledge. +But when a ship is at sea in a storm, riding out all that the winds +and waves can do to her, one does not condemn her because a yard-arm +gives way, nor even though the mainmast should go by the board. If +she can make her port, saving life and cargo, she is a good ship, let +her losses in spars and rigging be what they may. In this affair of +the habeas corpus we will wait a while before we come to any final +judgment. If it be that the people, when the war is over, shall +consent to live under a military or other dictatorship,--that they +shall quietly continue their course as a nation without recovery +of their rights of freedom, then we shall have to say that their +institutions were not founded in a soil of sufficient depth, and that +they gave way before the first high wind that blew on them. I myself +do not expect such a result. + +I think we must admit that the Americans have received from their +government, or rather from their system of policy, that aid and +furtherance which they required from it; and, moreover, such aid and +furtherance as we expect from our system of government. We must admit +that they have been great, and free, and prosperous, as we also have +become. And we must admit, also, that in some matters they have gone +forward in advance of us. They have educated their people, as we +have not educated ours. They have given to their millions a personal +respect, and a standing above the abjectness of poverty, which with +us are much less general than with them. These things, I grant, have +not come of their government, and have not been produced by their +written constitution. They are the happy results of their happy +circumstances. But so, also, those evil attributes which we sometimes +assign to them are not the creatures of their government, or of their +constitution. We acknowledge them to be well educated, intelligent, +philanthropic, and industrious; but we say that they are ambitious, +unjust, self-idolatrous, and irreligious. If so, let us at any rate +balance the virtues against the vices. As to their ambition, it is a +vice that leans so to virtue's side, that it hardly needs an apology. +As to their injustice, or rather dishonesty, I have said what I have +to say on that matter. I am not going to flinch from the accusation +I have brought, though I am aware that in bringing it I have thrown +away any hope that I might have had of carrying with me the good will +of the Americans for my book. The love of money,--or rather of making +money,--carried to an extreme, has lessened that instinctive respect +for the rights of meum and tuum which all men feel more or less, and +which, when encouraged within the human breast, finds its result in +perfect honesty. Other nations, of which I will not now stop to name +even one, have had their periods of natural dishonesty. It may be +that others are even now to be placed in the same category. But it +is a fault which industry and intelligence combined will after a +while serve to lessen and to banish. The industrious man desires to +keep the fruit of his own industry, and the intelligent man will +ultimately be able to do so. That the Americans are self-idolaters is +perhaps true,--with a difference. An American desires you to worship +his country, or his brother; but he does not often, by any of the +usual signs of conceit, call upon you to worship himself. As an +American, treating of America, he is self-idolatrous; but that +is a self-idolatry which I can endure. Then, as to his want of +religion--and it is a very sad want--I can only say of him, that +I, as an Englishman, do not feel myself justified in flinging the +first stone at him. In that matter of religion, as in the matter of +education, the American, I think, stands on a level higher than ours. +There is not in the States so absolute an ignorance of religion as +is to be found in some of our manufacturing and mining districts, +and also, alas! in some of our agricultural districts; but also, I +think, there is less of respect and veneration for God's word among +their educated classes, than there is with us; and, perhaps, also +less knowledge as to God's word. The general religious level is, I +think, higher with them; but there is with us, if I am right in my +supposition, a higher eminence in religion, as there is also a deeper +depth of ungodliness. + +I think then that we are bound to acknowledge that the Americans +have succeeded as a nation, politically and socially. When I speak +of social success, I do not mean to say that their manners are +correct according to this or that standard. I will not say that they +are correct, or are not correct. In that matter of manners I have +found that those, with whom it seemed to me natural that I should +associate, were very pleasant according to my standard. I do not +know that I am a good critic on such a subject, or that I have ever +thought much of it with the view of criticising. I have been happy +and comfortable with them, and for me that has been sufficient. In +speaking of social success I allude to their success in private +life as distinguished from that which they have achieved in public +life;--to their successes in commerce, in mechanics, in the comforts +and luxuries of life, in medicine and all that leads to the solace of +affliction, in literature, and I may add also, considering the youth +of the nation, in the arts. We are, I think, bound to acknowledge +that they have succeeded. And if they have succeeded, it is vain for +us to say that a system is wrong which has, at any rate, admitted of +such success. That which was wanted from some form of government, has +been obtained with much more than average excellence; and therefore +the form adopted has approved itself as good. You may explain to a +farmer's wife with indisputable logic, that her churn is a bad churn; +but as long as she turns out butter in greater quantity, in better +quality, and with more profit than her neighbours, you will hardly +induce her to change it. It may be that with some other churn she +might have done even better; but, under such circumstances, she will +have a right to think well of the churn she uses. + +The American constitution is now, I think, at the crisis of its +severest trial. I conceive it to be by no means perfect, even for +the wants of the people who use it; and I have already endeavoured +to explain what changes it seems to need. And it has had this +defect,--that it has permitted a falling away from its intended +modes of action, while its letter has been kept sacred. As I have +endeavoured to show, universal suffrage and democratic action in the +Senate were not intended by the framers of the constitution. In this +respect, the constitution has, as it were, fallen through, and it is +needed that its very beams should be re-strengthened. There are also +other matters as to which it seems that some change is indispensable. +So much I have admitted. But, not the less, judging of it by the +entirety of the work that it has done, I think that we are bound to +own that it has been successful. + +And now, with regard to this tedious war, of which from day to day we +are still, in this month of May, 1862, hearing details which teach us +to think that it can hardly as yet be near its end;--to what may we +rationally look as its result? Of one thing I myself feel tolerably +certain,--that its result will not be nothing, as some among us +have seemed to suppose may be probable. I cannot believe that all +this energy on the part of the North will be of no avail, more +than I suppose that southern perseverance will be of no avail. +There are those among us who say that as secession will at last be +accomplished, the North should have yielded to the South at once, and +that nothing will be gained by their great expenditure of life and +treasure. I can by no means bring myself to agree with these. I also +look to the establishment of secession. Seeing how essential and +thorough are the points of variance between the North and the South, +how unlike the one people is to the other, and how necessary it is +that their policies should be different; seeing how deep are their +antipathies, and how fixed is each side in the belief of its own +rectitude and in the belief also of the other's political baseness, +I cannot believe that the really southern States will ever again be +joined in amicable union with those of the North. They, the States of +the Gulf, may be utterly subjugated, and the North may hold over them +military power. Georgia and her sisters may for a while belong to +the Union, as one conquered country belongs to another. But I do not +think that they will ever act with the Union;--and, as I imagine, +the Union before long will agree to a separation. I do not mean +to prophesy that the result will be thus accomplished. It may be +that the South will effect their own independence before they lay +down their arms. I think, however, that we may look forward to such +independence, whether it be achieved in that way, or in this, or in +some other. + +But not on that account will the war have been of no avail to the +North. I think it must be already evident to all those who have +looked into the matter that had the North yielded to the first call +made by the South for secession all the slave States must have gone. +Maryland would have gone, carrying Delaware in its arms; and if +Maryland, all south of Maryland. If Maryland had gone, the capital +would have gone. If the Government had resolved to yield, Virginia to +the east would assuredly have gone, and I think there can be no doubt +that Missouri, to the west, would have gone also. The feeling for +the Union in Kentucky was very strong, but I do not think that even +Kentucky could have saved itself. To have yielded to the southern +demands would have been to have yielded everything. But no man now +believes, let the contest go as it will, that Maryland and Delaware +will go with the South. The secessionists of Baltimore do not think +so, nor the gentlemen and ladies of Washington, whose whole hearts +are in the southern cause. No man thinks that Maryland will go; and +few, I believe, imagine that either Missouri or Kentucky will be +divided from the North. I will not pretend what may be the exact +line, but I myself feel confident that it will run south both of +Virginia and of Kentucky. + +If the North do conquer the South, and so arrange their matters that +the southern States shall again become members of the Union, it will +be admitted that they have done all that they sought to do. If they +do not do this;--if instead of doing this, which would be all that +they desire, they were in truth to do nothing;--to win finally not +one foot of ground from the South,--a supposition which I regard as +impossible;--I think that we should still admit after a while that +they had done their duty in endeavouring to maintain the integrity of +the empire. But if, as a third and more probable alternative, they +succeed in rescuing from the South and from slavery four or five of +the finest States of the old Union,--a vast portion of the continent, +to be beaten by none other in salubrity, fertility, beauty, and +political importance,--will it not then be admitted that the war has +done some good, and that the life and treasure have not been spent in +vain? + +That is the termination of the contest to which I look forward. I +think that there will be secession, but that the terms of secession +will be dictated by the North, not by the South; and among these +terms I expect to see an escape from slavery for those border States +to which I have alluded. In that proposition which, in February +last (1862), was made by the President, and which has since been +sanctioned by the Senate, I think we may see the first step towards +this measure. It may probably be the case that many of the slaves +will be driven south; that as the owners of those slaves are driven +from their holdings in Virginia they will take their slaves with +them, or send them before them. The manumission, when it reaches +Virginia, will not probably enfranchise the half million of slaves +who, in 1860, were counted among its population. But as to that I +confess myself to be comparatively careless. It is not the concern +which I have now at heart. For myself, I shall feel satisfied if that +manumission shall reach the million of whites by whom Virginia is +populated; or if not that million in its integrity then that other +million by which its rich soil would soon be tenanted. There are +now about four millions of white men and women inhabiting the slave +States which I have described, and I think it will be acknowledged +that the northern States will have done something with their armies +if they succeed in rescuing those four millions from the stain and +evil of slavery. + +There is a third question which I have asked myself, and to which I +have undertaken to give some answer. When this war be over between +the northern and southern States will there come upon us Englishmen +a necessity of fighting with the Americans? If there do come such +necessity, arising out of our conduct to the States during the period +of their civil war, it will indeed be hard upon us, as a nation, +seeing the struggle that we have made to be just in our dealings +towards the States generally, whether they be North or South. To +be just in such a period, and under such circumstances, is very +difficult. In that contest between Sardinia and Austria it was all +but impossible to be just to the Italians without being unjust to +the Emperor of Austria. To have been strictly just at the moment +one should have begun by confessing the injustice of so much that +had gone before! But in this American contest such justice, though +difficult, was easier. Affairs of trade rather than of treaties +chiefly interfered; and these affairs, by a total disregard of our +own pecuniary interests, could be so managed that justice might be +done. This I think was effected. It may be, of course, that I am +prejudiced on the side of my own nation; but striving to judge of +the matter as best I may without prejudice, I cannot see that we, +as a nation, have in aught offended against the strictest justice +in our dealings with America during this contest. But justice has +not sufficed. I do not know that our bitterest foes in the northern +States have accused us of acting unjustly. It is not justice which +they have looked for at our hands, and looked for in vain;--not +justice, but generosity! We have not, as they say, sympathized with +them in their trouble! It seems to me that such a complaint is +unworthy of them as a nation, as a people, or as individuals. In such +a matter generosity is another name for injustice,--as it too often +is in all matters. A generous sympathy with the North would have been +an ostensible and crashing enmity to the South. We could not have +sympathized with the North without condemning the South, and telling +to the world that the South were our enemies. In ordering his own +household a man should not want generosity or sympathy from the +outside; and if not a man, then certainly not a nation. Generosity +between nations must in its very nature be wrong. One nation may be +just to another, courteous to another, even considerate to another +with propriety. But no nation can be generous to another without +injustice either to some third nation, or to itself. + +But though no accusation of unfairness has, as far as I am aware, +ever been made by the government of Washington against the government +of London, there can be no doubt that a very strong feeling of +antipathy to England has sprung up in America during this war, and +that it is even yet so intense in its bitterness, that were the North +to become speedily victorious in their present contest very many +Americans would be anxious to turn their arms at once against Canada. +And I fear that that fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac has +strengthened this wish by giving to the Americans an unwarranted +confidence in their capability of defending themselves against any +injury from British shipping. It may be said by them, and probably +would be said by many of them, that this feeling of enmity had not +been engendered by any idea of national injustice on our side;--that +it might reasonably exist, though no suspicion of such injustice had +arisen in the minds of any. They would argue that the hatred on their +part had been engendered by scorn on ours,--by scorn and ill words +heaped upon them in their distress. + +They would say that slander, scorn, and uncharitable judgments create +deeper feuds than do robbery and violence, and produce deeper enmity +and worse rancour. "It is because we have been scorned by England, +that we hate England. We have been told from week to week, and from +day to day, that we were fools, cowards, knaves, and madmen. We have +been treated with disrespect, and that disrespect we will avenge." It +is thus that they speak of England, and there can be no doubt that +the opinion so expressed is very general. It is not my purpose here +to say whether in this respect England has given cause of offence +to the States, or whether either country has given cause of offence +to the other. On both sides have many hard words been spoken, and +on both sides also have good words been spoken. It is unfortunately +the case that hard words are pregnant, and as such they are read, +digested, and remembered; while good words are generally so dull that +nobody reads them willingly, and when read they are forgotten. For +many years there have been hard words bandied backwards and forwards +between England and the United States, showing mutual jealousies and +a disposition on the part of each nation to spare no fault committed +by the other. This has grown of rivalry between the two, and in fact +proves the respect which each has for the other's power and wealth. +I will not now pretend to say with which side has been the chiefest +blame, if there has been chiefest blame on either side. But I do say +that it is monstrous in any people or in any person to suppose that +such bickerings can afford a proper ground for war. I am not about to +dilate on the horrors of war. Horrid as war may be, and full of evil, +it is not so horrid to a nation, nor so full of evil, as national +insult unavenged, or as national injury unredressed. A blow taken by +a nation and taken without atonement is an acknowledgment of national +inferiority than which any war is preferable. Neither England nor the +States are inclined to take such blows. But such a blow, before it +can be regarded as a national insult, as a wrong done by one nation +on another, must be inflicted by the political entity of the one on +the political entity of the other. No angry clamours of the press, +no declamations of orators, no voices from the people, no studied +criticisms from the learned few or unstudied censures from society +at large, can have any fair weight on such a question or do aught +towards justifying a national quarrel. They cannot form a casus +belli. Those two Latin words, which we all understand, explain this +with the utmost accuracy. Were it not so, the peace of the world +would indeed rest upon sand. Causes of national difference will +arise,--for governments will be unjust as are individuals. And +causes of difference will arise because governments are too blind +to distinguish the just from the unjust. But in such cases the +government acts on some ground which it declares. It either shows or +pretends to show some casus belli. But in this matter of threatened +war between the States and England it is declared openly that such +war is to take place because the English have abused the Americans, +and because, consequently, the Americans hate the English. There +seems to exist an impression that no other ostensible ground for +fighting need be shown, although such an event as that of war between +the two nations would, as all men acknowledge, be terrible in +its results. "Your newspapers insulted us when we were in our +difficulties. Your writers said evil things of us. Your legislators +spoke of us with scorn. You exacted from us a disagreeable duty of +retribution just when the performance of such a duty was most odious +to us. You have shown symptoms of joy at our sorrow. And, therefore, +as soon as our hands are at liberty, we will fight you." I have +known schoolboys to argue in that way, and the arguments have been +intelligible. But I cannot understand that any government should +admit such an argument. + +Nor will the American government willingly admit it. According to +existing theories of government the armies of nations are but the +tools of the governing powers. If at the close of the present civil +war the American government,--the old civil government consisting of +the President with such checks as Congress constitutionally has over +him,--shall really hold the power to which it pretends, I do not fear +that there will be any war. No President, and I think no Congress, +will desire such a war. Nor will the people clamour for it, even +should the idea of such a war be popular. The people of America are +not clamorous against their government. If there be such a war it +will be because the army shall have then become more powerful than +the Government. If the President can hold his own the people will +support him in his desire for peace. But if the President do not hold +his own;--if some General with two or three hundred thousand men at +his back shall then have the upper hand in the nation,--it is too +probable that the people may back him. The old game will be played +again that has so often been played in the history of nations, and +some wretched military aspirant will go forth to flood Canada with +blood, in order that the feathers of his cap may flaunt in men's eyes +and that he may be talked of for some years to come as one of the +great curses let loose by the Almighty on mankind. + +I must confess that there is danger of this. To us the danger is very +great. It cannot be good for us to send ships laden outside with +iron shields instead of inside with soft goods and hardware to those +thickly thronged American ports. It cannot be good for us to have +to throw millions into those harbours instead of taking millions +out from them. It cannot be good for us to export thousands upon +thousands of soldiers to Canada of whom only hundreds would return. +The whole turmoil, cost, and paraphernalia of such a course would be +injurious to us in the extreme, and the loss of our commerce would +be nearly ruinous. But the injury of such a war to us would be as +nothing to the injury which it would inflict upon the States. To them +for many years it would be absolutely ruinous. It would entail not +only all those losses which such a war must bring with it; but that +greater loss which would arise to the nation from the fact of its +having been powerless to prevent it. Such a war would prove that it +had lost the freedom for which it had struggled, and which for so +many years it has enjoyed. For the sake of that people as well as +for our own,--and for their sakes rather than for our own,--let us, +as far as may be, abstain from words which are needlessly injurious. +They have done much that is great and noble, even since this war +has begun, and we have been slow to acknowledge it. They have made +sacrifices for the sake of their country which we have ridiculed. +They have struggled to maintain a good cause, and we have disbelieved +in their earnestness. They have been anxious to abide by their +constitution, which to them has been as it were a second gospel, and +we have spoken of that constitution as though it had been a thing of +mere words in which life had never existed. This has been done while +their hands were very full and their back heavily laden. Such words +coming from us, or from parties among us, cannot justify those +threats of war which we hear spoken; but that they should make the +hearts of men sore and their thoughts bitter against us can hardly be +matter of surprise. + +As to the result of any such war between us and them, it would depend +mainly, I think, on the feelings of the Canadians. Neither could +they annex Canada without the good-will of the Canadians, nor could +we keep Canada without that good-will. At present the feeling in +Canada against the northern States is so strong and so universal that +England has little to fear on that head. + +I have now done my task, and may take leave of my readers on either +side of the water with a hearty hope that the existing war between +the North and South may soon be over, and that none other may follow +on its heels to exercise that new-fledged military skill which +the existing quarrel will have produced on the other side of the +Atlantic. I have written my book in obscure language if I have not +shown that to me social successes and commercial prosperity are much +dearer than any greatness that can be won by arms. The Americans had +fondly thought that they were to be exempt from the curse of war,--at +any rate from the bitterness of the curse. But the days for such +exemption have not come as yet. While we are hurrying on to make +twelve-inch shield-plates for our men-of-war, we can hardly dare +to think of the days when the sword shall be turned into the +ploughshare. May it not be thought well for us if, with such work +on our hands, any scraps of iron shall be left to us with which to +pursue the purposes of peace? But at least let us not have war with +these children of our own. If we must fight, let us fight the French, +"for King George upon the throne." The doing so will be disagreeable, +but it will not be antipathetic to the nature of an Englishman. For +my part, when an American tells me that he wants to fight with me, +I regard his offence as compared with that of a Frenchman under the +same circumstances, as I would compare the offence of a parricide +or a fratricide with that of a mere common-place murderer. Such a +war would be plus quam civile bellum. Which of us two could take a +thrashing from the other and afterwards go about our business with +contentment? + +On our return to Liverpool, we stayed for a few hours at Queenstown, +taking in coal, and the passengers landed that they might stretch +their legs and look about them. I also went ashore at the dear old +place which I had known well in other days, when the people were not +too grand to call it Cove, and were contented to run down from Cork +in river steamers, before the Passage railway was built. I spent a +pleasant summer there once in those times;--God be with the good +old days! And now I went ashore at Queenstown, happy to feel that +I should be again in a British isle, and happy also to know that I +was once more in Ireland. And when the people came around me as they +did, I seemed to know every face and to be familiar with every voice. +It has been my fate to have so close an intimacy with Ireland, that +when I meet an Irishman abroad, I always recognize in him more of a +kinsman than I do in an Englishman. I never ask an Englishman from +what county he comes, or what was his town. To Irishmen I usually put +such questions, and I am generally familiar with the old haunts which +they name. I was happy therefore to feel myself again in Ireland, and +to walk round from Queenstown to the river at Passage by the old way +that had once been familiar to my feet. + +Or rather I should have been happy if I had not found myself +instantly disgraced by the importunities of my friends! A legion of +women surrounded me, imploring alms, begging my honour to bestow my +charity on them for the love of the Virgin, using the most holy names +in their adjurations for halfpence, clinging to me with that half +joking, half lachrymose air of importunity which an Irish beggar has +assumed as peculiarly her own. There were men too, who begged as well +as women. And the women were sturdy and fat, and, not knowing me as +well as I knew them, seemed resolved that their importunities should +be successful. After all, I had an old world liking for them in their +rags. They were endeared to me by certain memories and associations +which I cannot define. But then what would those Americans think of +them;--of them and of the country which produced them? That was the +reflection which troubled me. A legion of women in rags clamorous for +bread, protesting to heaven that they are starving, importunate with +voices and with hands, surrounding the stranger when he puts his foot +on the soil so that he cannot escape, does not afford to the cynical +American who then first visits us,--and they all are cynical when +they visit us,--a bad opportunity for his sarcasm. He can at any rate +boast that he sees nothing of that at home. I myself am fond of Irish +beggars. It is an acquired taste,--which comes upon one as does that +for smoked whisky, or Limerick tobacco. But I certainly did wish that +there were not so many of them at Queenstown. + +I tell all this here not to the disgrace of Ireland;--not for the +triumph of America. The Irishman or American who thinks rightly on +the subject will know that the state of each country has arisen from +its opportunities. Beggary does not prevail in new countries, and but +few old countries have managed to exist without it. As to Ireland we +may rejoice to say that there is less of it now than there was twenty +years since. Things are mending there. But though such excuses may +be truly made,--although an Englishman when he sees this squalor and +poverty on the quays at Queenstown, consoles himself with reflecting +that the evil has been unavoidable, but will perhaps soon be +avoided,--nevertheless he cannot but remember that there is no such +squalor and no such poverty in the land from which he has returned. +I claim no credit for the new country. I impute no blame to the old +country. But there is the fact. The Irishman when he expatriates +himself to one of those American States loses much of that +affectionate, confiding, master-worshipping nature which makes him so +good a fellow when at home. But he becomes more of a man. He assumes +a dignity which he never has known before. He learns to regard his +labour as his own property. That which he earns he takes without +thanks, but he desires to take no more than he earns. To me +personally he has perhaps become less pleasant than he was. But to +himself--! It seems to me that such a man must feel himself half a +god, if he has the power of comparing what he is with what he was. + +It is right that all this should be acknowledged by us. When we speak +of America and of her institutions we should remember that she has +given to our increasing population rights and privileges which we +could not give;--which as an old country we probably can never give. +That self-asserting, obtrusive independence which so often wounds us, +is, if viewed aright, but an outward sign of those good things which +a new country has produced for its people. Men and women do not beg +in the States;--they do not offend you with tattered rags; they do +not complain to heaven of starvation; they do not crouch to the +ground for halfpence. If poor, they are not abject in their poverty. +They read and write. They walk like human beings made in God's form. +They know that they are men and women, owing it to themselves and +to the world that they should earn their bread by their labour, but +feeling that when earned it is their own. If this be so,--if it be +acknowledged that it is so,--should not such knowledge in itself +be sufficient testimony of the success of the country and of her +institutions? + + + + + +APPENDIX A. + +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. + + +WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one +people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with +another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate +and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God +entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires +that they should declare the causes which impel them to the +separation. + +We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain +inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are +instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent +of the governed; and that, whenever any form of government becomes +destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or +abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundations +on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to +them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. +Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments, long established, +should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, +accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more +disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right +themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, +when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably +the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute +despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such +government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such +has been the patient sufferance of the colonies, and such is now the +necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of +government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a +history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct +object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. +To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. + +He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary +for the public good. + +He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing +importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent +should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected +to attend to them. + +He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large +districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right +of representation in the legislature--a right inestimable to them, +and formidable to tyrants only. + +He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, +uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public +records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with +his measures. + +He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with +manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. + +He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause +others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable +of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their +exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the +dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. + +He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for +that purpose, obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, +refusing to pass others to encourage their migration thither, and +raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. + +He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his +assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. + +He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of +their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. + +He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of +officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. + +He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the +consent of our legislatures. + +He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior +to, the civil power. + +He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign +to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his +assent to their acts of pretended legislation. + +For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. + +For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders +which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States. + +For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. + +For imposing taxes on us without our consent + +For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury. + +For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences. + +For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring +province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging +its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit +instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these +colonies. + +For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and +altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments. + +For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves +invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. + +He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his +protection and waging war against us. + +He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and +destroyed the lives of our people. + +He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries +to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already +begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled +in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a +civilized nation. + +He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high +seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners +of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. + +He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured +to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian +savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished +destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. + +In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress +in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered +only by repeated injuries. A prince, whose character is thus marked +by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of +a free people. + +Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. +We have warned them, from time to time, of the attempts by their +legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have +reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement +here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and +we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow +these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections +and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice +and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity +which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of +mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. + +We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, +in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the +world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by +the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish +and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to +be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all +allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection +between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, +totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they +have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, +establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which +independent States may of right do. And, for the support of this +declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine +Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, +and our sacred honour. + +The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and +signed by the following members: + +JOHN HANCOCK. + +_New Hampshire._ + +Josiah Bartlett, +William Whipple, +Matthew Thornton. + +_Massachusetts Bay._ + +Samuel Adams, +John Adams, +Robert Treat Paine, +Elbridge Gerry. + +_Rhode Island._ + +Stephen Hopkins, +William Ellery. + +_Connecticut._ + +Roger Sherman, +Samuel Huntington, +William Williams, +Oliver Wolcott. + +_New York._ + +William Floyd, +Philip Livingston, +Francis Lewis, +Lewis Morris. + +_New Jersey._ + +Richard Stockton, +John Witherspoon, +Francis Hopkinson, +John Hart, +Abraham Clark. + +_Pennsylvania._ + +Robert Morris, +Benjamin Rush, +Benjamin Franklin, +John Morton, +George Clymer, +James Smith, +George Taylor, +James Wilson, +George Ross. + +_Delaware._ + +Cæsar Rodney, +George Read, +Thomas M'Kean. + +_Maryland._ + +Samuel Chase, +William Paca, +Thomas Stone, +Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. + +_Virginia._ + +George Wythie, +Richard Henry Lee, +Thomas Jefferson, +Benjamin Harrison, +Thomas Nelson, Jr. +Francis Lightfoot Lee, +Carter Braxton. + +_North Carolina._ + +William Hooper, +Joseph Hewes, +John Penn. + +_South Carolina._ + +Edward Rutledge, +Thomas Heyward, Jr. +Thomas Lynch, Jr. +Arthur Middleton. + +_Georgia._ + +Button Gwinnett, +Lyman Hall, +George Walton. + + +4 _July_, 1776. + + + + +APPENDIX B. + +ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, ETC. + + +TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. + +_We, the undersigned, delegates of the States, affixed to our names, +send greeting:_ + +WHEREAS, the delegates of the United States of America, in Congress +assembled did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year of +our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, and in +the second year of the independence of America, agree to certain +articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States +of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence +Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and +Georgia, in the words following, viz: + + Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States + of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence + Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, + Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and + Georgia. + +ARTICLE 1. The style of this confederacy shall be, "The United States +of America." + +ART. 2. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and +independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not +by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in +Congress assembled. + +ART. 3. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of +friendship with each other for their common defence, the security +of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare; binding +themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or +attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, +sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever. + +ART. 4. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and +intercourse among the people of the different States in this union, +the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, +and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all +privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; +and the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to +and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges +of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and +restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that +such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal +of property imported into any State to any other State, of which the +owner is an inhabitant; provided, also, that no imposition, duties, +or restriction, shall be laid by any State on the property of the +United States, or either of them. + +If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other +high misdemeanor, in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found +in any of the United States, he shall upon demand of the Governor, or +executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, and +removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offence. + +Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the +records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates +of every other State. + +ART. 5. For the more convenient management of the general interests +of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such +manner as the legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in +Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power +reserved to each State to recall its delegates or any of them, at +any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the +remainder of the year. + +No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two nor +more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a +delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor +shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding an office +under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit, +receives any salary, fees, or emolument of any kind. + +Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the +States, and while they act as members of the committee of the States. + +In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, +each State shall have one vote. + +Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or +questioned in any court or place out of Congress; and the members +of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and +imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from and +attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the +peace. + +ART. 6. No State, without the consent of the United States in +Congress assembled, shall send an embassy to, or receive any embassy +from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty, +with any king, prince, or State; nor shall any person holding any +office of profit or trust under the United States or any of them, +accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind +whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State; nor shall the +United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title +of nobility. + +No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or +alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purpose for +which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue. + +No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with +any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in +Congress assembled, with any king, prince, or State, in pursuance of +any treaties already proposed by Congress to the courts of France and +Spain. + +No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace, by any State, +except such number as shall be deemed necessary by the United States +in Congress assembled, for the defence of such State or its trade; +nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of +peace, except such number only as, in the judgment of the United +States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison +the forts necessary for the defence of such State; but every State +shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, +sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and have +constantly ready for use, in public stores, a number of field pieces +and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp +equipage. + +No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded +by enemies, or shall, have received certain advice of a resolution +being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State, and the +danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United +States in Congress assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State +grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, or letters of +marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the +United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the +Kingdom or State, and the subjects thereof, against which war has +been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established +by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be +infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out +for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, +or until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine +otherwise. + +ART. 7. When land forces are raised by any State for the common +defence, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shall be +appointed by the legislature of each State respectively, by whom +such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall +direct; and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first +made the appointment. + +ART. 8. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be +incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by +the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of +a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States +in proportion to the value of all land within each State granted +to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and +improvements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode +as the United States in Congress assembled shall from time to time +direct and appoint. + +The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by +the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several +States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress +assembled. + +ART. 9. The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole +and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except +in the cases mentioned in the sixth Article: of sending and receiving +ambassadors: entering into treaties and alliances; provided that no +treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the +respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and +duties on foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from +prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods +or commodities whatsoever: of establishing rules for deciding in all +cases, what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what +manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the +United States shall be divided or appropriated: of granting letters +of marque and reprisal, in times of peace: appointing courts for +the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and +establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in +all cases of captures; provided, that no member of Congress shall be +appointed a judge of any of the said courts. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort +on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting, or that +hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning boundary, +jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; which authority shall +always be exercised in the manner following: whenever the legislative +or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy +with another shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter +in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given +by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the +other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance +of the parties, by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed +to appoint by joint consent commissioners or judges to constitute a +court for hearing and determining the matter in question; but if they +cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the +United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall +alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the +number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less +than seven nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct, +shall, in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot; and the +persons whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall +be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the +controversy, so always as a major part of the judges, who shall hear +the cause, shall agree in the determination; and if either party +shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons +which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall refuse +to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out +of each State, and the Secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf +of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment and sentence of +the court to be appointed in the manner before prescribed, shall +be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to +submit to the authority of such court, or to appear, or defend their +claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce +sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and +decisive, the judgment or sentence, and other proceedings, being in +either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the acts of +Congress for the security of the parties concerned: provided, that +every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, +to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior +court of the State, where the cause shall be tried, "well and truly +to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best +of his judgment, without favour, affection, or hope of reward;" +provided also, that no State shall be deprived of territory for the +benefit of the United States. + +All controversies concerning the private right of soil, claimed +under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdiction as +they may respect such lands and the States which passed such grants +are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same +time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of +jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Congress +of the United States, be finally determined, as near as may be, +in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes +respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and +exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin +struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States; +fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United +States: regulating the trade and managing all affairs with Indians +not members of any of the States; provided, that the legislative +right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or +violated: establishing and regulating post-offices from one State to +another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage +on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray +the expenses of the said office: appointing all officers of the land +forces in the service of the United States, excepting regimental +officers: appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and +commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United +States: making rules for the government and regulation of the said +land and naval forces, and directing their operations. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority +to appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be +denominated "a Committee of the States;" and to consist of one +delegate from each State, and to appoint such other committees and +civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs +of the United States, under their direction: to appoint one of their +number to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the +office of President more than one year in any term of three years: to +ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service +of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for +defraying the public expenses: to borrow money or emit bills on the +credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the +respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or +emitted: to build and equip a navy: to agree upon the number of land +forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in +proportion to the number of white inhabitants in each State; which +requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each +State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and +clothe, arm, and equip them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense +of the United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and +equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time +agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled: but if the +United States in Congress assembled, shall, on consideration of +circumstances, judge proper that any State should not raise men, or +should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other +State should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, +such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and +equipped, in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the +legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot +safely be spared out of the same; in which case they shall raise, +officer, clothe, arm, and equip, as many of such extra number as +they judge can safely be spared. And the officers and men so clothed, +armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within +the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, +nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter +into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the +value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for +the defence and welfare of the United States or any of them, nor +emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor +appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be +built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, +nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine +States assent to the same; nor shall a question on any other point, +except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, unless by the +votes of a majority of the United States in Congress assembled. + +The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any +time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so +that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space +of six months; and shall publish the journal of their proceedings +monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, +or military operations, as in their judgment require secresy; and the +yeas and nays of the delegates of each State on any question shall be +entered on the journal when it is desired by any delegate; and the +delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their request, shall +be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such parts +as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several +States. + +ART. 10. The Committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall +be authorized to execute in the recess of Congress, such of the +powers of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, +by the consent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think +expedient to vest them with; provided that no power be delegated +to the said committee, for the exercise of which, by the articles of +confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United +States assembled is requisite. + +ART. 11. Canada, acceding to this confederation, and joining in the +measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled +to, all the advantages of this union: but no other colony shall be +admitted into the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine +States. + +ART. 12. All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, debts +contracted, by or under the authority of Congress, before the +assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present +confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the +United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United +States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. + +ART. 13. Every State shall abide by the determination of the United +States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by this +confederation, are submitted to them. And the Articles of this +confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the +union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time +hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to +in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by +the legislature of every State. + +And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline +the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, +to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of +confederation and perpetual union: KNOW YE, That we, the undersigned +delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that +purpose, do, by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our +respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each +and every of the said Articles of confederation and perpetual union, +and all and singular the matters and things therein contained; and +we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective +constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the +United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by the +said confederation, are submitted to them; and that the Articles +thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respectively +represent; and that the union shall be perpetual. + + + In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress. + Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth + day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred + and seventy-eight, and in the third year of the independence of + America. + + +_On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire._ +Josiah Bartlet, John Wentworth, jun., August 8, 1778. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Massachusetts Bay._ +John Hancock, Francis Dana, +Samuel Adams, James Lovell, +Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Holten. + +_On the part and in behalf of the State of Rhode Island and +Providence Plantations._ +William Ellery, John Collins. +Henry Marchant, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut._ +Roger Sherman, Titus Hosmer, +Samuel Huntington, Andrew Adams. +Oliver Wolcott, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of New York._ +Jas. Duane, Wm. Duer, +Fra. Lewis, Gouv. Morris. + +_On the part and in behalf of the State of New Jersey._ +Jno. Witherspoon, Nath. Scudder, + Nov. 26, 1778. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania._ +Robt. Morris, William Clingan, +Daniel Roberdeau, Joseph Reed, +Jona. Bayard Smith, 22d July, 1778. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware._ +Tho. M'Kean, Nicholas Van Dyke. + Feb. 13, 1779, +John Dickinson, + May 5th, 1779, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland._ +John Hanson, Daniel Carroll, + March 1,1781, March 1, 1781. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Virginia._ +Richard Henry Lee, Jno. Harvie, +John Banister, Francis Lightfoot Lee. +Thomas Adams, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of North Carolina._ +John Penn, Jno. Williams. + July 21,1778, +Corns. Harnett, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina._ +Henry Laurens, Richard Hutson, +William Henry Drayton, Thos. Heywood, jun. +Jno. Mathews, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia._ +Jno. Walton, Edwd. Langworthy. + 24th July, 1778, +Edwd. Telfair, + + NOTE.--From the circumstance of delegates from the same State + having signed the Articles of confederation at different times, + as appears by the dates, it is probable they affixed their names + as they happened to be present in Congress, after they had been + authorized by their constituents. + + The above Articles of confederation continued in force until + the 4th day of March, 1789, when the constitution of the United + States took effect. + + + + +APPENDIX C. + +CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + + +PREAMBLE. + +WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect +union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for +the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the +blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and +establish this Constitution for the United States of America. + + +ARTICLE I. + +_Of the Legislature._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a +Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and +House of Representatives. + + +SECTION II. + +1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen +every second year by the people of the several States; and the +electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for +electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature. + +2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to +the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the +United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of +that State in which he shall be chosen. + +3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the +several States which may be included within this union, according to +their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the +whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a +term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all +other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three +years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, +and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as +they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not +exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at +least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, +the State of _New Hampshire_ shall be entitled to choose three; +_Massachusetts_, eight; _Rhode Island_, and _Providence Plantations_, +one; _Connecticut_, five; _New York_, six; _New Jersey_, four; +_Pennsylvania_, eight; _Delaware_, one; _Maryland_, six; _Virginia_, +ten; _North Carolina_, five; _South Carolina_, five; and _Georgia_, +three. + +4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the +executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill up +such vacancies. + +5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other +officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. + + +SECTION III. + +1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators +from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years, +and each senator shall have one vote. + +2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the +first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into +three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be +vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class +at the expiration of the fourth, and of the third class at the +expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every +second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, +during the recess of the legislature of any State, the executive +thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the +legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. + +3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the +age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United +States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that +State for which he shall be chosen. + +4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the +Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. + +5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president +pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall +exercise the office of President of the United States. + +6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When +sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When +the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall +preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of +two-thirds of the members present. + +7. Judgment in case of impeachment shall not extend further than +to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any +office of honour, trust, or profit, under the United States; but +the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to +indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law. + + +SECTION IV. + +1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators +and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the +legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time, by law, make +or alter such regulations, except as to the place of choosing +senators. + +2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such +meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall +by law appoint a different day. + + +SECTION V. + +1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and +qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall +constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn +from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of +absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House +may provide. + +2. Each House may determine the rule of its proceedings, punish +its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of +two-thirds, expel a member. + +3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from +time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their +judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of +either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of +those present, be entered on the journal. + +4. Neither House during the Session of Congress shall, without the +consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any +other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. + + +SECTION VI. + +1. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation +for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the +treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except +treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest +during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, +and in going to or returning from the same; and for any speech or +debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other +place. + +2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he +was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of +the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments +whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person +holding any office under the United States shall be a member of +either House during his continuance in office. + + +SECTION VII. + +1. All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House +of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with +amendments, as on other Bills. + +2. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives +and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the +President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but +if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in +which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objection at +large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such +reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the +Bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other +House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved +by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such +cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, +and the names of the persons voting for and against the Bill shall be +entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall +not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) +after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law +in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their +adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. + +3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the +Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, (except a +question of adjournment), shall be presented to the President of +the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be +approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by +two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to +the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a Bill. + + +SECTION VIII. + +The Congress shall have power-- + +1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the +debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the +United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform +throughout the United States: + +2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States: + +3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several +States, and with the Indian tribes: + +4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on +the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States: + +5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, +and fix the standard of weights and measures: + +6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and +current coin of the United States: + +7. To establish post offices and post roads: + +8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing +for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to +their respective writings and discoveries: + +9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court: + +10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high +seas, and offences against the law of nations: + +11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make +rules concerning captures on land and water: + +12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to +that use shall be for a longer term than two years: + +13. To provide and maintain a navy: + +14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and +naval forces: + +15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of +the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions: + +16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, +and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service +of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the +appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia +according to the discipline prescribed by Congress: + +17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over +such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of +particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of +government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over +all places purchased, by the consent of the legislature of the State +in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, +arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings: and, + +18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying +into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by +this Constitution in the government of the United States, or any +department or officer thereof. + + +SECTION IX. + +1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States +now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by +the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, +but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding +ten dollars for each person. + +2. The privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be +suspended unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public +safety may require it. + +3. No Bill of attainder, or ex-post-facto law, shall be passed. + +4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid; unless in +proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be +taken. + +5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. +No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue +to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels +bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties +in another. + +6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of +appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of +the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published +from time to time. + +7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no +person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, +without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, +office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or +foreign State. + + +SECTION X. + +1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; +grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of +credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment +of debts; pass any Bill of attainder, ex-post-facto law, or law +impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of +nobility. + +2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts +or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely +necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce +of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports +shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States, and all +such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress. +No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on +tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any +agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or +engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as +will not admit of delay. + + +ARTICLE II. + +_Of the Executive._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United +States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four +years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same +term, be elected as follows:-- + +2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature +thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number +of senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled +in Congress; but no senator or representative, or person holding any +office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed +an elector. + +3. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote +by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an +inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a +list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for +each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed +to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the +President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the +presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the +certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having +the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number +be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if +there be more than one who have such a majority, and have an equal +number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately +choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a +majority, then, from the five highest on the list, the said House +shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the +President, the votes shall be taken by States; the representation +from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall +consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and +a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In +every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the +greatest number of votes of the electors shall be Vice-President. But +if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate +shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-President. + +4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and +the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the +same throughout the United States. + +5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the +United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall +be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be +eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of +thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the +United States. + +6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his +death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties +of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President; +and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, +resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, +declaring what officer shall then act as President: and such officer +shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a President +shall be elected. + +7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services +a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished +during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall +not receive within that period any other emolument from the United +States, or any of them. + +8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the +following oath or affirmation: + +"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the +office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my +ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United +States." + + +SECTION II. + +1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy +of the United States and of the militia of the several States, when +called into the actual service of the United States; he may require +the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the +executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of +their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves +and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases +of impeachment. + +2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present +concur: and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent +of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and +consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the +United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided +for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may by +law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think +proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads +of departments. + +3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may +happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, +which shall expire at the end of their next session. + + +SECTION III. + +1. He shall, from time to time, give to Congress information of +the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such +measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on +extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them; +and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time +of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think +proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; +he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall +commission all the officers of the United States. + + +SECTION IV. + +1. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the +United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for +and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and +misdemeanors. + + +ARTICLE III. + +_Of the Judiciary._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one +Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as Congress may, from time +to time, order and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and +inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour; and +shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, +which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. + + +SECTION II. + +1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity +arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and +treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all +cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to +all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to +which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between +two or more states; between a State and citizens of another State; +between citizens of different States; between citizens of the same +State claiming lands under grants of different States; and between a +State, or the citizens thereof and foreign States, citizens or +subjects. + +2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and +consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme +Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before +mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both +as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations +as Congress shall make. + +3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be +by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said +crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any +State, the trial shall be at such place or places as Congress may by +law have directed. + + +SECTION III. + +1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying +war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid +and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the +testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in +open court. + +2. Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; +but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or +forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. + + +ARTICLE IV. + +_Miscellaneous._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public +acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And +Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such +acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect +thereof. + + +SECTION II. + +1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges +and immunities of citizens in the several States. + +2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other +crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, +shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from +which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having +jurisdiction of the crime. + +3. No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour; but +shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or +labour may be due. + + +SECTION III. + +1. New States may be admitted by Congress into this Union; but no new +State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other +State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, +or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the +States concerned, as well as of Congress. + +2. Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful +rules and regulations respecting the territory, or other property +belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution +shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States +or of any particular State. + + +SECTION IV. + +1. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this union a +republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against +invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or of the executive +(when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. + + +ARTICLE V. + +_Of Amendments._ + + +1. Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it +necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution; or, on the +application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, +shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either +case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this +Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths +of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, +as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by +Congress; provided, that no amendment which may be made prior to +the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner +affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first +Article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of +its equal suffrage in the Senate. + + +ARTICLE VI. + +_Miscellaneous._ + + +1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the +adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United +States under this Constitution, as under the confederation. + +2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall +be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall +be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the +supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound +thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the +contrary notwithstanding. + +3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members +of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial +officers, both of the United States, and of the several States, shall +be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but +no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any +office, or public trust, under the United States. + + +ARTICLE VII. + +_Of the Ratification._ + + +1. The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be +sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the +States so ratifying the same. + + +Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States +present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our +Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the +Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In +witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. + +GEORGE WASHINGTON, +_President, and Deputy from Virginia._ + +_New Hampshire._ +John Langdon, +Nicholas Gilman. + +_Massachusetts._ +Nathaniel Gorman, +Rufus King. + +_Connecticut._ +William Samuel Johnson, +Roger Sherman. + +_New York._ +Alexander Hamilton. + +_New Jersey._ +William Livingston, +David Brearly, +William Patterson, +Jonathan Dayton. + +_Pennsylvania._ +Benjamin Franklin, +Thomas Mifflin, +Robert Morris, +George Clymer, +Thomas Fitzsimons, +Jared Ingersoll, +James Wilson, +Governeur Morris. + +_Delaware._ +George Read, +Gunning Bedford, jun., +John Dickinson, +Richard Bassett, +Jacob Broom. + +_Maryland._ +James M'Henry, +Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, +Daniel Carroll. + +_Virginia._ +John Blair, +James Madison, jr. + +_North Carolina._ +William Blount, +Richard Dobbs Spaight, +Hugh Williamson. + +_South Carolina._ +John Rutledge, +Chas. Cotesworth Pinckney, +Charles Pinckney, +Pierce Butler. + +_Georgia._ +William Few, +Abraham Baldwin. + +_Attest,_ WILLIAM JACKSON, _Secretary_. + + + + +AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. + + +ART. 1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of +religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging +the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people +peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress +of grievances. + +ART. 2. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of +a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not +be infringed. + +ART. 3. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house +without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner +to be prescribed by law. + +ART. 4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, +houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and +seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon +probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly +describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be +seized. + +ART. 5. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise +infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand +jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the +militia when in actual service in time of war, or public danger; nor +shall any person be subject for the same offence, to be put twice in +jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal +case, to be witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, +liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private +property be taken for public use without just compensation. + +ART. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the +right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State +and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which +district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be +informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted +with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for +obtaining witnesses in his favour; and to have the assistance of +counsel for his defence. + +ART. 7. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall +exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; +and no fact tried by jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court +of the United States than according to the rules of the common law. + +ART. 8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines +imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. + +ART. 9. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall +not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. + +ART. 10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the +Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the +States respectively, or to the people. + +ART. 11. The judicial power of the United States shall not be +construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or +prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another +State, or by citizens or subjects of another State, or by citizens or +subjects of any foreign State. + +ART. 12. § 1. The electors shall meet in their respective States, +and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at +least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State as themselves; +they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, +and in distinct ballots the person voted for with Vice-President; and +they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, +and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of +votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit +sealed to the seat of government of the United States, directed to +the President of the Senate: the President of the Senate shall in the +presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the +certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having +the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if +such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; +and if no person have such a majority, then from the persons having +the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those +voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose +immediately by ballot the President. But in choosing the President, +the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each +State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a +member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of +all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of +Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of +choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next +following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in +the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the +President. + +2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, +shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the +whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, +then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall +choose the Vice-President: a quorum for the purpose shall consist of +two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the +whole number shall be necessary to a choice. + +3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of +President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United +States. + + + NOTE.--At the fourth presidential election, Thomas Jefferson + and Aaron Burr were the democratic candidates for President and + Vice-President. By the electoral returns they had an even number + of votes. In the House of Representatives, Burr, by intrigue, + got up a party to vote for him for President; and the House was + so divided that there was a tie. A contest was carried on for + several days, and so warmly, that even sick members were brought + to the House on their beds. Finally one of Burr's adherents + withdrew, and Jefferson was elected by one majority--which was + the occasion of this twelfth article. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +******* This file should be named 1866-8.txt or 1866-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1866 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> +<p class="noindent">Title: North America, Volume II (of 2)</p> +<p class="noindent">Author: Anthony Trollope</p> +<p class="noindent">Release Date: December 29, 1998 [eBook #1866]<br /> +Release Date of this revision: February 18, 2013</p> +<p class="noindent">Language: English</p> +<p class="noindent">Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p class="noindent">***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME II (OF 2)***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Donald Lainson<br /> + and revised by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.<br /> + <br /> + HTML version prepared by<br /> + Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td class="just"> + Editorial Note:<br /> + <br /> + Anthony Trollope travelled through the United States from + August, 1861, to May, 1862. He visited all the states that + did not secede except California. This book is partly a + journal of his travels and partly his description of + American customs and culture including industry, education, + government, military affairs, religion, transportation, and + even hotels. To an American of today it provides a revealing + and fascinating picture of life at the time.<br /> + <br /> + The book was first published in two volumes by Chapman & + Hall in 1862.<br /> + <br /> + Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work.<br /> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1865/1865-h/1865-h.htm">Volume I</a>: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1865/1865-h/1865-h.htm + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>NORTH AMERICA</h1> + +<h4>by</h4> + +<h2>ANTHONY TROLLOPE</h2> +<p> </p> + +<h3>In Two Volumes</h3> +<p> </p> + +<h3>VOL. II</h3> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<p> </p> +<div class="center"> +<table class="med" style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="3"> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">I. </td> <td><a href="#c1">WASHINGTON.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">II. </td> <td><a href="#c2">CONGRESS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">III. </td> <td><a href="#c3">THE CAUSES OF THE WAR.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">IV. </td> <td><a href="#c4">WASHINGTON TO ST. LOUIS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">V. </td> <td><a href="#c5">MISSOURI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VI. </td> <td><a href="#c6">CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VII. </td> <td><a href="#c7">THE ARMY OF THE NORTH.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VIII. </td> <td><a href="#c8">BACK TO BOSTON.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">IX. </td> <td><a href="#c9">THE CONSTITUTION OF<br />THE UNITED STATES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">X. </td> <td><a href="#c10">THE GOVERNMENT.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XI. </td> <td><a href="#c11">THE LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS<br />OF THE UNITED STATES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XII. </td> <td><a href="#c12">THE FINANCIAL POSITION.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XIII. </td> <td><a href="#c13">THE POST-OFFICE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XIV. </td> <td><a href="#c14">AMERICAN HOTELS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XV. </td> <td><a href="#c15">LITERATURE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XVI. </td> <td><a href="#c16">CONCLUSION.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><span class="nowrap">APPENDIX A. </span></td><td><a href="#app1">DECLARATION OF<br />INDEPENDENCE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><span class="nowrap">APPENDIX B. </span></td><td><a href="#app2">ARTICLES OF<br />CONFEDERATION, ETC.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><span class="nowrap">APPENDIX C. </span></td><td><a href="#app3">CONSTITUTION OF<br />THE UNITED STATES.</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + + +<p><a id="c1"></a> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> +<h4>WASHINGTON.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The site of the present city of Washington was chosen with three +special views; firstly, that being on the Potomac it might have the +full advantage of water-carriage and a sea-port; secondly, that it +might be so far removed from the seaboard as to be safe from +invasion; and, thirdly, that it might be central alike to all the +States. It was presumed when Washington was founded that these three +advantages would be secured by the selected position. As regards the +first, the Potomac affords to the city but few of the advantages of a +sea-port. Ships can come up, but not ships of large burthen. The +river seems to have dwindled since the site was chosen; and at +present it is, I think, evident that Washington can never be great in +its shipping. <i>Statio benefida carinis</i> can never be its motto. As +regards the second point, singularly enough Washington is the only +city of the Union that has been in an enemy's possession since the +United States became a nation. In the war of 1812 it fell into our +hands, and we burnt it. As regards the third point, Washington, from +the lie of the land, can hardly have been said to be centrical at any +time. Owing to the irregularities of the coast it is not easy of +access by railways from different sides. Baltimore would have been +far better. But as far as we can now see, and as well as we can now +judge, Washington will soon be on the borders of the nation to which +it belongs, instead of at its centre. I fear, therefore, that we must +acknowledge that the site chosen for his country's capital by George +Washington has not been fortunate.</p> + +<p>I have a strong idea, which I expressed before in speaking of the +capital of the Canadas, that no man can ordain that on such a spot +shall be built a great and thriving city. No man can so ordain even +though he leave behind him, as was the case with Washington, a +prestige sufficient to bind his successors to his wishes. The +political leaders of the country have done what they could for +Washington. The pride of the nation has endeavoured to sustain the +character of its chosen metropolis. There has been no rival, +soliciting favour on the strength of other charms. The country has +all been agreed on the point since the father of the country first +commenced the work. Florence and Rome in Italy have each their +pretensions; but in the States no other city has put itself forward +for the honour of entertaining Congress. And yet Washington has been +a failure. It is commerce that makes great cities, and commerce has +refused to back the General's choice. New York and Philadelphia, +without any political power, have become great among the cities of +the earth. They are beaten by none except by London and Paris. But +Washington is but a ragged, unfinished collection of unbuilt broad +streets, as to the completion of which there can now, I imagine, be +but little hope.</p> + +<p>Of all places that I know it is the most ungainly and most +unsatisfactory;—I fear I must also say the most presumptuous in its +pretensions. There is a map of Washington accurately laid down; and +taking that map with him in his journeyings a man may lose himself in +the streets, not as one loses oneself in London between Shoreditch +and Russell Square, but as one does so in the deserts of the Holy +Land, between Emmaus and Arimathea. In the first place no one knows +where the places are, or is sure of their existence, and then between +their presumed localities the country is wild, trackless, unbridged, +uninhabited, and desolate. Massachusetts Avenue runs the whole length +of the city, and is inserted on the maps as a full-blown street, +about four miles in length. Go there, and you will find yourself not +only out of town, away among the fields, but you will find yourself +beyond the fields, in an uncultivated, undrained wilderness. Tucking +your trousers up to your knees you will wade through the bogs, you +will lose yourself among rude hillocks, you will be out of the reach +of humanity. The unfinished dome of the Capitol will loom before you +in the distance, and you will think that you approach the ruins of +some western Palmyra. If you are a sportsman, you will desire to +shoot snipe within sight of the President's house. There is much +unsettled land within the States of America, but I think none so +desolate in its state of nature as three-fourths of the ground on +which is supposed to stand the city of Washington.</p> + +<p>The city of Washington is something more than four miles long, and is +something more than two miles broad. The land apportioned to it is +nearly as compact as may be, and it exceeds in area the size of a +parallelogram four miles long by two broad. These dimensions are +adequate for a noble city, for a city to contain a million of +inhabitants. It is impossible to state with accuracy the actual +population of Washington, for it fluctuates exceedingly. The place is +very full during Congress, and very empty during the recess. By which +I mean it to be understood that those streets, which are blessed with +houses, are full when Congress meets. I do not think that Congress +makes much difference to Massachusetts Avenue. I believe that the +city never contains as many as eighty thousand, and that its +permanent residents are less than sixty thousand.</p> + +<p>But, it will be said,—was it not well to prepare for a growing city? +Is it not true that London is choked by its own fatness, not having +been endowed at its birth or during its growth, with proper means for +accommodating its own increasing proportions? Was it not well to lay +down fine avenues and broad streets, so that future citizens might +find a city well prepared to their hand?</p> + +<p>There is no doubt much in such an argument, but its correctness must +be tested by its success. When a man marries it is well that he +should make provision for a coming family. But a Benedict, who early +in his career shall have carried his friends with considerable +self-applause through half-a-dozen nurseries and at the end of twelve +years shall still be the father of one ricketty baby, will incur a +certain amount of ridicule. It is very well to be prepared for good +fortune, but one should limit one's preparation within a reasonable +scope. Two miles by one might perhaps have done for the skeleton +sketch of a new city. Less than half that would contain much more +than the present population of Washington; and there are, I fear, few +towns in the Union so little likely to enjoy any speedy increase.</p> + +<p>Three avenues sweep the whole length of Washington;—Virginia Avenue, +Pennsylvania Avenue, and Massachusetts Avenue. But Pennsylvania +Avenue is the only one known to ordinary men, and the half of that +only is so known. This avenue is the backbone of the city, and those +streets which are really inhabited cluster round that half of it +which runs westward from the Capitol. The eastern end, running from +the front of the Capitol, is again a desert. The plan of the city is +somewhat complicated. It may truly be called "a mighty maze, but not +without a plan." The Capitol was intended to be the centre of the +city. It faces eastward, away from the Potomac,—or rather from the +main branch of the Potomac, and also unfortunately from the main body +of the town. It turns its back upon the chief thoroughfare, upon the +Treasury buildings, and upon the President's house; and indeed upon +the whole place. It was, I suppose, intended that the streets to the +eastward should be noble and populous, but hitherto they have come to +nothing. The building therefore is wrong side foremost, and all +mankind who enter it, senators, representatives, and judges included, +go in at the back-door. Of course it is generally known that in the +Capitol is the Chamber of the Senate, that of the House of +Representatives, and the Supreme Judicial Court of the Union. It may +be said that there are two centres in Washington, this being one and +the President's house the other. At these centres the main avenues +are supposed to cross each other, which avenues are called by the +names of the respective States. At the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue, +New Jersey Avenue, Delaware Avenue, and Maryland Avenue converge. +They come from one extremity of the city to the square of the Capitol +on one side, and run out from the other side of it to the other +extremity of the city. Pennsylvania Avenue, New York Avenue, Vermont +Avenue, and Connecticut Avenue do the same at what is generally +called President's Square. In theory, or on paper, this seems to be a +clear and intelligible arrangement; but it does not work well. These +centre depots are large spaces, and consequently one portion of a +street is removed a considerable distance from the other. It is as +though the same name should be given to two streets, one of which +entered St. James's Park at Buckingham Gate, while the other started +from the Park at Marlborough House. To inhabitants the matter +probably is not of much moment, as it is well known that this portion +of such an avenue and that portion of such another avenue are merely +myths,—unknown lands away in the wilds. But a stranger finds himself +in the position of being sent across the country knee-deep into the +mud, wading through snipe grounds, looking for civilization where +none exists.</p> + +<p>All these avenues have a slanting direction. They are so arranged +that none of them run north and south or east and west; but the +streets, so called, all run in accordance with the points of the +compass. Those from east to west are A Street, B Street, C Street, +and so on,—counting them away from the Capitol on each side, so that +there are two A streets and two B streets. On the map these streets +run up to V Street, both right and left,—V Street North and V Street +South. Those really known to mankind are E, F, G, H, I, and K Streets +North. Then those streets which run from north to south are numbered +First Street, Second Street, Third Street, and so on, on each front +of the Capitol, running to Twenty-fourth or Twenty-fifth Street on +each side. Not very many of these have any existence, or I might +perhaps more properly say, any vitality in their existence.</p> + +<p>Such is the plan of the city, that being the arrangement and those +the dimensions intended by the original architects and founders of +Washington; but the inhabitants have hitherto confined themselves to +Pennsylvania Avenue West, and to the streets abutting from it or near +to it. Whatever address a stranger may receive, however perplexing it +may seem to him, he may be sure that the house indicated is near +Pennsylvania Avenue. If it be not, I should recommend him to pay no +attention to the summons. Even in those streets with which he will +become best acquainted, the houses are not continuous. There will be +a house, and then a blank; then two houses, and then a double blank. +After that a hut or two, and then probably an excellent, roomy, +handsome family mansion. Taken altogether, Washington as a city is +most unsatisfactory, and falls more grievously short of the thing +attempted than any other of the great undertakings of which I have +seen anything in the States. San Jose, the capital of the republic of +Costa Rica, in Central America, has been prepared and arranged as a +new city in the same way. But even San Jose comes nearer to what was +intended than does Washington.</p> + +<p>For myself, I do not believe in cities made after this fashion. +Commerce, I think, must select the site of all large congregations of +mankind. In some mysterious way she ascertains what she wants, and +having acquired that, draws men in thousands round her properties. +Liverpool, New York, Lyons, Glasgow, Venice, Marseilles, Hamburg, +Calcutta, Chicago, and Leghorn, have all become populous, and are or +have been great, because trade found them to be convenient for its +purposes. Trade seems to have ignored Washington altogether. Such +being the case, the Legislature and the Executive of the country +together have been unable to make of Washington anything better than +a straggling congregation of buildings in a wilderness. We are now +trying the same experiment at Ottawa, in Canada, having turned our +back upon Montreal in dudgeon. The site of Ottawa is more interesting +than that of Washington, but I doubt whether the experiment will be +more successful. A new town for art, fashion, and politics has been +built at Munich, and there it seems to answer the expectation of the +builders; but at Munich there is an old city as well, and commerce +had already got some considerable hold on the spot before the new +town was added to it.</p> + +<p>The streets of Washington, such as exist, are all broad. Throughout +the town there are open spaces,—spaces, I mean, intended to be open +by the plan laid down for the city. At the present moment it is +almost all open space. There is also a certain nobility about the +proposed dimensions of the avenues and squares. Desirous of praising +it in some degree, I can say that the design is grand. The thing +done, however, falls so infinitely short of that design, that nothing +but disappointment is felt. And I fear that there is no look-out into +the future which can justify a hope that the design will be +fulfilled. It is therefore a melancholy place. The society into which +one falls there consists mostly of persons who are not permanently +resident in the capital; but of those who were permanent residents I +found none who spoke of their city with affection. The men and women +of Boston think that the sun shines nowhere else;—and Boston Common +is very pleasant. The New Yorkers believe in Fifth Avenue with an +unswerving faith; and Fifth Avenue is calculated to inspire a faith. +Philadelphia to a Philadelphian is the centre of the universe, and +the progress of Philadelphia, perhaps, justifies the partiality. The +same thing may be said of Chicago, of Buffalo, and of Baltimore. But +the same thing cannot be said in any degree of Washington. They who +belong to it turn up their noses at it. They feel that they live +surrounded by a failure. Its grand names are as yet false, and none +of the efforts made have hitherto been successful. Even in winter, +when Congress is sitting, Washington is melancholy;—but Washington +in summer must surely be the saddest spot on earth.</p> + +<p>There are six principal public buildings in Washington, as to which +no expense seems to have been spared, and in the construction of +which a certain amount of success has been obtained. In most of these +this success has been more or less marred by an independent deviation +from recognized rules of architectural taste. These are the Capitol, +the Post-office, the Patent-office, the Treasury, the President's +house, and the Smithsonian Institute. The five first are Grecian, and +the last in Washington is called—Romanesque. Had I been left to +classify it by my own unaided lights, I should have called it bastard +Gothic.</p> + +<p>The Capitol is by far the most imposing; and though there is much +about it with which I cannot but find fault, it certainly is +imposing. The present building was, I think, commenced in 1815, the +former Capitol having been destroyed by the English in the war of +1812-13. It was then finished according to the original plan, with a +fine portico and well-proportioned pediment above it,—looking to the +east. The outer flight of steps, leading up to this from the eastern +approach, is good and in excellent taste. The expanse of the building +to the right and left, as then arranged, was well proportioned, and, +as far as we can now judge, the then existing dome was well +proportioned also. As seen from the east the original building must +have been in itself very fine. The stone is beautiful, being bright +almost as marble, and I do not know that there was any great +architectural defect to offend the eye. The figures in the pediment +are mean. There is now in the Capitol a group apparently prepared for +a pediment, which is by no means mean. I was informed that they were +intended for this position; but they, on the other hand, are too good +for such a place, and are also too numerous. This set of statues is +by Crawford. Most of them are well known, and they are very fine. +They now stand within the old chamber of the Representative House, +and the pity is, that if elevated to such a position as that +indicated, they can never be really seen. There are models of them +all at West Point, and some of them I have seen at other places in +marble. The Historical Society at New York has one or two of them. In +and about the front of the Capitol there are other efforts of +sculpture,—imposing in their size, and assuming, if not affecting, +much in the attitudes chosen. Statuary at Washington runs too much on +two subjects, which are repeated perhaps almost ad nauseam; one is +that of a stiff, steady-looking, healthy, but ugly individual, with a +square jaw and big jowl, which represents the great General; he does +not prepossess the beholder, because he appears to be thoroughly +ill-natured. And the other represents a melancholy, weak figure +without any hair, but often covered with feathers, and is intended to +typify the red Indian. The red Indian is generally supposed to be +receiving comfort; but it is manifest that he never enjoys the +comfort ministered to him. There is a gigantic statue of Washington, +by Greenough, out in the grounds in front of the building. The figure +is seated and holding up one of its arms towards the city. There is +about it a kind of weighty magnificence; but it is stiff, ungainly, +and altogether without life.</p> + +<p>But the front of the original building is certainly grand. The +architect who designed it must have had skill, taste, and nobility of +conception; but even this was spoilt, or rather wasted, by the fact +that the front is made to look upon nothing, and is turned from the +city. It is as though the <i>façade</i> of +the London Post-office had been +made to face the Goldsmiths' Hall. The Capitol stands upon the side +of a hill, the front occupying a much higher position than the back; +consequently they who enter it from the back—and everybody does so +enter it—are first called on to rise to the level of the lower floor +by a stiff ascent of exterior steps, which are in no way grand or +imposing, and then, having entered by a mean back-door, are instantly +obliged to ascend again by another flight,—by stairs sufficiently +appropriate to a back entrance, but altogether unfitted for the chief +approach to such a building. It may, of course, be said that persons +who are particular in such matters should go in at the front door and +not at the back; but one must take these things as one finds them. +The entrance by which the Capitol is approached is such as I have +described. There are mean little brick chimneys at the left hand as +one walks in, attached to modern bakeries which have been constructed +in the basement for the use of the soldiers; and there is on the +other hand the road by which waggons find their way to the +underground region with fuel, stationery, and other matters desired +by senators and representatives,—and at present by bakers also.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the front I have spoken of it as it was originally +designed and built. Since that period very heavy wings have been +added to the pile;—wings so heavy that they are or seem to be much +larger than the original structure itself. This, to my thinking, has +destroyed the symmetry of the whole. The wings, which in themselves +are by no means devoid of beauty, are joined to the centre by +passages so narrow that from exterior points of view the light can be +seen through them. This robs the mass of all oneness, of all entirety +as a whole, and gives a scattered straggling appearance where there +should be a look of massiveness and integrity. The dome also has been +raised, a double drum having been given to it. This is unfinished and +should not therefore yet be judged; but I cannot think that the +increased height will be an improvement. This again, to my eyes, +appears to be straggling rather than massive. At a distance it +commands attention, and to one journeying through the desert places +of the city gives that idea of Palmyra which I have before mentioned.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, and in spite of all that I have said, I have had +pleasure in walking backwards and forwards, and through the grounds +which lie before the eastern front of the Capitol. The space for the +view is ample, and the thing to be seen has points which are very +grand. If the Capitol were finished and all Washington were built +around it, no man would say that the house in which Congress sat +disgraced the city.</p> + +<p>Going west, but not due west, from the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue +stretches in a right line to the Treasury Chambers. The distance is +beyond a mile, and men say, scornfully, that the two buildings have +been put so far apart in order to save the Secretaries who sit in the +bureaux from a too rapid influx of members of Congress. This +statement I by no means indorse; but it is undoubtedly the fact that +both senators and representatives are very diligent in their calls +upon gentlemen high in office. I have been present on some such +occasions, and it has always seemed to me that questions of patronage +have been paramount. This reach of Pennsylvania Avenue is the quarter +for the best shops of Washington,—that is to say, the frequented +side of it is so,—that side which is on your right as you leave the +Capitol. Of the other side the world knows nothing. And very bad +shops they are. I doubt whether there be any town in the world at all +equal in importance to Washington, which is in such respects so ill +provided. The shops are bad and dear. In saying this I am guided by +the opinions of all whom I heard speak on the subject. The same thing +was told me of the hotels. Hearing that the city was very full at the +time of my visit—full to overflowing—I had obtained private rooms +through a friend before I went there. Had I not done so, I might have +lain in the streets, or have made one with three or four others in a +small room at some third-rate inn. There had never been so great a +throng in the town. I am bound to say that my friend did well for me. +I found myself put up at the house of one Wormley, a coloured man, in +I Street, to whose attention I can recommend any Englishman who may +chance to want quarters in Washington. He has an hotel on one side of +the street, and private lodging-houses on the other in which I found +myself located. From what I heard of the hotels I conceived myself to +be greatly in luck. Willard's is the chief of these, and the +everlasting crowd and throng of men with which the halls and passages +of the house were always full, certainly did not seem to promise +either privacy or comfort. But then there are places in which privacy +and comfort are not expected,—are hardly even desired,—and +Washington is one of them.</p> + +<p>The Post-office and the Patent-office lie a little away from +Pennsylvania Avenue in F Street, and are opposite to each other. The +Post-office is certainly a very graceful building. It is square, and +hardly can be said to have any settled front or any grand entrance. +It is not approached by steps, but stands flush on the ground, alike +on each of the four sides. It is ornamented with Corinthian +pilasters, but is not over ornamented. It is certainly a structure +creditable to any city. The streets around it are all unfinished, and +it is approached through seas of mud and sloughs of despond, which +have been contrived, as I imagine, to lessen, if possible, the crowd +of callers, and lighten in this way the overtasked officials within. +That side by which the public in general were supposed to approach +was, during my sojourn, always guarded by vast mountains of +flour-barrels. Looking up at the windows of the building I perceived +also that barrels were piled within, and then I knew that the +Post-office had become a provision depot for the army. The official +arrangements here for the public were so bad as to be absolutely +barbarous. I feel some remorse in saying this, for I was myself +treated with the utmost courtesy by gentlemen holding high positions +in the office,—to which I was specially attracted by my own +connection with the Post-office in England. But I do not think that +such courtesy should hinder me from telling what I saw that was +bad,—seeing that it would not hinder me from telling what I saw that +was good. In Washington there is but one Post-office. There are no +iron pillars or wayside letter-boxes, as are to be found in other +towns of the Union;—no subsidiary offices at which stamps can be +bought and letters posted. The distances of the city are very great, +the means of transit through the city very limited, the dirt of the +city ways unrivalled in depth and tenacity; and yet there is but one +Post-office. Nor is there any established system of letter-carriers. +To those who desire it, letters are brought out and delivered by +carriers who charge a separate porterage for that service; but the +rule is that letters shall be delivered from the window. For +strangers this is of course a necessity of their position; and I +found that when once I had left instructions that my letters should +be delivered, those instructions were carefully followed. Indeed +nothing could exceed the civility of the officials within;—but so +also nothing can exceed the barbarity of the arrangements without. +The purchase of stamps I found to be utterly impracticable. They were +sold at a window in a corner, at which newspapers were also +delivered, to which there was no regular ingress, and from which +there was no egress. It would generally be deeply surrounded by a +crowd of muddy soldiers, who would wait there patiently till time +should enable them to approach the window. The delivery of letters +was almost more tedious, though in that there was a method. The +aspirants stood in a long line, <i>en cue</i>, as we are told by Carlyle +that the bread-seekers used to approach the bakers' shops at Paris +during the Revolution. This "cue" would sometimes project out into +the street. The work inside was done very slowly. The clerk had no +facility, by use of a desk or otherwise, for running through the +letters under the initials denominated, but turned letter by letter +through his hand. To one questioner out of ten would a letter be +given. It no doubt may be said in excuse for this that the presence +of the army round Washington caused at that period special +inconvenience; and that plea should of course be taken, were it not +that a very trifling alteration in the management within would have +remedied all the inconvenience. As a building the Washington +Post-office is very good; as the centre of a most complicated and +difficult department, I believe it to be well managed: but as regards +the special accommodation given by it to the city in which it stands, +much cannot, I think, be said in its favour.</p> + +<p>Opposite to that which is, I presume, the back of the Post-office, +stands the Patent-office. This also is a grand building, with a fine +portico of Doric pillars at each of its three fronts. These are +approached by flights of steps, more gratifying to the eye than to +the legs. The whole structure is massive and grand, and, if the +streets round it were finished, would be imposing. The utilitarian +spirit of the nation has, however, done much toward marring the +appearance of the building, by piercing it with windows altogether +unsuited to it, both in number and size. The walls, even under the +porticoes, have been so pierced, in order that the whole space might +be utilized without loss of light; and the effect is very mean. The +windows are small and without ornament,—something like a London +window of the time of George III. The effect produced by a dozen such +at the back of a noble Doric porch, looking down among the pillars, +may be imagined.</p> + +<p>In the interior of this building the Minister of the Interior holds +his court, and of course also the Commissioners of Patents. Here is, +in accordance with the name of the building, a museum of models of +all patents taken out. I wandered through it, gazing with listless +eye, now upon this, and now upon that; but to me, in my ignorance, it +was no better than a large toy-shop. When I saw an ancient dusty +white hat, with some peculiar appendage to it which was +unintelligible, it was no more to me than any other old white hat. +But had I been a man of science, what a tale it might have told! +Wandering about through the Patent-office I also found a hospital for +soldiers. A British officer was with me who pronounced it to be, in +its kind, very good. At any rate it was sweet, airy, and large. In +these days the soldiers had got hold of everything.</p> + +<p>The Treasury Chambers is as yet an unfinished building. The front to +the south has been completed; but that to the north has not been +built. Here at the north stands as yet the old Secretary of State's +office. This is to come down, and the Secretary of State is to be +located in the new building, which will be added to the Treasury. +This edifice will probably strike strangers more forcibly than any +other in the town, both from its position and from its own character. +It stands with its side to Pennsylvania Avenue, but the avenue here +has turned round, and runs due north and south, having taken a twist, +so as to make way for the Treasury and for the President's house, +through both of which it must run had it been carried straight on +throughout. These public offices stand with their side to the street, +and the whole length is ornamented with an exterior row of Ionic +columns raised high above the footway. This is perhaps the prettiest +thing in the city, and when the front to the north has been +completed, the effect will be still better. The granite monoliths +which have been used, and which are to be used, in this building are +very massive. As one enters by the steps to the south there are two +flat stones, one on each side of the ascent, the surface of each of +which is about 20 feet by 18. The columns are, I think, all +monoliths. Of those which are still to be erected, and which now lie +about in the neighbouring streets, I measured one or two—one which +was still in the rough I found to be 32 feet long by 5 feet broad, +and 4½ deep. These granite blocks have been brought to Washington +from the State of Maine. The finished front of this building, looking +down to the Potomac, is very good; but to my eyes this also has been +much injured by the rows of windows which look out from the building +into the space of the portico.</p> + +<p>The President's house—or the White House as it is now called all the +world over—is a handsome mansion fitted for the chief officer of a +great Republic, and nothing more. I think I may say that we have +private houses in London considerably larger. It is neat and pretty, +and with all its immediate outside belongings calls down no adverse +criticism. It faces on to a small garden, which seems to be always +accessible to the public, and opens out upon that everlasting +Pennsylvania Avenue, which has now made another turn. Here in front +of the White House is President's Square, as it is generally called. +The technical name is, I believe, La Fayette Square. The houses round +it are few in number,—not exceeding three or four on each side, but +they are among the best in Washington, and the whole place is neat +and well kept. President's Square is certainly the most attractive +part of the city. The garden of the square is always open, and does +not seem to suffer from any public ill-usage; by which circumstance I +am again led to suggest that the gardens of our London squares might +be thrown open in the same way. In the centre of this one at +Washington, immediately facing the President's house, is an +equestrian statue of General Jackson. It is very bad; but that it is +not nearly as bad as it might be is proved by another equestrian +statue,—of General Washington,—erected in the centre of a small +garden-plat at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, near the bridge +leading to Georgetown. Of all the statues on horseback which I ever +saw, either in marble or bronze, this is by far the worst and most +ridiculous. The horse is most absurd, but the man sitting on the +horse is manifestly drunk. I should think the time must come when +this figure at any rate will be removed.</p> + +<p>I did not go inside the President's house, not having had while at +Washington an opportunity of paying my personal respects to Mr. +Lincoln. I had been told that this was to be done without trouble, +but when I inquired on the subject I found that this was not exactly +the case. I believe there are times when anybody may walk into the +President's house without an introduction; but that, I take it, is +not considered to be the proper way of doing the work. I found that +something like a favour would be incurred, or that some disagreeable +trouble would be given, if I made a request to be presented,—and +therefore I left Washington without seeing the great man.</p> + +<p>The President's house is nice to look at, but it is built on marshy +ground, not much above the level of the Potomac, and is very +unhealthy. I was told that all who live there become subject to fever +and ague, and that few who now live there have escaped it altogether. +This comes of choosing the site of a new city, and decreeing that it +shall be built on this or on that spot. Large cities, especially in +these latter days, do not collect themselves in unhealthy places. Men +desert such localities,—or at least do not congregate at them when +their character is once known. But the poor President cannot desert +the White House. He must make the most of the residence which the +nation has prepared for him.</p> + +<p>Of the other considerable public building of Washington, called the +Smithsonian Institution, I have said that its style was bastard +Gothic; by this I mean that its main attributes are Gothic, but that +liberties have been taken with it, which, whether they may injure its +beauty or no, certainly are subversive of architectural purity. It is +built of red stone, and is not ugly in itself. There is a very nice +Norman porch to it, and little bits of Lombard Gothic have been well +copied from Cologne. But windows have been fitted in with stilted +arches, of which the stilts seem to crack and bend, so narrow are +they and so high. And then the towers with high pinnacled roofs are a +mistake,—unless indeed they be needed to give to the whole structure +that name of Romanesque which it has assumed. The building is used +for museums and lectures, and was given to the city by one James +Smithson, an Englishman. I cannot say that the city of Washington +seems to be grateful, for all to whom I spoke on the subject hinted +that the Institution was a failure. It is to be remarked that nobody +in Washington is proud of Washington, or of anything in it. If the +Smithsonian Institution were at New York or at Boston, one would have +a different story to tell.</p> + +<p>There has been an attempt made to raise at Washington a vast obelisk +to the memory of Washington,—the first in war and first in peace, as +the country is proud to call him. This obelisk is a fair type of the +city. It is unfinished,—not a third of it having as yet been +erected,—and in all human probability ever will remain so. If +finished it would be the highest monument of its kind standing on the +face of the globe,—and yet, after all, what would it be even then as +compared with one of the great pyramids? Modern attempts cannot bear +comparison with those of the old world in simple vastness. But in +lieu of simple vastness, the modern world aims to achieve either +beauty or utility. By the Washington monument, if completed, neither +would be achieved. An obelisk with the proportions of a needle may be +very graceful; but an obelisk which requires an expanse of +flat-roofed, sprawling buildings for its base, and of which the shaft +shall be as big as a cathedral tower, cannot be graceful. At present +some third portion of the shaft has been built, and there it stands. +No one has a word to say for it. No one thinks that money will ever +again be subscribed for its completion. I saw somewhere a box of +plate-glass kept for contributions for this purpose, and looking in +perceived that two half-dollar pieces had been given;—but both of +them were bad. I was told also that the absolute foundation of the +edifice is bad;—that the ground, which is near the river and swampy, +would not bear the weight intended to be imposed on it.</p> + +<p>A sad and saddening spot was that marsh, as I wandered down on it all +alone one Sunday afternoon. The ground was frozen and I could walk +dry-shod, but there was not a blade of grass. Around me on all sides +were cattle in great numbers—steers and big oxen—lowing in their +hunger for a meal. They were beef for the army, and never again I +suppose would it be allowed to them to fill their big maws and chew +the patient cud. There, on the brown, ugly, undrained field, within +easy sight of the President's house, stood the useless, shapeless, +graceless pile of stones. It was as though I were looking on the +genius of the city. It was vast, pretentious, bold, boastful with a +loud voice, already taller by many heads than other obelisks, but +nevertheless still in its infancy,—ugly, unpromising, and false. The +founder of the monument had said, Here shall be the obelisk of the +world! and the founder of the city had thought of his child somewhat +in the same strain. It is still possible that both city and monument +shall be completed; but at the present moment nobody seems to believe +in the one or in the other. For myself I have much faith in the +American character, but I cannot believe either in Washington city or +in the Washington monument. The boast made has been too loud, and the +fulfilment yet accomplished has been too small!</p> + +<p>Have I as yet said that Washington was dirty in that winter of +1861-1862? Or, I should rather ask, have I made it understood that in +walking about Washington one waded as deep in mud as one does in +floundering through an ordinary ploughed field in November? There +were parts of Pennsylvania Avenue which would have been considered +heavy ground by most hunting-men, and through some of the remoter +streets none but light weights could have lived long. This was the +state of the town when I left it in the middle of January. On my +arrival in the middle of December, everything was in a cloud of dust. +One walked through an atmosphere of floating mud; for the dirt was +ponderous and thick, and very palpable in its atoms. Then came a +severe frost and a little snow; and if one did not fall while +walking, it was very well. After that we had the thaw; and Washington +assumed its normal winter condition. I must say that, during the +whole of this time, the atmosphere was to me exhilarating; but I was +hardly out of the doctor's hands while I was there, and he did not +support my theory as to the goodness of the air. "It is poisoned by +the soldiers," he said, "and everybody is ill." But then my doctor +was perhaps a little tinged with southern proclivities.</p> + +<p>On the Virginian side of the Potomac stands a country-house called +Arlington Heights, from which there is a fine view down upon the +city. Arlington Heights is a beautiful spot,—having all the +attractions of a fine park in our country. It is covered with grand +timber. The ground is varied and broken, and the private roads about +sweep here into a dell and then up a brae-side, as roads should do in +such a domain. Below it was the Potomac, and immediately on the other +side stands the city of Washington. Any city seen thus is graceful; +and the white stones of the big buildings when the sun gleams on +them, showing the distant rows of columns, seem to tell something of +great endeavour and of achieved success. It is the place from whence +Washington should be seen by those who wish to think well of the +present city and of its future prosperity. But is it not the case +that every city is beautiful from a distance?</p> + +<p>The house at Arlington Heights is picturesque, but neither large nor +good. It has before it a high Greek colonnade, which seems to be +almost bigger than the house itself. Had such been built in a +city,—and many such a portico does stand in cities through the +States,—it would be neither picturesque nor graceful; but here it is +surrounded by timber, and as the columns are seen through the trees, +they gratify the eye rather than offend it. The place did belong, and +as I think does still belong, to the family of the Lees,—if not +already confiscated. General Lee, who is or would be the present +owner, bears high command in the army of the Confederalists, and +knows well by what tenure he holds, or is likely to hold, his family +property. The family were friends of General Washington, whose seat, +Mount Vernon, stands about twelve miles lower down the river; and +here, no doubt, Washington often stood, looking on the site he had +chosen. If his spirit could stand there now and look around upon the +masses of soldiers by which his capital is surrounded, how would it +address the city of his hopes? When he saw that every foot of the +neighbouring soil was desecrated by a camp, or torn into loathsome +furrows of mud by cannon and army waggons,—that agriculture was +gone, and that every effort both of North and South was concentrated +on the art of killing; when he saw that this was done on the very +spot chosen by himself for the centre temple of an everlasting union, +what would he then say as to that boast made on his behalf by his +countrymen that he was first in war and first in peace? Washington +was a great man, and I believe a good man. I, at any rate, will not +belittle him. I think that he had the firmness and audacity necessary +for a revolutionary leader, that he had honesty to preserve him from +the temptations of ambition and ostentation, and that he had the good +sense to be guided in civil matters by men who had studied the laws +of social life and the theories of free government. He was <i>justus et +tenax propositi</i>; and in periods that might well have dismayed a +smaller man, he feared neither the throne to which he opposed +himself, nor the changing voices of the fellow-citizens for whose +welfare he had fought. But sixty or seventy years will not suffice to +give to a man the fame of having been first among all men. Washington +did much, and I for one do not believe that his work will perish. But +I have always found it difficult,—I may say impossible,—to sound +his praises in his own land. Let us suppose that a courteous +Frenchman ventures an opinion among Englishmen that Wellington was a +great general, would he feel disposed to go on with his eulogium when +encountered on two or three sides at once with such observations as +the following:—"I should rather calculate he was; about the first +that ever did live or ever will live. Why, he whipped your Napoleon +everlasting whenever he met him. He whipped everybody out of the +field. There warn't anybody ever lived was able to stand nigh him, +and there won't come any like him again. Sir, I guess our Wellington +never had his likes on your side of the water. Such men can't grow in +a down-trodden country of slaves and paupers." Under such +circumstances the Frenchman would probably be shut up. And when I +strove to speak of Washington I generally found myself shut up also.</p> + +<p>Arlington Heights, when I was at Washington, was the head-quarters of +General M'Dowell, the General to whom is attributed—I believe most +wrongfully—the loss of the battle of Bull's Run. The whole place was +then one camp. The fences had disappeared. The gardens were trodden +into mud. The roads had been cut to pieces, and new tracks made +everywhere through the grounds. But the timber still remained. Some +no doubt had fallen, but enough stood for the ample ornamentation of +the place. I saw placards up, prohibiting the destruction of the +trees, and it is to be hoped that they have been spared. Very little +in this way has been spared in the country all around.</p> + +<p>Mount Vernon, Washington's own residence, stands close over the +Potomac, above six miles below Alexandria. It will be understood that +the capital is on the eastern, or Maryland side of the river, and +that Arlington Heights, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon are in Virginia. +The river Potomac divided the two old colonies, or States as they +afterwards became; but when Washington was to be built, a territory, +said to be ten miles square, was cut out of the two States and was +called the district of Columbia. The greater portion of this district +was taken from Maryland, and on that the city was built. It comprised +the pleasant town of Georgetown, which is now a suburb—and the only +suburb—of Washington. The portion of the district on the Virginian +side included Arlington Heights, and went so far down the river as to +take in the Virginian city of Alexandria. This was the extreme +western point of the district; but since that arrangement was made, +the State of Virginia petitioned to have their portion of Columbia +back again, and this petition was granted. Now it is felt that the +land on both sides of the river should belong to the city, and the +Government is anxious to get back the Virginian section. The city and +the immediate vicinity are freed from all State allegiance, and are +under the immediate rule of the United States Government,—having of +course its own municipality; but the inhabitants have no political +power, as power is counted in the States. They vote for no political +officer, not even for the President, and return no member to +Congress, either as a senator or as a representative. Mount Vernon +was never within the district of Columbia.</p> + +<p>When I first made inquiry on the subject I was told that Mount Vernon +at that time was not to be reached;—that though it was not in the +hands of the rebels, neither was it in the hands of Northerners, and +that therefore strangers could not go there; but this, though it was +told to me and others by those who should have known the facts, was +not the case. I had gone down the river with a party of ladies, and +we were opposite to Mount Vernon; but on that occasion we were +assured we could not land. The rebels, we were told, would certainly +seize the ladies, and carry them off into Secessia. On hearing which +the ladies were of course doubly anxious to be landed. But our stern +commander, for we were on a Government boat, would not listen to +their prayers, but carried us instead on board the "Pensacola," a +sloop-of-war which was now lying in the river, ready to go to sea, +and ready also to run the gauntlet of the rebel batteries which lined +the Virginian shore of the river for many miles down below Alexandria +and Mount Vernon. A sloop-of-war in these days means a large +man-of-war, the guns of which are so big that they only stand on one +deck, whereas a frigate would have them on two decks, and a +line-of-battle ship on three. Of line-of-battle ships there will, I +suppose, soon be none, as the "Warrior" is only a frigate. We went +over the "Pensacola," and I must say she was very nice, pretty, and +clean. I have always found American sailors on their men-of-war to be +clean and nice-looking,—as much so I should say as our own; but +nothing can be dirtier, more untidy, or apparently more ill-preserved +than all the appurtenances of their soldiers.</p> + +<p>We landed also on this occasion at Alexandria, and saw as melancholy +and miserable a town as the mind of man can conceive. Its ordinary +male population, counting by the voters, is 1500, and of these 700 +were in the southern army. The place had been made a hospital for +northern soldiers, and no doubt the site for that purpose had been +well chosen. But let any woman imagine what would be the feelings of +her life while living in a town used as a hospital for the enemies +against whom her absent husband was then fighting! Her own man would +be away ill,—wounded, dying, for what she knew, without the comfort +of any hospital attendance, without physic, with no one to comfort +him; but those she hated, with a hatred much keener than his, were +close to her hand, using some friend's house that had been forcibly +taken, crawling out into the sun under her eyes, taking the bread +from her mouth! Life in Alexandria at this time must have been sad +enough. The people were all secessionists, but the town was held by +the northern party. Through the lines, into Virginia, they could not +go at all. Up to Washington they could not go without a military +pass, not to be obtained without some cause given. All trade was at +an end. In no town at that time was trade very flourishing; but here +it was killed altogether,—except that absolutely necessary trade of +bread. Who would buy boots or coats, or want new saddles, or waste +money on books, in such days as these, in such a town as Alexandria? +And then out of 1500 men, one-half had gone to fight the southern +battles! Among the women of Alexandria secession would have found but +few opponents.</p> + +<p>It was here that a hot-brained young man, named Ellsworth, was killed +in the early days of the rebellion. He was a colonel in the northern +volunteer army, and on entering Alexandria found a secession flag +flying at the chief hotel. Instead of sending up a corporal's guard +to remove it, he rushed up and pulled it down with his own hand. As +he descended, the landlord shot him dead, and one of his soldiers +shot the landlord dead. It was a pity that so brave a lad, who had +risen so high, should fall so vainly; but they have made a hero of +him in America;—have inscribed his name on marble monuments, and +counted him up among their great men. In all this their mistake is +very great. It is bad for a country to have no names worthy of +monumental brass; but it is worse for a country to have monumental +brasses covered with names which have never been made worthy of such +honour. Ellsworth had shown himself to be brave and foolish. Let his +folly be pardoned on the score of his courage, and there, I think, +should have been an end of it.</p> + +<p>I found afterwards that Mount Vernon was accessible, and I rode +thither with some officers from the staff of General Heintzleman, +whose outside pickets were stationed beyond the old place. I +certainly should not have been well pleased had I been forced to +leave the country without seeing the house in which Washington had +lived and died. Till lately this place was owned and inhabited by one +of the family, a Washington, descended from a brother of the +General's; but it has now become the property of the country, under +the auspices of Mr. Everett, by whose exertions was raised the money +with which it was purchased. It is a long house, of two stories, +built, I think, chiefly of wood, with a verandah, or rather long +portico, attached to the front, which looks upon the river. There are +two wings, or sets of outhouses, containing the kitchen and servants' +rooms, which were joined by open wooden verandahs to the main +building; but one of these verandahs has gone, under the influence of +years. By these a semicircular sweep is formed before the front door, +which opens away from the river, and towards the old prim gardens, in +which, we were told, General Washington used to take much delight. +There is nothing very special about the house. Indeed, as a house, it +would now be found comfortless and inconvenient. But the ground falls +well down to the river, and the timber, if not fine, is plentiful and +picturesque. The chief interest of the place, however, is in the tomb +of Washington and his wife. It must be understood that it was a +common practice throughout the States to make a family burying-ground +in any secluded spot on the family property. I have not unfrequently +come across these in my rambles, and in Virginia I have encountered +small, unpretending gravestones under a shady elm, dated as lately as +eight or ten years back. At Mount Vernon there is now a cemetery of +the Washington family; and there, in an open vault—a vault open, but +guarded by iron grating—is the great man's tomb, and by his side the +tomb of Martha his wife. As I stood there alone, with no one by to +irritate me by assertions of the man's absolute supremacy, I +acknowledged that I had come to the final resting-place of a great +and good man,—of a man whose patriotism was, I believe, an honest +feeling, untinged by any personal ambition of a selfish nature. That +he was pre-eminently a successful man may have been due chiefly to +the excellence of his cause, and the blood and character of the +people who put him forward as their right arm in their contest; but +that he did not mar that success by arrogance, or destroy the +brightness of his own name by personal aggrandisement, is due to a +noble nature and to the calm individual excellence of the man.</p> + +<p>Considering the circumstances and history of the place, the position +of Mount Vernon, as I saw it, was very remarkable. It lay exactly +between the lines of the two armies. The pickets of the Northern army +had been extended beyond it, not improbably with the express +intention of keeping a spot so hallowed within the power of the +northern Government. But since the war began it had been in the hands +of the seceders. In fact, it stood there in the middle of the +battle-field, on the very line of division between loyalism and +secession. And this was the spot which Washington had selected as the +heart and centre, and safest rallying homestead of the united nation +which he left behind him. But Washington, when he resolved to found +his capital on the banks of the Potomac, knew nothing of the glories +of the Mississippi. He did not dream of the speedy addition to his +already gathered constellations of those Western stars, of Wisconsin, +Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa; nor did he dream of Texas conquered, +Louisiana purchased, and Missouri and Kansas rescued from the +wilderness.</p> + +<p>I have said that Washington was at that time,—the Christmas of +1861-1862,—a melancholy place. This was partly owing to the +despondent tone in which so many Americans then spoke of their own +affairs. It was not that the northern men thought that they were to +be beaten, or that the southern men feared that things were going bad +with their party across the river; but that nobody seemed to have any +faith in anybody. Maclellan had been put up as the true man—exalted +perhaps too quickly, considering the limited opportunities for +distinguishing himself which fortune had thrown in his way; but now +belief in Maclellan seemed to be slipping away. One felt that it was +so from day to day, though it was impossible to define how or whence +the feeling came. And then the character of the ministry fared still +worse in public estimation. That Lincoln, the President, was honest, +and that Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, was able, was the only +good that one heard spoken. At this time two Jonahs were specially +pointed out as necessary sacrifices, by whose immersion into the +comfortless ocean of private life the ship might perhaps be saved. +These were Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War, and Mr. Welles, the +Secretary of the Navy. It was said that Lincoln, when pressed to rid +his Cabinet of Cameron, had replied, that when a man was crossing a +stream the moment was hardly convenient for changing his horse; but +it came to that at last, that he found he must change his horse, even +in the very sharpest run of the river. Better that than sit an animal +on whose exertions he knew that he could not trust. So Mr. Cameron +went, and Mr. Stanton became Secretary at War in his place. But Mr. +Cameron, though put out of the Cabinet, was to be saved from absolute +disgrace by being sent as Minister to Russia. I do not know that it +would become me here to repeat the accusations made against Mr. +Cameron, but it had long seemed to me that the maintenance in such a +position, at such a time, of a gentleman who had to sustain such a +universal absence of public confidence, must have been most +detrimental to the army and to the Government.</p> + +<p>Men whom one met in Washington were not unhappy about the state of +things, as I had seen men unhappy in the North and in the West. They +were mainly indifferent, but with that sort of indifference which +arises from a break down of faith in anything. "There was the army! +Yes, the army! But what an army! Nobody obeyed anybody. Nobody did +anything! Nobody thought of advancing! There were, perhaps, two +hundred thousand men assembled round Washington; and now the effort +of supplying them with food and clothing was as much as could be +accomplished! But the contractors, in the meantime, were becoming +rich. And then as to the Government! Who trusted it? Who would put +their faith in Seward and Cameron? Cameron was now gone, it was true; +and in that way the whole of the Cabinet would soon be broken up. As +to Congress, what could Congress do? Ask questions which no one would +care to answer, and finally get itself packed up and sent home." The +President and the constitution fared no better in men's mouths. The +former did nothing,—neither harm nor good; and as for the latter, it +had broken down and shown itself to be inefficient. So men ate, and +drank, and laughed, waiting till chaos should come, secure in the +belief that the atoms into which their world would resolve itself, +would connect themselves again in some other form without trouble on +their part.</p> + +<p>And at Washington I found no strong feeling against England and +English conduct towards America. "We men of the world," a Washington +man might have said, "know very well that everybody must take care of +himself first. We are very good friends with you,—of course, and are +very glad to see you at our table whenever you come across the water; +but as for rejoicing at your joys, or expecting you to sympathize +with our sorrows, we know the world too well for that. We are +splitting into pieces, and of course that is gain to you. Take +another cigar." This polite, fashionable, and certainly comfortable +way of looking at the matter had never been attained at New York or +Philadelphia, at Boston or Chicago. The northern provincial world of +the States had declared to itself that those who were not with it +were against it; that its neighbours should be either friends or +foes; that it would understand nothing of neutrality. This was often +mortifying to me, but I think I liked it better on the whole than the +<i>laisser-aller</i> indifference of Washington.</p> + +<p>Everybody acknowledged that society in Washington had been almost +destroyed by the loss of the southern half of the usual sojourners in +the city. The senators and members of Government, who heretofore had +come from the southern States, had no doubt spent more money in the +capital than their northern brethren. They and their families had +been more addicted to social pleasures. They are the descendants of +the old English Cavaliers, whereas the northern men have come from +the old English Roundheads. Or if, as may be the case, the blood of +the races has now been too well mixed to allow of this being said +with absolute truth, yet something of the manners of the old +forefathers has been left. The southern gentleman is more genial, +less dry,—I will not say more hospitable, but more given to enjoy +hospitality than his northern brother; and this difference is quite +as strong with the women as with the men. It may therefore be +understood that secession would be very fatal to the society of +Washington. It was not only that the members of Congress were not +there. As to very many of the representatives, it may be said that +they do not belong sufficiently to Washington to make a part of its +society. It is not every representative that is, perhaps, qualified +to do so. But secession had taken away from Washington those who held +property in the South—who were bound to the South by any ties, +whether political or other; who belonged to the South by blood, +education, and old habits. In very many cases—nay, in most such +cases—it had been necessary that a man should select whether he +would be a friend to the South, and therefore a rebel; or else an +enemy to the South, and therefore untrue to all the predilections and +sympathies of his life. Here has been the hardship. For such people +there has been no neutrality possible. Ladies even have not been able +to profess themselves simply anxious for peace and goodwill, and so +to remain tranquil. They who are not for me are against me, has been +spoken by one side and by the other. And I suppose that in all civil +war it is necessary that it should be so. I heard of various cases in +which father and son had espoused different sides in order that +property might be retained both in the North and in the South. Under +such circumstances it may be supposed that society in Washington +would be considerably cut up. All this made the place somewhat +melancholy.</p> + + +<p><a id="c2"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> +<h4>CONGRESS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>In the interior of the Capitol much space is at present wasted, but +this arises from the fact of great additions to the original plan +having been made. The two chambers,—that of the Senate and of the +Representatives, are in the two new wings, on the middle, or what we +call the first-floor. The entrance is made under a dome, to a large +circular hall, which is hung around with surely the worst pictures by +which a nation ever sought to glorify its own deeds. There are yards +of paintings at Versailles which are bad enough; but there is nothing +at Versailles comparable in villany to the huge daubs which are +preserved in this hall at the Capitol. It is strange that even +self-laudatory patriotism should desire the perpetuation of such +rubbish. When I was there the new dome was still in progress, and an +ugly column of woodwork, required for internal support and affording +a staircase to the top, stood in this hall. This of course was a +temporary and necessary evil; but even this was hung around with the +vilest of portraits.</p> + +<p>From the hall, turning to the left, if the entrance be made at the +front door, one goes to the new Chamber of Representatives, passing +through that which was the old chamber. This is now dedicated to the +exposition of various new figures by Crawford, and to the sale of +tarts and gingerbread,—of very bad tarts and gingerbread. Let that +old woman look to it, or let the House dismiss her. In fact this +chamber is now but a vestibule to a passage, a second hall as it +were, and thus thrown away. Changes probably will be made which will +bring it into some use, or some scheme of ornamentation. From this a +passage runs to the Representative Chamber, passing between those +tell-tale windows, which, looking to the right and left, proclaim the +tenuity of the building. The windows on one side, that looking to the +east or front, should, I think, be closed. The appearance, both from +the inside and from the outside, would be thus improved.</p> + +<p>The Representative Chamber itself—which of course answers to our +House of Commons—is a handsome, commodious room, admirably fitted +for the purposes required. It strikes one as rather low, but I doubt +if it were higher whether it would be better adapted for hearing. +Even at present it is not perfect in this respect as regards the +listeners in the gallery. It is a handsome, long chamber, lighted by +skylights from the roof, and is amply large enough for the number to +be accommodated. The Speaker sits opposite to the chief entrance, his +desk being fixed against the opposite wall. He is thus brought nearer +to the body of the men before him than is the case with our Speaker. +He sits at a marble table, and the clerks below him are also +accommodated with marble. Every representative has his own arm-chair, +and his own desk before it. This may be done for a house consisting +of about 240 members, but could hardly be contrived with us. These +desks are arranged in a semicircular form, or in a broad horseshoe, +and every member as he sits faces the Speaker. A score or so of +little boys are always running about the floor, ministering to the +members' wishes, carrying up petitions to the chair, bringing water +to long-winded legislators, delivering and carrying out letters, and +running with general messages. They do not seem to interrupt the +course of business, and yet they are the liveliest little boys I ever +saw. When a member claps his hands, indicating a desire for +attendance, three or four will jockey for the honour. On the whole, I +thought the little boys had a good time of it.</p> + +<p>But not so the Speaker. It seemed to me that the amount of work +falling upon the Speaker's shoulders was cruelly heavy. His voice was +always ringing in my ears, exactly as does the voice of the croupier +at a gambling-table who goes on declaring and explaining the results +of the game, and who generally does so in sharp, loud, ringing tones, +from which all interest in the proceeding itself seems to be +excluded. It was just so with the Speaker in the House of +Representatives. The debate was always full of interruptions; but on +every interruption the Speaker asked the gentleman interrupted +whether he would consent to be so treated. "The gentleman from +Indiana has the floor." "The gentleman from Ohio wishes to ask the +gentleman from Indiana a question." "The gentleman from Indiana gives +permission." "The gentleman from Ohio!"—these last words being a +summons to him of Ohio to get up and ask his question. "The gentleman +from Pennsylvania rises to order." "The gentleman from Pennsylvania +is in order." And then the House seems always to be voting, and the +Speaker is always putting the question. "The gentlemen who agree to +the amendment will say, Ay." Not a sound is heard. "The gentlemen who +oppose the amendment will say, No." Again not a sound. "The Ayes have +it," says the Speaker, and then he goes on again. All this he does +with amazing rapidity, and is always at it with the same hard, quick, +ringing, uninterested voice. The gentleman whom I saw in the chair +was very clever, and quite up to the task. But +as for <span class="nowrap">dignity—!</span> +Perhaps it might be found that any great accession of dignity would +impede the celerity of the work to be done, and that a closer copy of +the British model might not on the whole increase the efficiency of +the American machine.</p> + +<p>When any matter of real interest occasioned a vote, the ayes and noes +would be given aloud; and then, if there were a doubt arising from +the volume of sound, the Speaker would declare that the "ayes" or the +"noes" would seem to have it! And upon this a poll would be demanded. +In such cases the Speaker calls on two members, who come forth and +stand fronting each other before the chair, making a gangway. Through +this the ayes walk like sheep, the tellers giving them an +accelerating poke when they fail to go on with rapidity. Thus they +are counted, and the noes are counted in the same way. It seemed to +me that it would be very possible in a dishonest legislator to vote +twice on any subject of great interest; but it may perhaps be the +case that there are no dishonest legislators in the House of +Representatives.</p> + +<p>According to a list which I obtained, the present number of members +is 173, and there are 63 vacancies occasioned by secession. New York +returns 33 members, Pennsylvania 25, Ohio 21, Virginia 13, +Massachusetts and Indiana 11, Tennessee and Kentucky 10, South +Carolina 6, and so on, till Delaware, Kansas, and Florida return only +1 each. When the constitution was framed, Pennsylvania returned 8, +and New York only 6; whereas Virginia returned 10, and South Carolina +5. From which may be gathered the relative rate of increase in +population of the Free-soil States and the Slave States. All these +States return two senators each to the other House, Kansas sending as +many as New York. The work in the House begins at 12 noon, and is not +often carried on late into the evening. Indeed this, I think, is +never done till towards the end of the session.</p> + +<p>The Senate House is in the opposite wing of the building, the +position of the one house answering exactly to that of the other. It +is somewhat smaller, but is, as a matter of course, much less +crowded. There are 34 States, and therefore 68 seats and 68 desks +only are required. These also are arranged in a horse-shoe form, and +face the President; but there was a sad array of empty chairs when I +was in Washington, nineteen or twenty seats being vacant in +consequence of secession. In this house the Vice-President of the +United States acts as President, but has by no means so hard a job of +work as his brother on the other side of the way. Mr. Hannibal +Hamlin, from Maine, now fills this chair. I was driven, while in +Washington, to observe something amounting almost to a peculiarity in +the Christian names of the gentlemen who were then administrating the +Government of the country. Mr. Abraham Lincoln was the President, Mr. +Hannibal Hamlin the Vice-President, Mr. Galusha Grow the Speaker of +the Representatives, Mr. Salmon Chase the Secretary of the Treasury, +Mr. Caleb Smith the Attorney-General, Mr. Simon Cameron the Secretary +at War, and Mr. Gideon Welles the Secretary of the Navy.</p> + +<p>In the Senate House, as in the other house, there are very commodious +galleries for strangers, running round the entire chambers, and these +galleries are open to all the world. As with all such places in the +States, a large portion of them is appropriated to ladies. But I came +at last to find that the word lady signified a female or a decently +dressed man. Any arrangement for classes is in America impossible; +the seats intended for gentlemen must as a matter of course be open +to all men; but by giving up to the rougher sex half the amount of +accommodation nominally devoted to ladies, the desirable division is +to a certain extent made. I generally found that I could obtain +admittance to the ladies' gallery if my coat were decent and I had +gloves with me.</p> + +<p>All the adjuncts of both these chambers are rich and in good keeping. +The staircases are of marble, and the outside passages and lobbies +are noble in size and in every way convenient. One knows well the +trouble of getting into the House of Lords and House of Commons, and +the want of comfort which attends one there; and an Englishman cannot +fail to make comparisons injurious to his own country. It would not, +perhaps, be possible to welcome all the world in London as is done in +Washington, but there can be no good reason why the space given to +the public with us should not equal that given in Washington. But, so +far are we from sheltering the public, that we have made our House of +Commons so small, that it will not even hold all its own members.</p> + +<p>I had an opportunity of being present at one of their field-days in +the Senate. Slidell and Mason had just then been sent from Fort +Warren across to England in the Rinaldo. And here I may as well say +what further there is for me to say about those two heroes. I was in +Boston when they were taken, and all Boston was then full of them. I +was at Washington when they were surrendered, and at Washington for a +time their names were the only household words in vogue. To me it +had, from the first, been a matter of certainty that England would +demand the restitution of the men. I had never attempted to argue the +matter on the legal points, but I felt, as though by instinct, that +it would be so. First of all there reached us, by telegram, from Cape +Race, rumours of what the press in England was saying;—rumours of a +meeting in Liverpool, and rumours of the feeling in London. And then +the papers followed, and we got our private letters. It was some days +before we knew what was actually the demand made by Lord Palmerston's +cabinet; and during this time, through the five or six days which +were thus passed, it was clear to be seen that the American feeling +was undergoing a great change—or if not the feeling, at any rate the +purpose. Men now talked of surrendering these Commissioners as though +it were a line of conduct which Mr. Seward might find convenient; and +then men went further, and said that Mr. Seward would find any other +line of conduct very inconvenient. The newspapers, one after another, +came round. That, under all the circumstances, the States Government +behaved well in the matter no one, I think, can deny; but the +newspapers, taken as a whole, were not very consistent and, I think, +not very dignified. They had declared with throats of brass that +these men should never be surrendered to perfidious Albion; but when +it came to be understood that in all probability they would be so +surrendered, they veered round without an excuse, and spoke of their +surrender as of a thing of course. And thus, in the course of about a +week, the whole current of men's minds was turned. For myself, on my +first arrival at Washington, I felt certain that there would be war, +and was preparing myself for a quick return to England; but from the +moment that the first whisper of England's message reached us, and +that I began to hear how it was received and what men said about it, +I knew that I need not hurry myself. One met a minister here, and a +senator there, and anon some wise diplomatic functionary. By none of +these grave men would any secret be divulged; none of them had any +secret ready for divulging. But it was to be read in every look of +the eye, in every touch of the hand, and in every fall of the foot of +each of them, that Mason and Slidell would go to England.</p> + +<p>Then we had, in all the fulness of diplomatic language, Lord +Russell's demand and Mr. Seward's answer. Lord Russell's demand was +worded in language so mild, was so devoid of threat, was so free from +anger, that at the first reading it seemed to ask for nothing. It +almost disappointed by its mildness. Mr. Seward's reply, on the other +hand, by its length of argumentation, by a certain sharpness of +diction to which that gentleman is addicted in his State papers, and +by a tone of satisfaction inherent through it all, seemed to demand +more than he conceded. But, in truth, Lord Russell had demanded +everything, and the United States Government had conceded everything.</p> + +<p>I have said that the American Government behaved well in its mode of +giving the men up, and I think that so much should be allowed to them +on a review of the whole affair. That Captain Wilkes had no +instructions to seize the two men is a known fact. He did seize them +and brought them into Boston harbour, to the great delight of his +countrymen. This delight I could understand, though of course I did +not share it. One of these men had been the parent of the Fugitive +Slave Law; the other had been great in fostering the success of +filibustering. Both of them were hot secessionists, and undoubtedly +rebels. No two men on the continent were more grievous by their +antecedents and present characters to all northern feeling. It is +impossible to deny that they were rebels against the Government of +their country. That Captain Wilkes was not on this account justified +in seizing them is now a matter of history, but that the people of +the loyal States should rejoice in their seizure was a matter of +course. Wilkes was received with an ovation, which as regarded him +was ill-judged and undeserved, but which in its spirit was natural. +Had the President's Government at that moment disowned the deed done +by Wilkes, and declared its intention of giving up the men unasked, +the clamour raised would have been very great, and perhaps +successful. We were told that the American lawyers were against their +doing so; and indeed there was such a shout of triumph that no +ministry in a country so democratic could have ventured to go at once +against it, and to do so without any external pressure.</p> + +<p>Then came the one ministerial blunder. The President put forth his +message, in which he was cunningly silent on the Slidell and Mason +affair; but to his message was appended, according to custom, the +report from Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. In this report +approval was expressed of the deed done by Captain Wilkes. Captain +Wilkes was thus in all respects indemnified, and the blame, if any, +was taken from his shoulders and put on to the shoulders of that +officer who was responsible for the Secretary's letter. It is true +that in that letter the Secretary declared that in case of any future +seizure the vessel seized must be taken into port, and so declared in +animadverting on the fact that Captain Wilkes had not brought the +"Trent" into port. But, nevertheless, Secretary Welles approved of +Captain Wilkes's conduct. He allowed the reasons to be good which +Wilkes had put forward for leaving the ship, and in all respects +indemnified the captain. Then the responsibility shifted itself to +Secretary Welles; but I think it must be clear that the President, in +sending forward that report, took that responsibility upon himself. +That he is not bound to send forward the reports of his Secretaries +as he receives them;—that he can disapprove them and require +alteration, was proved at the very time by the fact that he had in +this way condemned Secretary Cameron's report, and caused a portion +of it to be omitted. Secretary Cameron had unfortunately allowed his +entire report to be printed, and it appeared in a New York paper. It +contained a recommendation with reference to the slave question most +offensive to a part of the Cabinet, and to the majority of Mr. +Lincoln's party. This, by order of the President, was omitted in the +official way. It was certainly a pity that Mr. Welles's paragraph +respecting the "Trent" was not omitted also. The President was dumb +on the matter, and that being so the Secretary should have been dumb +also.</p> + +<p>But when the demand was made the States Government yielded at once, +and yielded without bluster. I cannot say I much admired Mr. Seward's +long letter. It was full of smart special pleading, and savoured +strongly, as Mr. Seward's productions always do, of the personal +author. Mr. Seward was making an effort to place a great State paper +on record, but the <i>ars celare artem</i> was altogether wanting; and, if +I am not mistaken, he was without the art itself. I think he left the +matter very much where he found it. The men however were to be +surrendered, and the good policy consisted in this,—that no delay +was sought, no diplomatic ambiguities were put into request. It was +the opinion of very many that some two or three months might be +gained by correspondence, and that at the end of that time things +might stand on a different footing. If during that time the North +should gain any great success over the South, the States might be in +a position to disregard England's threats. No such game was played. +The illegality of the arrest was at once acknowledged, and the men +were given up,—with a tranquillity that certainly appeared +marvellous after all that had so lately occurred.</p> + +<p>Then came Mr. Sumner's field day. Mr. Charles Sumner is a senator +from Massachusetts, known as a very hot abolitionist and as having +been the victim of an attack made upon him in the Senate House by +Senator Brookes. He was also at the time of which I am writing +Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which position is as +near akin to that of a British minister in Parliament as can be +attained under the existing constitution of the States. It is not +similar, because such chairman is by no means bound to the +Government; but he has ministerial relations, and is supposed to be +specially conversant with all questions relating to foreign affairs. +It was understood that Mr. Sumner did not intend to find fault either +with England or with the Government of his own country as to its +management of this matter; or that, at least, such fault-finding was +not his special object, but that he was desirous to put forth views +which might lead to a final settlement of all difficulties with +reference to the right of international search.</p> + +<p>On such an occasion, a speaker gives himself very little chance of +making a favourable impression on his immediate hearers if he reads +his speech from a written manuscript. Mr. Sumner did so on this +occasion, and I must confess that I was not edified. It seemed to me +that he merely repeated, at greater length, the arguments which I had +heard fifty times during the last thirty or forty days. I am told +that the discourse is considered to be logical, and that it "reads" +well. As regards the gist of it, or that result which Mr. Sumner +thinks to be desirable, I fully agree with him, as I think will all +the civilized world before many years have passed. If international +law be what the lawyers say it is, international law must be altered +to suit the requirements of modern civilization. By those laws, as +they are construed, everything is to be done for two nations at war +with each other; but nothing is to be done for all the nations of the +world that can manage to maintain the peace. The belligerents are to +be treated with every delicacy, as we treat our heinous criminals; +but the poor neutrals are to be handled with unjust rigour, as we +handle our unfortunate witnesses in order that the murderer may, if +possible, be allowed to escape. Two men living in the same street +choose to pelt each other across the way with brickbats, and the +other inhabitants are denied the privileges of the footpath lest they +should interfere with the due prosecution of the quarrel! It is, I +suppose, the truth, that we English have insisted on this right of +search with more pertinacity than any other nation. Now in this case +of Slidell and Mason we have felt ourselves aggrieved, and have +resisted. Luckily for us there was no doubt of the illegality of the +mode of seizure in this instance; but who will say that if Captain +Wilkes had taken the "Trent" into the harbour of New York, in order +that the matter might have been adjudged there, England would have +been satisfied? Our grievance was, that our mail-packet was stopped +on the seas while doing its ordinary beneficent work. And our resolve +is, that our mail-packets shall not be so stopped with impunity. As +we were high-handed in old days in insisting on this right of search, +and as we are high-handed now in resisting a right of search, it +certainly behoves us to see that we be just in our modes of +proceeding. Would Captain Wilkes have been right according to the +existing law if he had carried the "Trent" away to New York? If so, +we ought not to be content with having escaped from such a trouble +merely through a mistake on his part. Lord Russell says that the +"Trent's" voyage was an innocent voyage. That is the fact that should +be established;—not only that the voyage was, in truth, innocent, +but that it should not be made out to be guilty by any international +law. Of its real innocency all thinking men must feel themselves +assured. But it is not only of the seizure that we complain, but of +the search also. An honest man is not to be handled by a policeman +while on his daily work, lest by chance a stolen watch should be in +his pocket. If international law did give such power to all +belligerents, international law must give it no longer. In the +beginning of these matters, as I take it, the object was when two +powerful nations were at war to allow the smaller fry of nations to +enjoy peace and quiet, and to avoid if possible the general scuffle. +Thence arose the position of a neutral. But it was clearly not fair +that any such nation, having proclaimed its neutrality, should, after +that, fetch and carry for either of the combatants to the prejudice +of the other. Hence came the right of search, in order that unjust +falsehood might be prevented. But the seas were not then bridged with +ships as they are now bridged, and the laws as written were, perhaps, +then practical and capable of execution. Now they are impracticable +and not capable of execution. It will not, however, do for us to +ignore them if they exist; and therefore they should be changed. It +is, I think, manifest that our own pretensions as to the right of +search must be modified after this. And now I trust I may finish my +book without again naming Messrs. Slidell and Mason.</p> + +<p>The working of the Senate bears little or no analogy to that of our +House of Lords. In the first place, the senator's tenure there is not +hereditary, nor is it for life. They are elected, and sit for six +years. Their election is not made by the people of their States, but +by the State legislature. The two Houses, for instance, of the State +of Massachusetts meet together and elect by their joint vote to the +vacant seat for their State. It is so arranged that an entirely new +senate is not elected every sixth year. Instead of this a third of +the number is elected every second year. It is a common thing for +senators to be re-elected, and thus to remain in the House for twelve +and eighteen years. In our Parliament the House of Commons has +greater political strength and wider political action than the House +of Lords; but in Congress the Senate counts for more than the House +of Representatives in general opinion. Money bills must originate in +the House of Representatives, but that is, I think, the only special +privilege attaching to the public purse which the lower House enjoys +over the upper. Amendments to such bills can be moved in the Senate; +and all such bills must pass the Senate before they become law. I am +inclined to think that individual members of the Senate work harder +than individual representatives. More is expected of them, and any +prolonged absence from duty would be more remarked in the Senate than +in the other House. In our Parliament this is reversed. The payment +made to members of the Senate is 3000 dollars, or £600, per annum, +and to a representative, £500 per annum. To this is added certain +mileage allowance for travelling backwards and forwards, between +their own State and the Capitol. A senator, therefore, from +California or Oregon has not altogether a bad place; but the halcyon +days of mileage allowances are, I believe, soon to be brought to an +end. It is quite within rule that the senator of to-day should be the +representative of to-morrow. Mr. Crittenden, who was senator from +Kentucky, is now a member of the Lower House from an electoral +district in that State. John Quincy Adams went into the House of +Representatives after he had been President of the United States.</p> + +<p>Divisions in the Senate do not take place as in the House of +Representatives. The ayes and noes are called for in the same way; +but if a poll be demanded, the clerk of the House calls out the names +of the different senators, and makes out lists of the votes according +to the separate answers given by the members. The mode is certainly +more dignified than that pursued in the other House, where during the +ceremony of voting the members look very much like sheep being passed +into their pens.</p> + +<p>I heard two or three debates in the House of Representatives, and +that one especially in which, as I have said before, a chapter was +read out of the book of Joshua. The manner in which the Creator's +name and the authority of His Word was bandied about the house on +that occasion, did not strike me favourably. The question originally +under debate was the relative power of the civil and military +authority. Congress had desired to declare its ascendancy over +military matters; but the army and the Executive generally had +demurred to this,—not with an absolute denial of the rights of +Congress, but with those civil and almost silent generalities with +which a really existing Power so well knows how to treat a nominal +Power. The ascendant wife seldom tells her husband in so many words +that his opinion in the house is to go for nothing; she merely +resolves that such shall be the case, and acts accordingly. An +observer could not but perceive that in those days Congress was +taking upon itself the part, not exactly of an obedient husband, but +of a husband vainly attempting to assert his supremacy. "I have got +to learn," said one gentleman after another, rising indignantly on +the floor, "that the military authority of our generals is above that +of this House." And then one gentleman relieved the difficulty of the +position by branching off into an eloquent discourse against slavery, +and by causing a chapter to be read out of the book of Joshua.</p> + +<p>On that occasion the gentleman's diversion seemed to have the effect +of relieving the House altogether from the embarrassment of the +original question; but it was becoming manifest, day by day, that +Congress was losing its ground, and that the army was becoming +indifferent to its thunders:—that the army was doing so, and also +that ministers were doing so. In the States, the President and his +ministers are not in fact subject to any parliamentary +responsibility. The President may be impeached, but the member of an +opposition does not always wish to have recourse to such an extreme +measure as impeachment. The ministers are not in the houses, and +cannot therefore personally answer questions. Different large +subjects, such as Foreign affairs, Financial affairs, and Army +matters, are referred to Standing Committees in both houses; and +these Committees have relations with the ministers. But they have no +constitutional power over the ministers; nor have they the much more +valuable privilege of badgering a minister hither and thither by +<i>vivâ voce</i> questions on every point of his administration. The +minister sits safe in his office—safe there for the term of the +existing Presidency if he can keep well with the President; and +therefore, even under ordinary circumstances, does not care much for +the printed or written messages of Congress. But under circumstances +so little ordinary as those of 1861-62, while Washington was +surrounded by hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Congress was +absolutely impotent. Mr. Seward could snap his fingers at Congress, +and he did so. He could not snap his fingers at the army; but then he +could go with the army,—could keep the army on his side by remaining +on the same side with the army; and this, as it seemed, he resolved +to do. It must be understood that Mr. Seward was not Prime Minister. +The President of the United States has no Prime Minister,—or +hitherto has had none. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has usually +stood highest in the Cabinet, and Mr. Seward, as holding that +position, was not inclined to lessen its authority. He was gradually +assuming for that position the prerogatives of a Premier, and men +were beginning to talk of Mr. Seward's ministry. It may easily be +understood that at such a time the powers of Congress would be +undefined, and that ambitious members of Congress would rise and +assert on the floor, with that peculiar voice of indignation so +common in parliamentary debate, "that they had got to learn," &c., +&c., &c. It seemed to me that the lesson which they had yet to learn +was then in the process of being taught to them. They were anxious to +be told all about the mischance at Ball's Bluff, but nobody would +tell them anything about it. They wanted to know something of that +blockade on the Potomac; but such knowledge was not good for them. +"Pack them up in boxes, and send them home," one military gentleman +said to me. And I began to think that something of the kind would be +done, if they made themselves troublesome. I quote here the manner in +which their questions, respecting the affair at Ball's Bluff, were +answered by the Secretary of War. "The Speaker laid before the House +a letter from the Secretary at War, in which he says that he has the +honour to acknowledge the receipt of the resolution adopted on the +6th instant, to the effect that the answer of the department to the +resolution passed on the second day of the session, is not responsive +and satisfactory to the House, and requesting a further answer. The +Secretary has now to state that measures have been taken to ascertain +who is responsible for the disastrous movement at Ball's Bluff, but +that it is not compatible with the public interest to make known +those measures at the present time."</p> + +<p>In truth the days are evil for any Congress of debaters, when a great +army is in camp on every side of them. The people had called for the +army, and there it was. It was of younger birth than Congress, and +had thrown its elder brother considerably out of favour, as has been +done before by many a new-born baby. If Congress could amuse itself +with a few set speeches, and a field-day or two, such as those +afforded by Mr. Sumner, it might all be very well,—provided that +such speeches did not attack the army. Over and beyond this, let them +vote the supplies and have done with it. Was it probable that General +Maclellan should have time to answer questions about Ball's +Bluff,—and he with such a job of work on his hands? Congress could +of course vote what committees of military inquiry it might please, +and might ask questions without end; but we all know to what such +questions lead, when the questioner has no power to force an answer +by a penalty. If it might be possible to maintain the semblance of +respect for Congress, without too much embarrassment to military +secretaries, such semblance should be maintained; but if Congress +chose to make itself really disagreeable, then no semblance could be +kept up any longer. That, as far as I could judge, was the position +of Congress in the early months of 1862; and that, under existing +circumstances, was perhaps the only possible position that it could +fill.</p> + +<p>All this to me was very melancholy. The streets of Washington were +always full of soldiers. Mounted sentries stood at the corners of all +the streets with drawn sabres,—shivering in the cold and besmeared +with mud. A military law came out that civilians might not ride +quickly through the street. Military riders galloped over one at +every turn, splashing about through the mud, and reminding one not +unfrequently of John Gilpin. Why they always went so fast, destroying +their horses' feet on the rough stones, I could never learn. But I, +as a civilian, given, as Englishmen are, to trotting, and furnished +for the time with a nimble trotter, found myself harried from time to +time by muddy men with sabres, who would dash after me, rattling +their trappings, and bid me go at a slower pace. There is a building +in Washington, built by private munificence and devoted, according to +an inscription which it bears, "To the Arts." It has been turned into +an army clothing establishment. The streets of Washington, night and +day, were thronged with army waggons. All through the city military +huts and military tents were to be seen, pitched out among the mud +and in the desert places. Then there was the chosen locality of the +teamsters and their mules and horses—a wonderful world in itself; +and all within the city! Here horses and mules lived,—or died,—<i>sub +dio</i>, with no slightest apology for a stable over them, eating their +provender from off the waggons to which they were fastened. Here, +there, and everywhere large houses were occupied as the head-quarters +of some officer, or the bureau of some military official. At +Washington and round Washington the army was everything. While this +was so, is it to be conceived that Congress should ask questions +about military matters with success?</p> + +<p>All this, as I say, filled me with sorrow. I hate military +belongings, and am disgusted at seeing the great affairs of a nation +put out of their regular course. Congress to me is respectable. +Parliamentary debates, be they ever so prosy,—as with us, or even so +rowdy, as sometimes they have been with our cousins across the +water,—engage my sympathies. I bow inwardly before a Speaker's +chair, and look upon the elected representatives of any nation as the +choice men of the age. Those muddy, clattering dragoons, sitting at +the corners of the streets with dirty woollen comforters round their +ears, were to me hideous in the extreme. But there at Washington, at +the period of which I am writing, I was forced to acknowledge that +Congress was at a discount, and that the rough-shod generals were the +men of the day. "Pack them up and send them in boxes to their several +States." It would come to that, I thought, or to something like that +unless Congress would consent to be submissive. "I have yet to +<span class="nowrap">learn—!"</span> said +indignant members, stamping with their feet on the +floor of the house. One would have said that by that time the lesson +might almost have been understood.</p> + +<p>Up to the period of this civil war Congress has certainly worked well +for the United States. It might be easy to pick holes in it;—to show +that some members have been corrupt, others quarrelsome, and others +again impracticable. But when we look at the circumstances under +which it has been from year to year elected,—when we remember the +position of the newly-populated States from which the members have +been sent, and the absence throughout the country of that old +traditionary class of Parliament men on whom we depend in England; +when we think how recent has been the elevation in life of the +majority of those who are and must be elected,—it is impossible to +deny them praise for intellect, patriotism, good sense, and +diligence. They began but sixty years ago, and for sixty years +Congress has fully answered the purpose for which it was established. +With no antecedents of grandeur, the nation, with its Congress, has +made itself one of the five great nations of the world. And what +living English politician will say even now, with all its troubles +thick upon it, that it is the smallest of the five? When I think of +this, and remember the position in Europe which an American has been +able to claim for himself, I cannot but acknowledge that Congress on +the whole has been conducted with prudence, wisdom, and patriotism.</p> + +<p>The question now to be asked is this,—Have the powers of Congress +been sufficient, or are they sufficient, for the continued +maintenance of free government in the States under the constitution? +I think that the powers given by the existing constitution to +Congress can no longer be held to be sufficient; and that if the +Union be maintained at all, it must be done by a closer assimilation +of its congressional system to that of our Parliament. But to that +matter I must allude again, when speaking of the existing +constitution of the States.</p> + + +<p><a id="c3"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<h4>THE CAUSES OF THE WAR.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>I have seen various essays purporting to describe the causes of this +civil war between the North and South; but they have generally been +written with the view of vindicating either one side or the other, +and have spoken rather of causes which should, according to the ideas +of their writers, have produced peace, than of those which did, in +the course of events, actually produce war. This has been essentially +the case with Mr. Everett, who in his lecture at New York, on the 4th +of July, 1860, recapitulated all the good things which the North has +done for the South, and who proved—if he has proved anything—that +the South should have cherished the North instead of hating it. And +this was very much the case also with Mr. Motley in his letter to the +"London Times." That letter is good in its way, as is everything that +comes from Mr. Motley, but it does not tell us why the war has +existed. Why is it that eight millions of people have desired to +separate themselves from a rich and mighty empire,—from an empire +which was apparently on its road to unprecedented success, and which +had already achieved wealth, consideration, power, and internal +well-being?</p> + +<p>One would be led to imagine from the essays of Mr. Everett and of Mr. +Motley, that slavery has had little or nothing to do with it. I must +acknowledge it to be my opinion that slavery in its various bearings +has been the single and necessary cause of the war;—that slavery +being there in the South, this war was only to be avoided by a +voluntary division,—secession voluntary both on the part of North +and South;—that in the event of such voluntary secession being not +asked for, or if asked for not conceded, revolution and civil war +became necessary,—were not to be avoided by any wisdom or care on +the part of the North.</p> + +<p>The arguments used by both the gentlemen I have named prove very +clearly that South Carolina and her sister States had no right to +secede under the constitution; that is to say, that it was not open +to them peaceably to take their departure, and to refuse further +allegiance to the President and Congress without a breach of the laws +by which they were bound. For a certain term of years, namely, from +1781 to 1787, the different States endeavoured to make their way in +the world, simply leagued together by certain articles of +confederation. It was declared that each State retained its +sovereignty, freedom, and independence; and that the said States then +entered severally into a firm league of friendship with each other +for their common defence. There was no President, no Congress taking +the place of our Parliament, but simply a congress of delegates or +ambassadors, two or three from each State, who were to act in +accordance with the policy of their own individual States. It is well +that this should be thoroughly understood, not as bearing on the +question of the present war, but as showing that a loose +confederation, not subversive of the separate independence of the +States, and capable of being partially dissolved at the will of each +separate State, was tried, and was found to fail. South Carolina took +upon herself to act as she might have acted had that confederation +remained in force; but that confederation was an acknowledged +failure. National greatness could not be achieved under it, and +individual enterprise could not succeed under it. Then in lieu of +that, by the united consent of the thirteen States the present +constitution was drawn up and sanctioned, and to that every State +bound itself in allegiance. In that constitution no power of +secession is either named or presumed to exist. The individual +sovereignty of the States had, in the first instance, been thought +desirable. The young republicans hankered after the separate power +and separate name which each might then have achieved; but that dream +had been found vain,—and therefore the States, at the cost of some +fond wishes, agreed to seek together for national power, rather than +run the risks entailed upon separate existence. I append to this +volume the articles of confederation and the constitution of the +United States, as they who desire to look into this matter may be +anxious to examine them without reference to other volumes. The +latter alone is clear enough on the subject, but is strengthened by +the former in proving that under the latter no State could possess +the legal power of seceding.</p> + +<p>But they who created the constitution, who framed the clauses, and +gave to this terribly important work what wisdom they possessed, did +not presume to think that it could be final. The mode of altering the +constitution is arranged in the constitution. Such alterations must +be proposed either by two-thirds of both the houses of the general +Congress, or by the legislatures of two-thirds of the States; and +must, when so proposed, be ratified by the legislatures of +three-fourths of the States.—(Article V.) There can, I think, be no +doubt that any alteration so carried would be valid; even though that +alteration should go to the extent of excluding one or any number of +States from the Union. Any division so made would be made in +accordance with the constitution.</p> + +<p>South Carolina and the southern States no doubt felt that they would +not succeed in obtaining secession in this way, and therefore they +sought to obtain the separation which they wanted by revolution,—by +revolution and rebellion, as Naples has lately succeeded in her +attempt to change her political status; as Hungary is looking to do; +as Poland has been seeking to do any time since her subjection; as +the revolted colonies of Great Britain succeeded in doing in 1776, +whereby they created this great nation which is now undergoing all +the sorrows of a civil war. The name of secession claimed by the +South for this movement is a misnomer. If any part of a nationality +or empire ever rebelled against the government established on behalf +of the whole, South Carolina so rebelled when, on the 20th November, +1860, she put forth her ordinance of so-called secession; and the +other southern States joined in that rebellion when they followed her +lead. As to that fact, there cannot, I think, much longer be any +doubt in any mind. I insist on this especially, repeating perhaps +unnecessarily, opinions expressed in my first volume, because I still +see it stated by English writers that the secession ordinance of +South Carolina should have been accepted as a political act by the +government of the United States. It seems to me that no government +can in this way accept an act of rebellion without declaring its own +functions to be beyond its own power.</p> + +<p>But what if such rebellion be justifiable, or even reasonable? what +if the rebels have cause for their rebellion? For no one will now +deny that rebellion may be both reasonable and justifiable; or that +every subject in the land may be bound in duty to rebel. In such case +the government will be held to have brought about its own punishment +by its own fault. But as government is a wide affair, spreading +itself gradually, and growing in virtue or in vice from small +beginnings,—from seeds slow to produce their fruits,—it is much +easier to discern the incidence of the punishment than the +perpetration of the fault. Government goes astray by degrees, or sins +by the absence of that wisdom which should teach rulers how to make +progress, as progress is made by those whom they rule. The fault may +be absolutely negative and have spread itself over centuries; may be, +and generally has been, attributable to dull good men;—but not the +less does the punishment come at a blow. The rebellion exists and +cannot be put down,—will put down all that opposes it; but the +government is not the less bound to make its fight. That is the +punishment that comes on governing men or on a governing people, that +govern not well or not wisely.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Motley says in the paper to which I have alluded, "No man, on +either side of the Atlantic, with Anglo-Saxon blood in his veins, +will dispute the right of a people, or of any portion of a people, to +rise against oppression, to demand redress of grievances, and in case +of denial of justice to take up arms to vindicate the sacred +principle of liberty. Few Englishmen or Americans will deny that the +source of government is the consent of the governed, or that every +nation has the right to govern itself according to its will. When the +silent consent is changed to fierce remonstrance, revolution is +impending. The right of revolution is indisputable. It is written on +the whole record of our race. British and American history is made up +of rebellion and revolution. Hampden, Pym, and Oliver Cromwell; +Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, all were rebels." Then comes the +question whether South Carolina and the Gulf States had so suffered +as to make rebellion on their behalf justifiable or reasonable; or if +not, what cause had been strong enough to produce in them so strong a +desire for secession,—a desire which has existed for fully half the +term through which the United States has existed as a nation, and so +firm a resolve to rush into rebellion with the object of +accomplishing that which they deemed not to be accomplished on other +terms.</p> + +<p>It must, I think, be conceded that the Gulf States have not suffered +at all by their connection with the northern States; that in lieu of +any such suffering, they owe all their national greatness to the +northern States; that they have been lifted up by the commercial +energy of the Atlantic States and by the agricultural prosperity of +the western States, to a degree of national consideration and respect +through the world at large, which never could have belonged to them +standing alone. I will not trouble my readers with statistics which +few would care to follow, but let any man of ordinary every-day +knowledge turn over in his own mind his present existing ideas of the +wealth and commerce of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, +Pittsburg, and Cincinnati, and compare them with his ideas as to New +Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Richmond, and Memphis. I do +not name such towns as Baltimore and St. Louis, which stand in slave +States, but which have raised themselves to prosperity by northern +habits. If this be not sufficient, let him refer to population tables +and tables of shipping and tonnage. And of those southern towns which +I have named the commercial wealth is of northern creation. The +success of New Orleans as a city can be no more attributed to +Louisianians than can that of the Havana to the men of Cuba, or of +Calcutta to the natives of India. It has been a repetition of the old +story, told over and over again through every century since commerce +has flourished in the world; the tropics can produce,—but the men +from the North shall sow and reap, and garner and enjoy. As the +Creator's work has progressed, this privilege has extended itself to +regions further removed and still further from southern influences. +If we look to Europe, we see that this has been so in Greece, Italy, +Spain, France, and the Netherlands; in England and Scotland; in +Prussia and in Russia; and the Western world shows us the same story. +Where is now the glory of the Antilles? where the riches of Mexico, +and the power of Peru? They still produce sugar, guano, gold, cotton, +coffee, almost whatever we may ask them,—and will continue to do so +while held to labour under sufficient restraint; but where are their +men, where are their books, where are their learning, their art, +their enterprise? I say it with sad regret at the decadence of so +vast a population; but I do say that the southern States of America +have not been able to keep pace with their northern brethren;—that +they have fallen behind in the race, and feeling that the struggle is +too much for them, have therefore resolved to part.</p> + +<p>The reasons put forward by the South for secession have been trifling +almost beyond conception. Northern tariffs have been the first, and +perhaps foremost. Then there has been a plea that the national +exchequer has paid certain bounties to New England fishermen, of +which the South has paid its share,—getting no part of such bounty +in return. There is also a complaint as to the navigation +laws,—meaning, I believe, that the laws of the States increase the +cost of coast traffic by forbidding foreign vessels to engage in the +trade, thereby increasing also the price of goods and confining the +benefit to the North, which carries on the coasting trade of the +country, and doing only injury to the South, which has none of it. +Then last, but not least, comes that grievance as to the Fugitive +Slave Law. The law of the land as a whole,—the law of the +nation,—requires the rendition from free States of all fugitive +slaves. But the free States will not obey this law. They even pass +State laws in opposition to it. "Catch your own slaves," they say, +"and we will not hinder you; at any rate we will not hinder you +officially. Of non-official hindrance you must take your chance. But +we absolutely decline to employ our officers to catch your slaves." +That list comprises, as I take it, the amount of southern official +grievances. Southern people will tell you privately of others. They +will say that they cannot sleep happy in their beds, fearing lest +insurrection should be roused among their slaves. They will tell you +of domestic comfort invaded by northern falsehood. They will explain +to you how false has been Mrs. Beecher Stowe. Ladies will fill your +ears and your hearts too with tales of the daily efforts they make +for the comfort of their "people," and of the ruin to those efforts +which arises from the malice of the abolitionists. To all this you +make some answer with your tongue that is hardly true,—for in such a +matter courtesy forbids the plain truth. But your heart within +answers truly, "Madam,—dear madam, your sorrow is great; but that +sorrow is the necessary result of your position."</p> + +<p>As to those official reasons, in what fewest words I can use I will +endeavour to show that they come to nothing. The tariff—and a +monstrous tariff it then was—was the ground put forward by South +Carolina for secession, when General Jackson was President, and Mr. +Calhoun was the hero of the South. Calhoun bound himself and his +State to take certain steps towards secession at a certain day if +that tariff were not abolished. The tariff was so absurd that Jackson +and his Government were forced to abandon it,—would have abandoned +it without any threat from Calhoun; but under that threat it was +necessary that Calhoun should be defied. General Jackson proposed a +compromise tariff, which was odious to Calhoun,—not on its own +behalf, for it yielded nearly all that was asked, but as being +subversive of his desire for secession. The President, however, not +only insisted on his compromise, but declared his purpose of +preventing its passage into law unless Calhoun himself, as senator, +would vote for it. And he also declared his purpose, not, we may +presume, officially, of hanging Calhoun if he took that step towards +secession which he had bound himself to take in the event of the +tariff not being repealed. As a result of all this Calhoun voted for +the compromise, and secession for the time was beaten down. That was +in 1832, and may be regarded as the commencement of the secession +movement. The tariff was then a convenient reason, a ground to be +assigned with a colour of justice, because it was a tariff admitted +to be bad. But the tariff has been modified again and again since +that; and the tariff existing when South Carolina seceded in 1860 had +been carried by votes from South Carolina. The absurd Morrill tariff +could not have caused secession, for it was passed without a struggle +in the collapse of Congress occasioned by secession.</p> + +<p>The bounty to fishermen was given to create sailors, so that a marine +might be provided for the nation. I need hardly show that the +national benefit would accrue to the whole nation for whose +protection such sailors were needed. Such a system of bounties may be +bad, but if so it was bad for the whole nation. It did not affect +South Carolina otherwise than it affected Illinois, Pennsylvania, or +even New York.</p> + +<p>The navigation laws may also have been bad. According to my thinking +such protective laws are bad; but they created no special hardship on +the South. By any such a theory of complaint all sections of all +nations have ground of complaint against any other section which +receives special protection under any law. The drinkers of beer in +England should secede because they pay a tax, whereas the consumers +of paper pay none. The navigation laws of the States are no doubt +injurious to the mercantile interests of the States. I at least have +no doubt on the subject. But no one will think that secession is +justified by the existence of a law of questionable expediency. Bad +laws will go by the board if properly handled by those whom they +pinch, as the navigation laws went by the board with us in England.</p> + +<p>As to that Fugitive Slave Law, it should be explained that the +grievance has not arisen from the loss of slaves. I have heard it +stated that South Carolina, up to the time of the secession, had +never lost a slave in this way—that is, by northern opposition to +the Fugitive Slave Law; and that the total number of slaves escaping +successfully into the northern States, and there remaining through +the non-operation of this law, did not amount to five in the year. It +has not been a question of property but of feeling. It has been a +political point, and the South has conceived—and probably conceived +truly—that this resolution on the part of northern States to defy +the law with reference to slaves, even though in itself it might not +be immediately injurious to southern property, was an insertion of +the narrow end of the wedge. It was an action taken against +slavery,—an action taken by men of the North against their +fellow-countrymen in the South. Under such circumstances the sooner +such countrymen should cease to be their fellows the better it would +be for them. That, I take it, was the argument of the South; or at +any rate that was its feeling.</p> + +<p>I have said that the reasons given for secession have been trifling, +and among them have so estimated this matter of the Fugitive Slave +Law. I mean to assert that the ground actually put forward is +trifling;—the loss, namely, of slaves to which the South has been +subjected. But the true reason pointed at in this—the conviction, +namely, that the North would not leave slavery alone, and would not +allow it to remain as a settled institution—was by no means +trifling. It has been this conviction on the part of the South, that +the North would not live in amity with slavery, would continue to +fight it under this banner or under that, would still condemn it as +disgraceful to man and rebuke it as impious before God, which has +produced rebellion and civil war—and will ultimately produce that +division for which the South is fighting, and against which the North +is fighting; and which, when accomplished, will give the North new +wings, and will leave the South without political greatness or +commercial success.</p> + +<p>Under such circumstances I cannot think that rebellion on the part of +the South was justified by wrongs endured or made reasonable by the +prospect of wrongs to be inflicted. It is disagreeable, that having +to live with a wife who is always rebuking one for some special +fault; but the outside world will not grant a divorce on that +account, especially if the outside world is well aware that the fault +so rebuked is of daily occurrence. "If you do not choose to be called +a drunkard by your wife," the outside world will say, "it will be +well that you should cease to drink." Ah! but that habit of drinking +when once acquired cannot easily be laid aside. The brain will not +work, the organs of the body will not perform their functions, the +blood will not run. The drunkard must drink till he dies. All that +may be a good ground for divorce, the outside world will say; but the +plea should be put in by the sober wife, not by the intemperate +husband. But what if the husband takes himself off without any +divorce and takes with him also his wife's property, her earnings, +that on which he has lived and his children? It may be a good bargain +still for her, the outside world will say; but she, if she be a woman +of spirit, will not willingly put up with such wrongs. The South has +been the husband drunk with slavery, and the North has been the +ill-used wife.</p> + +<p>Rebellion, as I have said, is often justifiable, but it is, I think, +never justifiable on the part of a paid servant of that Government +against which it is raised. We must at any rate feel that this is +true of men in high places,—as regards those men to whom by reason +of their offices it should specially belong to put down rebellion. +Had Washington been the Governor of Virginia, had Cromwell been a +minister of Charles, had Garibaldi held a marshal's baton under the +Emperor of Austria or the King of Naples, those men would have been +traitors as well as rebels. Treason and rebellion may be made one +under the law, but the mind will always draw the distinction. I, if I +rebel against the Crown, am not on that account necessarily a +traitor. A betrayal of trust is, I take it, necessary to treason. I +am not aware that Jefferson Davis is a traitor; but that Buchanan was +a traitor admits, I think, of no doubt. Under him and with his +connivance, the rebellion was allowed to make its way. Under him and +by his officers arms and ships, and men and money, were sent away +from those points at which it was known that they would be needed if +it were intended to put down the coming rebellion, and to those +points at which it was known that they would be needed if it were +intended to foster the coming rebellion. But Mr. Buchanan had no +eager feeling in favour of secession. He was not of that stuff of +which are made Davis and Toombs and Slidell. But treason was easier +to him than loyalty. Remonstrance was made to him, pointing out the +misfortunes which his action, or want of action, would bring upon the +country. "Not in my time," he answered. "It will not be in my time." +So that he might escape unscathed out of the fire, this chief ruler +of a nation of thirty millions of men was content to allow treason +and rebellion to work their way! I venture to say so much here as +showing how impossible it was that Mr. Lincoln's government, on its +coming into office, should have given to the South,—not what the +South had asked, for the South had not asked,—but what the South had +taken; what the South had tried to filch. Had the South waited for +secession till Mr. Lincoln had been in his chair, I could understand +that England should sympathize with her. For myself I cannot agree to +that scuttling of the ship by the captain on the day which was to see +the transfer of his command to another officer.</p> + +<p>The southern States were driven into rebellion by no wrongs inflicted +on them; but their desire for secession is not on that account matter +for astonishment. It would have been surprising had they not desired +secession. Secession of one kind, a very practical secession, had +already been forced upon them by circumstances. They had become a +separate people, dissevered from the North by habits, morals, +institutions, pursuits, and every conceivable difference in their +modes of thought and action. They still spoke the same language, as +do Austria and Prussia; but beyond that tie of language they had no +bond but that of a meagre political union in their Congress at +Washington. Slavery, as it had been expelled from the North, and as +it had come to be welcomed in the South, had raised such a wall of +difference, that true political union was out of the question. It +would be juster, perhaps, to say that those physical characteristics +of the South which had induced this welcoming of slavery, and those +other characteristics of the North which had induced its expulsion, +were the true causes of the difference. For years and years this has +been felt by both, and the fight has been going on. It has been +continued for thirty years, and almost always to the detriment of the +South. In 1845 Florida and Texas were admitted into the Union as +slave States. I think that no State had then been admitted, as a free +State, since Michigan, in 1836. In 1846 Iowa was admitted as a free +State, and from that day to this Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, +Oregon, and Kansas have been brought into the Union; all as free +States. The annexation of another slave State to the existing Union +had become, I imagine, impossible—unless such object were gained by +the admission of Texas. We all remember that fight about Kansas, and +what sort of a fight it was! Kansas lies alongside of Missouri, a +slave State, and is contiguous to no other State. If the free-soil +party could, in the days of Pierce and Buchanan, carry the day in +Kansas, it is not likely that they would be beaten on any new ground +under such a President as Lincoln. We have all heard in Europe how +southern men have ruled in the White House, nearly from the days of +Washington downwards; or if not southern men, northern men, such as +Pierce and Buchanan, with southern politics; and therefore we have +been taught to think that the South has been politically the winning +party. They have, in truth, been the losing party as regards national +power. But what they have so lost they have hitherto recovered by +political address and individual statecraft. The leading men of the +South have seen their position, and have gone to their work with the +exercise of all their energies. They organized the Democrat party so +as to include the leaders among the northern politicians. They never +begrudged to these assistants a full share of the good things of +official life. They have been aided by the fanatical abolitionism of +the North by which the Republican party has been divided into two +sections. It has been fashionable to be a Democrat, that is, to hold +southern politics, and unfashionable to be a Republican, or to hold +anti-southern politics. In that way the South has lived and struggled +on against the growing will of the population; but at last that will +became too strong, and when Mr. Lincoln was elected, the South knew +that its day was over.</p> + +<p>It is not surprising that the South should have desired secession. It +is not surprising that it should have prepared for it. Since the days +of Mr. Calhoun its leaders have always understood its position with a +fair amount of political accuracy. Its only chance of political life +lay in prolonged ascendancy at Washington. The swelling crowds of +Germans, by whom the western States were being filled, enlisted +themselves to a man in the ranks of abolition. What was the +acquisition of Texas against such hosts as these? An evil day was +coming on the southern politicians, and it behoved them to be +prepared. As a separate nation,—a nation trusting to cotton, having +in their hands, as they imagined, a monopoly of the staple of English +manufacture, with a tariff of their own, and those rabid curses on +the source of all their wealth no longer ringing in their ears, what +might they not do as a separate nation? But as a part of the Union, +they were too weak to hold their own if once their political finesse +should fail them. That day came upon them, not unexpected, in 1860, +and therefore they cut the cable.</p> + +<p>And all this has come from slavery. It is hard enough, for how could +the South have escaped slavery? How, at least, could the South have +escaped slavery any time during these last thirty years? And is it, +moreover, so certain that slavery is an unmitigated evil, opposed to +God's will, and producing all the sorrows which have ever been +produced by tyranny and wrong? It is here, after all, that one comes +to the difficult question. Here is the knot which the fingers of men +cannot open, and which admits of no sudden cutting with the knife. I +have likened the slave-holding States to the drunken husband, and in +so doing have pronounced judgment against them. As regards the state +of the drunken man, his unfitness for partnership with any decent, +diligent, well-to-do wife, his ruined condition, and shattered +prospects, the simile, I think, holds good. But I refrain from +saying, that as the fault was originally with the drunkard in that he +became such, so also has the fault been with the slave States. At any +rate I refrain from so saying here, on this page. That the position +of a slave-owner is terribly prejudicial, not to the slave of whom I +do not here speak, but to the owner;—of so much at any rate I feel +assured. That the position is therefore criminal and damnable, I am +not now disposed to take upon myself to assert.</p> + +<p>The question of slavery in America cannot be handled fully and fairly +by any one who is afraid to go back upon the subject, and take its +whole history since one man first claimed and exercised the right of +forcing labour from another man. I certainly am afraid of any such +task; but I believe that there has been no period yet, since the +world's work began, when such a practice has not prevailed in a large +portion, probably in the largest portion, of the world's work-fields. +As civilization has made its progress, it has been the duty and +delight, as it has also been the interest of the men at the top of +affairs, not to lighten the work of the men below, but so to teach +them that they should recognize the necessity of working without +coercion. Emancipation of serfs and thralls, of bondsmen and slaves, +has always meant this,—that men having been so taught, should then +work without coercion. As men become educated and aware of the nature +of the tenure on which they hold their life, they learn the fact that +work is a necessity for them, and that it is better to work without +coercion than with it. When men have learned this they are fit for +emancipation, but they are hardly fit till they have learned so much.</p> + +<p>In talking or writing of slaves, we always now think of the negro +slave. Of us Englishmen it must at any rate be acknowledged that we +have done what in us lay to induce him to recognize this necessity +for labour. At any rate we acted on the presumption that he would do +so, and gave him his liberty throughout all our lands at a cost which +has never yet been reckoned up in pounds, shillings, and pence. The +cost never can be reckoned up, nor can the gain which we achieved in +purging ourselves from the degradation and demoralization of such +employment. We come into court with clean hands, having done all that +lay with us to do to put down slavery both at home and abroad. But +when we enfranchised the negroes, we did so with the intention, at +least, that they should work as free men. Their share of the bargain +in that respect they have declined to keep, wherever starvation has +not been the result of such resolve on their part; and from the date +of our emancipation, seeing the position which the negroes now hold +with us, the southern States of America have learned to regard +slavery as a permanent institution, and have taught themselves to +regard it as a blessing, and not as a curse.</p> + +<p>Negroes were first taken over to America because the white man could +not work under the tropical heats, and because the native Indian +would not work. The latter people has been, or soon will be, +exterminated,—polished off the face of creation, as the Americans +say,—which fate must, I should say, in the long run attend all +non-working people. As the soil of the world is required for +increasing population, the non-working people must go. And so the +Indians have gone. The negroes under compulsion did work, and work +well; and under their hands vast regions of the western tropics +became fertile gardens. The fact that they were carried up into +northern regions which from their nature did not require such aid, +that slavery prevailed in New York and Massachusetts, does not +militate against my argument. The exact limits of any great movement +will not be bounded by its purpose. The heated wax which you drop on +your letter spreads itself beyond the necessities of your seal. That +these negroes would not have come to the western world without +compulsion, or having come, would not have worked without compulsion, +is, I imagine, acknowledged by all. That they have multiplied in the +western world and have there become a race happier, at any rate in +all the circumstances of their life, than their still untamed kinsmen +in Africa, must also be acknowledged. Who, then, can dare to wish +that all that has been done by the negro immigration should have +remained undone?</p> + +<p>The name of slave is odious to me. If I know myself I would not own a +negro though he could sweat gold on my behoof. I glory in that bold +leap in the dark which England took with regard to her own West +Indian slaves. But I do not see the less clearly the difficulty of +that position in which the southern States have been placed; and I +will not call them wicked, impious, and abominable, because they now +hold by slavery, as other nations have held by it at some period of +their career. It is their misfortune that they must do so now,—now, +when so large a portion of the world has thrown off the system, +spurning as base and profitless all labour that is not free. It is +their misfortune, for henceforth they must stand alone, with small +rank among the nations, whereas their brethren of the North will +still "flame in the forehead of the morning sky."</p> + +<p>When the present constitution of the United States was written,—the +merit of which must probably be given mainly to Madison and Hamilton, +Madison finding the French democratic element, and Hamilton the +English conservative element,—this question of slavery was doubtless +a great trouble. The word itself is not mentioned in the +constitution. It speaks not of a slave, but of a "person held to +service or labour." It neither sanctions nor forbids slavery. It +assumes no power in the matter of slavery; and under it, at the +present moment, all Congress voting together, with the full consent +of the legislatures of thirty-three States, could not +constitutionally put down slavery in the remaining thirty-fourth +State. In fact the constitution ignored the subject.</p> + +<p>But nevertheless Washington, and Jefferson from whom Madison received +his inspiration, were opposed to slavery. I do not know that +Washington ever took much action in the matter, but his expressed +opinion is on record. But Jefferson did so throughout his life. +Before the declaration of independence he endeavoured to make slavery +illegal in Virginia. In this he failed, but long afterwards, when the +United States was a nation, he succeeded in carrying a law by which +the further importation of slaves into any of the States was +prohibited after a certain year—1820. When this law was passed, the +framers of it considered that the gradual abolition of slavery would +be secured. Up to that period the negro population in the States had +not been self-maintained. As now in Cuba, the numbers had been kept +up by new importations, and it was calculated that the race, when not +recruited from Africa, would die out. That this calculation was wrong +we now know, and the breeding-grounds of Virginia have been the +result.</p> + +<p>At that time there were no cotton-fields. Alabama and Mississippi +were outlying territories. Louisiana had been recently purchased, but +was not yet incorporated as a State. Florida still belonged to Spain, +and was all but unpopulated. Of Texas no man had yet heard. Of the +slave States, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia were alone +wedded to slavery. Then the matter might have been managed. But under +the constitution as it had been framed, and with the existing powers +of the separate States, there was not even then open any way by which +slavery could be abolished other than by the separate action of the +States; nor has there been any such way opened since. With slavery +these southern States have grown and become fertile. The planters +have thriven, and the cotton-fields have spread themselves. And then +came emancipation in the British islands. Under such circumstances +and with such a lesson, could it be expected that the southern States +should learn to love abolition?</p> + +<p>It is vain to say that slavery has not caused secession, and that +slavery has not caused the war. That, and that only, has been the +real cause of this conflict, though other small collateral issues may +now be put forward to bear the blame. Those other issues have arisen +from this question of slavery, and are incidental to it and a part of +it. Massachusetts, as we all know, is democratic in its tendencies, +but South Carolina is essentially aristocratic. This difference has +come of slavery. A slave country, which has progressed far in +slavery, must be aristocratic in its nature,—aristocratic and +patriarchal. A large slave-owner from Georgia may call himself a +democrat,—may think that he reveres republican institutions, and may +talk with American horror of the thrones of Europe; but he must in +his heart be an aristocrat. We, in England, are apt to speak of +republican institutions, and of universal suffrage which is perhaps +the chief of them, as belonging equally to all the States. In South +Carolina there is not and has not been any such thing. The electors +for the President there are chosen not by the people, but by the +legislature; and the votes for the legislature are limited by a high +property qualification. A high property qualification is required for +a member of the House of Representatives in South Carolina;—four +hundred freehold acres of land and ten negroes is one qualification. +Five hundred pounds clear of debt is another qualification;—for, +where a sum of money is thus named, it is given in English money. +Russia and England are not more unlike in their political and social +feelings than are the real slave States and the real free-soil +States. The gentlemen from one and from the other side of the line +have met together on neutral ground, and have discussed political +matters without flying frequently at each other's throats, while the +great question on which they differed was allowed to slumber. But the +awakening has been coming by degrees, and now the South had felt that +it was come. Old John Brown, who did his best to create a servile +insurrection at Harper's Ferry, has been canonized through the North +and West, to the amazement and horror of the South. The decision in +the "Dred Scott" case, given by the Chief Justice of the Supreme +Court of the United States, has been received with shouts of +execration through the North and West. The southern gentry have been +Uncle-Tommed into madness. It is no light thing to be told daily by +your fellow-citizens, by your fellow-representatives, by your +fellow-senators, that you are guilty of the one damning sin that +cannot be forgiven. All this they could partly moderate, partly +rebuke, and partly bear as long as political power remained in their +hands; but they have gradually felt that that was going, and were +prepared to cut the rope and run as soon as it was gone.</p> + +<p>Such, according to my ideas, have been the causes of the war. But I +cannot defend the South. As long as they could be successful in their +schemes for holding the political power of the nation, they were +prepared to hold by the nation. Immediately those schemes failed, +they were prepared to throw the nation overboard. In this there has +undoubtedly been treachery as well as rebellion. Had these +politicians been honest,—though the political growth of Washington +has hardly admitted of political honesty,—but had these politicians +been even ordinarily respectable in their dishonesty, they would have +claimed secession openly before Congress, while yet their own +President was at the White House. Congress would not have acceded. +Congress itself could not have acceded under the constitution; but a +way would have been found, had the southern States been persistent in +their demand. A way, indeed, has been found; but it has lain through +fire and water, through blood and ruin, through treason and theft, +and the downfall of national greatness. Secession will, I think, be +accomplished, and the southern Confederation of States will stand +something higher in the world than Mexico and the republics of +Central America. Her cotton monopoly will have vanished, and her +wealth will have been wasted.</p> + +<p>I think that history will agree with me in saying that the northern +States had no alternative but war. What concession could they make? +Could they promise to hold their peace about slavery? And had they so +promised, would the South have believed them? They might have +conceded secession; that is, they might have given all that would +have been demanded. But what individual chooses to yield to such +demands; and if not an individual,—then what people will do so? But +in truth they could not have yielded all that was demanded. Had +secession been granted to South Carolina and Georgia, Virginia would +have been coerced to join those States by the nature of her property, +and with Virginia Maryland would have gone, and Washington, the +capital. What may be the future line of division between the North +and the South I will not pretend to say; but that line will probably +be dictated by the North. It may still be hoped that Missouri, +Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland will go with the North, and be +rescued from slavery. But had secession been yielded, had the +prestige of success fallen to the lot of the South, those States must +have become southern.</p> + +<p>While on this subject of slavery—for in discussing the cause of the +war, slavery is the subject that must be discussed—I cannot forbear +to say a few words about the negroes of the North American States. +The republican party of the North is divided into two sections, of +which one may be called abolitionist, and the other non-abolitionist. +Mr. Lincoln's government presumes itself to belong to the latter, +though its tendencies towards abolition are very strong. The +abolition party is growing in strength daily. It is but a short time +since Wendell Phillips could not lecture in Boston without a guard of +police. Now, at this moment of my writing, he is a popular hero. The +very men who, five years since, were accustomed to make speeches, +strong as words could frame them, against abolition, are now turning +round, and if not preaching abolition, are patting the backs of those +who do so. I heard one of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet declare old John +Brown to be a hero and a martyr. All the Protestant Germans are +abolitionists,—and they have become so strong a political element in +the country that many now declare that no future President can be +elected without their aid. The object is declared boldly. No long +political scheme is asked for, but instant abolition is wanted; +abolition to be declared while yet the war is raging. Let the slaves +of all rebels be declared free; and all slave-owners in the seceding +States are rebels!</p> + +<p>One cannot but ask what abolition means, and to what it would lead. +Any ordinance of abolition now pronounced would not effect the +emancipation of the slaves, but might probably effect a servile +insurrection. I will not accuse those who are preaching this crusade +of any desire for so fearful a scourge on the land. They probably +calculate that an edict of abolition once given would be so much done +towards the ultimate winning of the battle. They are making their hay +while their sun shines. But if they could emancipate those four +million slaves, in what way would they then treat them? How would +they feed them? In what way would they treat the ruined owners of the +slaves, and the acres of land which would lie uncultivated? Of all +subjects with which a man can be called on to deal, it is the most +difficult. But a New England abolitionist talks of it as though no +more were required than an open path for his humanitarian energies. +"I could arrange it all to-morrow morning," a gentleman said to me, +who is well known for his zeal in this cause!</p> + +<p>Arrange it all to-morrow morning,—abolition of slavery having become +a fact during the night! I should not envy that gentleman his +morning's work. It was bad enough with us, but what were our numbers +compared with those of the southern States? We paid a price for the +slaves, but no price is to be paid in this case. The value of the +property would probably be lowly estimated at £100 a piece for men, +women, and children, or four hundred million pounds for the whole +population. They form the wealth of the South; and if they were +bought, what should be done with them? They are like children. Every +slave-owner in the country,—every man who has had ought to do with +slaves,—will tell the same story. In Maryland and Delaware are men +who hate slavery, who would be only too happy to enfranchise their +slaves; but the negroes who have been slaves are not fit for freedom. +In many cases, practically, they cannot be enfranchised. Give them +their liberty, starting them well in the world at what expense you +please, and at the end of six months they will come back upon your +hands for the means of support. Everything must be done for them. +They expect food and clothes, and instruction as to every simple act +of life, as do children. The negro domestic servant is handy at his +own work; no servant more so; but he cannot go beyond that. He does +not comprehend the object and purport of continued industry. If he +have money he will play with it,—will amuse himself with it. If he +have none, he will amuse himself without it. His work is like a +schoolboy's task; he knows it must be done, but never comprehends +that the doing of it is the very end and essence of his life. He is a +child in all things, and the extent of prudential wisdom to which he +ever attains is to disdain emancipation, and cling to the security of +his bondage. It is true enough that slavery has been a curse. +Whatever may have been its effect on the negroes, it has been a +deadly curse upon the white masters.</p> + +<p>The preaching of abolition during the war is to me either the +deadliest of sins or the vainest of follies. Its only immediate +result possible would be servile insurrection. That is so manifestly +atrocious,—a wish for it would be so hellish, that I do not presume +the preachers of abolition to entertain it. But if that be not meant, +it must be intended that an act of emancipation should be carried +throughout the slave States,—either in their separation from the +North, or after their subjection and consequent reunion with the +North. As regards the States while in secession, the North cannot +operate upon their slaves any more than England can operate on the +slaves of Cuba. But if a reunion is to be a precursor of +emancipation, surely that reunion should be first effected. A +decision in the northern and western mind on such a subject cannot +assist in obtaining that reunion,—but must militate against the +practicability of such an object. This is so well understood, that +Mr. Lincoln and his Government do not dare to call themselves +abolitionists.<a href="#fn01">*</a><a id="fnb01"></a></p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn01"></a>*President +Lincoln has proposed a plan for the emancipation of slaves +in the border States, and for compensation to the owners. His doing +so proves that he regards present emancipation in the Gulf States as +quite out of the question. It also proves that he looks forward to +the recovery of the border States for the North, but that he does not +look forward to the recovery of the Gulf States. +<a href="#fnb01"><span class="caption">[back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Abolition, in truth, is a political cry. It is the banner of defiance +opposed to secession. As the differences between the North and South +have grown with years, and have swelled to the proportions of +national antipathy, southern nullification has amplified itself into +secession, and northern free-soil principles have burst into this +growth of abolition. Men have not calculated the results. Charming +pictures are drawn for you of the negro in a state of Utopian bliss, +owning his own hoe and eating his own hog; in a paradise, where +everything is bought and sold, except his wife, his little ones, and +himself. But the enfranchised negro has always thrown away his hoe, +has eaten any man's hog but his own,—and has too often sold his +daughter for a dollar when any such market has been open to him.</p> + +<p>I confess that this cry of abolition has been made peculiarly +displeasing to me by the fact that the northern abolitionist is by no +means willing to give even to the negro who is already free that +position in the world which alone might tend to raise him in the +scale of human beings,—if anything can so raise him and make him fit +for freedom. The abolitionists hold that the negro is the white man's +equal. I do not. I see, or think that I see, that the negro is the +white man's inferior through laws of nature. That he is not mentally +fit to cope with white men,—I speak of the full-blooded negro,—and +that he must fill a position simply servile. But the abolitionist +declares him to be the white man's equal. But yet, when he has him at +his elbow, he treats him with a scorn which even the negro can hardly +endure. I will give him political equality, but not social equality, +says the abolitionist. But even in this he is untrue. A black man may +vote in New York, but he cannot vote under the same circumstances as +a white man. He is subjected to qualifications which in truth debar +him from the poll. A white man votes by manhood suffrage, providing +he has been for one year an inhabitant of his State; but a man of +colour must have been for three years a citizen of the State, and +must own a property qualification of £50 free of debt. But political +equality is not what such men want, nor indeed is it social equality. +It is social tolerance and social sympathy; and these are denied to +the negro. An American abolitionist would not sit at table with a +negro. He might do so in England at the house of an English duchess; +but in his own country the proposal of such a companion would be an +insult to him. He will not sit with him in a public carriage if he +can avoid it. In New York I have seen special street-cars for +coloured people. The abolitionist is struck with horror when he +thinks that a man and a brother should be a slave; but when the man +and the brother has been made free, he is regarded with loathing and +contempt. All this I cannot see with equanimity. There is falsehood +in it from the beginning to the end. The slave as a rule is well +treated,—gets all he wants and almost all he desires. The free negro +as a rule is ill treated, and does not get that consideration which +alone might put him in the worldly position for which his advocate +declares him to be fit. It is false throughout,—this preaching. The +negro is not the white man's equal by nature. But to the free negro +in the northern States this inequality is increased by the white +man's hardness to him.</p> + +<p>In a former book which I wrote some few years since, I expressed an +opinion as to the probable destiny of this race in the West Indies. I +will not now go over that question again. I then divided the +inhabitants of those islands into three classes,—the white, the +black, and the coloured, taking a nomenclature which I found there +prevailing. By coloured men I alluded to mulattoes, and all those of +mixed European and African blood. The word "coloured," in the States, +seems to apply to the whole negro race, whether full-blooded or +half-blooded. I allude to this now because I wish to explain that, in +speaking of what I conceive to be the intellectual inferiority of the +negro race, I allude to those of pure negro descent,—or of descent +so nearly pure as to make the negro element manifestly predominant. +In the West Indies, where I had more opportunity of studying the +subject, I always believed myself able to tell a negro from a +coloured man. Indeed the classes are to a great degree distinct +there, the greater portion of the retail trade of the country being +in the hands of the coloured people. But in the States I have been +able to make no such distinction. One sees generally neither the rich +yellow of the West Indian mulatto, nor the deep oily black of the +West Indian negro. The prevailing hue is a dry, dingy brown,—almost +dusty in its dryness. I have observed but little difference made +between the negro and the half-caste,—and no difference in the +actual treatment. I have never met in American society any man or +woman in whose veins there can have been presumed to be any taint of +African blood. In Jamaica they are daily to be found in society.</p> + +<p>Every Englishman probably looks forward to the accomplishment of +abolition of slavery at some future day. I feel as sure of it as I do +of the final judgment. When or how it shall come I will not attempt +to foretell. The mode which seems to promise the surest success and +the least present or future inconvenience, would be an edict +enfranchising all female children born after a certain date, and all +their children. Under such an arrangement the negro population would +probably die out slowly,—very slowly. What might then be the fate of +the cotton-fields of the Gulf States, who shall dare to say? It may +be that coolies from India and from China will then have taken the +place of the negro there, as they probably will have done also in +Guiana and the West Indies.</p> + + +<p><a id="c4"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> +<h4>WASHINGTON TO ST. LOUIS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Though I had felt Washington to be disagreeable as a city, yet I was +almost sorry to leave it when the day of my departure came. I had +allowed myself a month for my sojourn in the capital, and I had +stayed a month to the day. Then came the trouble of packing up, the +necessity of calling on a long list of acquaintances one after +another, the feeling that bad as Washington might be, I might be +going to places that were worse, a conviction that I should get +beyond the reach of my letters, and a sort of affection which I had +acquired for my rooms. My landlord, being a coloured man, told me +that he was sorry I was going. Would I not remain? Would I come back +to him? Had I been comfortable? Only for so and so or so and so, he +would have done better for me. No white American citizen, occupying +the position of landlord, would have condescended to such comfortable +words. I knew the man did not in truth want me to stay, as a lady and +gentleman were waiting to go in the moment I went out; but I did not +the less value the assurance. One hungers and thirsts after such +civil words among American citizens of this class. The clerks and +managers at hotels, the officials at railway stations, the cashiers +at banks, the women in the shops;—ah! they are the worst of all. An +American woman who is bound by her position to serve you,—who is +paid in some shape to supply your wants, whether to sell you a bit of +soap or bring you a towel in your bedroom at an hotel,—is, I think, +of all human creatures, the most insolent. I certainly had a feeling +of regret at parting with my coloured friend,—and some regret also +as regards a few that were white.</p> + +<p>As I drove down Pennsylvania Avenue, through the slush and mud, and +saw, perhaps for the last time, those wretchedly dirty horse sentries +who had refused to allow me to trot through the streets, I almost +wished that I could see more of them. How absurd they looked, with a +whole kit of rattletraps strapped on their horses' backs behind +them,—blankets, coats, canteens, coils of rope, and, always at the +top of everything else, a tin pot! No doubt these things are all +necessary to a mounted sentry, or they would not have been there; but +it always seemed as though the horse had been loaded gipsy-fashion, +in a manner that I may perhaps best describe as higgledy-piggledy, +and that there was a want of military precision in the packing. The +man would have looked more graceful, and the soldier more warlike, +had the pannikin been made to assume some rigidly fixed position +instead of dangling among the ropes. The drawn sabre, too, never +consorted well with the dirty outside woollen wrapper which generally +hung loose from the man's neck. Heaven knows, I did not begrudge him +his comforter in that cold weather, or even his long, uncombed shock +of hair; but I think he might have been made more spruce, and I am +sure that he could not have looked more uncomfortable. As I went, +however, I felt for him a sort of affection, and wished in my heart +of hearts that he might soon be enabled to return to some more +congenial employment.</p> + +<p>I went out by the Capitol, and saw that also, as I then believed, for +the last time. With all its faults it is a great building, and, +though unfinished, is effective; its very size and pretension give it +a certain majesty. What will be the fate of that vast pile, and of +those other costly public edifices at Washington, should the South +succeed wholly in their present enterprise? If Virginia should ever +become a part of the southern republic, Washington cannot remain the +capital of the northern republic. In such case it would be almost +better to let Maryland go also, so that the future destiny of that +unfortunate city may not be a source of trouble, and a stumbling +block of opprobrium. Even if Virginia be saved, its position will be +most unfortunate.</p> + +<p>I fancy that the railroads in those days must have been doing a very +prosperous business. From New York to Philadelphia, thence on to +Baltimore, and again to Washington, I had found the cars full; so +full that sundry passengers could not find seats. Now, on my return +to Baltimore, they were again crowded. The stations were all crowded. +Luggage-trains were going in and out as fast as the rails could carry +them. Among the passengers almost half were soldiers. I presume that +these were men going on furlough, or on special occasions; for the +regiments were of course not received by ordinary passenger trains. +About this time a return was called for by Congress of all the moneys +paid by the government, on account of the army, to the lines between +New York and Washington. Whether or no it was ever furnished I did +not hear; but it was openly stated that the colonels of regiments +received large gratuities from certain railway companies for the +regiments passing over their lines. Charges of a similar nature were +made against officers, contractors, quartermasters, paymasters, +generals, and cabinet ministers. I am not prepared to say that any of +these men had dirty hands. It was not for me to make inquiries on +such matters. But the continuance and universality of the accusations +were dreadful. When everybody is suspected of being dishonest, +dishonesty almost ceases to be regarded as disgraceful.</p> + +<p>I will allude to a charge made against one member of the Cabinet, +because the circumstances of the case were all acknowledged and +proved. This gentleman employed his wife's brother-in-law to buy +ships, and the agent so employed pocketed about £20,000 by the +transaction in six months. The excuse made was that this profit was +in accordance with the usual practice of the ship-dealing trade, and +that it was paid by the owners who sold, and not by the Government +which bought. But in so vast an agency the ordinary rate of profit on +such business became an enormous sum; and the gentleman who made the +plea must surely have understood that that £20,000 was in fact paid +by the government. It is the purchaser, and not the seller, who in +fact pays all such fees. The question is this,—Should the government +have paid so vast a sum for one man's work for six months? And if so, +was it well that that sum should go into the pocket of a near +relative of the Minister whose special business it was to protect the +government?</p> + +<p>American private soldiers are not pleasant fellow-travellers. They +are loud and noisy, and swear quite as much as the army could +possibly have sworn in Flanders. They are, moreover, very dirty; and +each man, with his long, thick great-coat, takes up more space than +is intended to be allotted to him. Of course I felt that if I chose +to travel in a country while it had such a piece of business on its +hands, I could not expect that everything should be found in exact +order. The matter for wonder, perhaps, was that the ordinary affairs +of life were so little disarranged, and that any travelling at all +was practicable. Nevertheless the fact remains that American private +soldiers are not agreeable fellow-travellers.</p> + +<p>It was my present intention to go due west across the country into +Missouri, skirting, as it were, the line of the war which had now +extended itself from the Atlantic across into Kansas. There were at +this time three main armies,—that of the Potomac, as the army of +Virginia was called, of which Maclellan held the command; that of +Kentucky, under General Buell, who was stationed at Louisville on the +Ohio; and the army on the Mississippi, which had been under Fremont, +and of which General Halleck now held the command. To these were +opposed the three rebel armies of Beauregard, in Virginia; of +Johnston, on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee; and of Price, in +Missouri. There was also a fourth army in Kansas, west of Missouri, +under General Hunter; and while I was in Washington another general, +supposed by some to be the "coming man," was sent down to Kansas to +participate in General Hunter's command. This was General Jim Lane, +who resigned a seat in the Senate in order that he might undertake +this military duty. When he reached Kansas, having on his route made +sundry violent abolition speeches, and proclaimed his intention of +sweeping slavery out of the south-western States, he came to +loggerheads with his superior officer respecting their relative +positions.</p> + +<p>On my arrival at Baltimore, I found the place knee-deep in mud and +slush and half-melted snow. It was then raining hard,—raining dirt, +not water, as it sometimes does. Worse weather for soldiers out in +tents could not be imagined,—nor for men who were not soldiers, but +who nevertheless were compelled to leave their houses. I only +remained at Baltimore one day, and then started again, leaving there +the greater part of my baggage. I had a vague hope,—a hope which I +hardly hoped to realize,—that I might be able to get through to the +South. At any rate I made myself ready for the chance by making my +travelling impediments as light as possible, and started from +Baltimore, prepared to endure all the discomfort which lightness of +baggage entails. My route lay over the Alleghanies by Pittsburg and +Cincinnati, and my first stopping-place was at Harrisburg, the +political capital of Pennsylvania. There is nothing special at +Harrisburg to arrest any traveller; but the local legislature of the +State was then sitting, and I was desirous of seeing the Senate and +Representatives of at any rate one State, during its period of +vitality.</p> + +<p>In Pennsylvania the General Assembly, as the joint legislature is +called, sits every year, commencing their work early in January, and +continuing till it be finished. The usual period of sitting seems to +be about ten weeks. In the majority of States, the legislature only +sits every other year. In this State it sits every year, and the +representatives are elected annually. The senators are elected for +three years, a third of the body being chosen each year. The two +chambers were ugly, convenient rooms, arranged very much after the +fashion of the halls of Congress at Washington. Each member had his +own desk, and his own chair. They were placed in the shape of a +horse-shoe, facing the chairman, before whom sat three clerks. In +neither house did I hear any set speech. The voices of the Speaker +and of the clerks of the houses were heard more frequently than those +of the members; and the business seemed to be done in a dull, +serviceable, methodical manner, likely to be useful to the country, +and very uninteresting to the gentlemen engaged. Indeed at Washington +also, in Congress, it seemed to me that there was much less of set +speeches than in our House of Commons. With us there are certain men +whom it seems impossible to put down, and by whom the time of +Parliament is occupied from night to night, with advantage to no one +and with satisfaction to none but themselves. I do not think that the +evil prevails to the same extent in America, either in Congress or in +the State legislatures. As regards Washington, this good result may +be assisted by a salutary practice which, as I was assured, prevails +there. A member gets his speech printed at the Government cost, and +sends it down free by post to his constituents, without troubling +either the house with hearing it, or himself with speaking it. I +cannot but think that the practice might be copied with success on +our side of the water.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the members of the legislature of Pennsylvania did +not impress me very favourably. I do not know why we should wish a +legislator to be neat in his dress, and comely, in some degree, in +his personal appearance. There is no good reason, perhaps, why they +should have cleaner shirts than their outside brethren, or have been +more particular in the use of soap and water, and brush and comb. But +I have an idea that if ever our own Parliament becomes dirty, it will +lose its prestige; and I cannot but think that the Parliament of +Pennsylvania would gain an accession of dignity by some slightly +increased devotion to the Graces. I saw in the two houses but one +gentleman, a senator, who looked like a Quaker; but even he was a +very untidy Quaker.</p> + +<p>I paid my respects to the Governor, and found him briskly employed in +arranging the appointments of officers. All the regimental +appointments to the volunteer regiments,—and that is practically to +the whole body of the +army,<a href="#fn02">*</a><a id="fnb02"></a>—are made +by the State in which the +regiments are mustered. When the affair commenced, the captains and +lieutenants were chosen by the men; but it was found that this would +not do. When the skeleton of a State militia only was required, such +an arrangement was popular and not essentially injurious; but now +that war had become a reality, and that volunteers were required to +obey discipline, some other mode of promotion was found necessary. As +far as I could understand, the appointments were in the hands of the +State Governor, who however was expected in the selection of the +superior officers to be guided by the expressed wishes of the +regiment, when no objection existed to such a choice. In the present +instance the Governor's course was very thorny. Certain unfinished +regiments were in the act of being amalgamated;—two perfect +regiments being made up from perhaps five imperfect regiments, and so +on. But though the privates had not been forthcoming to the full +number for each expected regiment, there had been no such dearth of +officers, and consequently the present operation consisted in +reducing their number.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn02"></a>*The army at this time consisted +nominally of 660,000 men, of whom only 20,000 were +regulars.<a href="#fnb02"><span class="caption"> [back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Nothing can be much uglier than the State House at Harrisburg, but it +commands a magnificent view of one of the valleys into which the +Alleghany mountains is broken. Harrisburg is immediately under the +range, probably at its finest point, and the railway running west +from the town to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Chicago passes right over +the chain. The line has been magnificently engineered, and the +scenery is very grand. I went over the Alleghanies in mid-winter when +they were covered with snow, but even when so seen they were very +fine. The view down the valley from Altoona, a point near the summit, +must in summer be excessively lovely. I stopped at Altoona one night +with the object of getting about among the hills, and making the best +of the winter view; but I found it impossible to walk. The snow had +become frozen and was like glass. I could not progress a mile in any +way. With infinite labour I climbed to the top of one little hill, +and when there became aware that the descent would be very much more +difficult. I did get down, but should not choose to describe the +manner in which I accomplished the descent.</p> + +<p>In running down the mountains to Pittsburg an accident occurred which +in any other country would have thrown the engine off the line, and +have reduced the carriages behind the engine to a heap of ruins. But +here it had no other effect than that of delaying us for three or +four hours. The tire of one of the heavy driving wheels flew off, and +in the shock the body of the wheel itself was broken, one spoke and a +portion of the circumference of the wheel was carried away, and the +steam-chamber was ripped open. Nevertheless the train was pulled up, +neither the engine nor any of the carriages got off the line, and the +men in charge of the train seemed to think very lightly of the +matter. I was amused to see how little was made of the affair by any +of the passengers. In England a delay of three hours would in itself +produce a great amount of grumbling, or at least many signs of +discomfort and temporary unhappiness. But here no one said a word. +Some of the younger men got out and looked at the ruined wheel; but +most of the passengers kept their seats, chewed their tobacco, and +went to sleep. In all such matters an American is much more patient +than an Englishman. To sit quiet, without speech, and ruminate in +some contorted position of body comes to him by nature. On this +occasion I did not hear a word of complaint—nor yet a word of +surprise or thankfulness that the accident had been attended with no +serious result. "I have got a furlough for ten days," one soldier +said to me. "And I have missed every connection all through from +Washington here. I shall have just time to turn round and go back +when I get home." But he did not seem to be in any way dissatisfied. +He had not referred to his relatives when he spoke of "missing his +connections," but to his want of good fortune as regarded railway +travelling. He had reached Baltimore too late for the train on to +Harrisburg, and Harrisburg too late for the train on to Pittsburg. +Now he must again reach Pittsburg too late for his further journey. +But nevertheless he seemed to be well pleased with his position.</p> + +<p>Pittsburg is the Merthyr-Tydvil of Pennsylvania,—or perhaps I should +better describe it as an amalgamation of Swansea, Merthyr-Tydvil, and +South Shields. It is without exception the blackest place which I +ever saw. The three English towns which I have named are very dirty, +but all their combined soot and grease and dinginess do not equal +that of Pittsburg. As regards scenery it is beautifully situated, +being at the foot of the Alleghany mountains, and at the juncture of +the two rivers Monongahela and Alleghany. Here, at the town, they +come together and form the river Ohio. Nothing can be more +picturesque than the site; for the spurs of the mountains come down +close round the town, and the rivers are broad and swift, and can be +seen for miles from heights which may be reached in a short walk. +Even the filth and wondrous blackness of the place are picturesque +when looked down upon from above. The tops of the churches are +visible, and some of the larger buildings may be partially traced +through the thick, brown, settled smoke. But the city itself is +buried in a dense cloud. The atmosphere was especially heavy when I +was there, and the effect was probably increased by the general +darkness of the weather. The Monongahela is crossed by a fine bridge, +and on the other side the ground rises at once, almost with the +rapidity of a precipice; so that a commanding view is obtained down +upon the town and the two rivers and the different bridges, from a +height immediately above them. I was never more in love with smoke +and dirt than when I stood here and watched the darkness of night +close in upon the floating soot which hovered over the housetops of +the city. I cannot say that I saw the sun set, for there was no sun. +I should say that the sun never shone at Pittsburg,—as foreigners +who visit London in November declare that the sun never shines there.</p> + +<p>Walking along the river-side I counted thirty-two steamers, all +beached upon the shore with their bows towards the land,—large +boats, capable probably of carrying from one to two hundred +passengers each, and about 300 tons of merchandise. On inquiry I +found that many of these were not now at work. They were resting +idle, the trade down the Mississippi below St. Louis having been cut +off by the war. Many of them, however, were still running, the +passage down the river being open to Wheeling in Virginia, to +Portsmouth, Cincinnati and the whole of South Ohio, to Louisville in +Kentucky, and to Cairo in Illinois, where the Ohio joins the +Mississippi. The amount of traffic carried on by these boats while +the country was at peace within itself was very great, and conclusive +as to the increasing prosperity of the people. It seems that +everybody travels in America, and that nothing is thought of +distance. A young man will step into a car and sit beside you, with +that easy, careless air which is common to a railway passenger in +England who is passing from one station to the next; and on +conversing with him you will find that he is going seven or eight +hundred miles. He is supplied with fresh newspapers three or four +times a day as he passes by the towns at which they are published; he +eats a large assortment of gum-drops and apples, and is quite as much +at home as in his own house. On board the river boats it is the same +with him, with this exception, that when there he can get whisky when +he wants it. He knows nothing of the ennui of travelling, and never +seems to long for the end of his journey, as travellers do with us. +Should his boat come to grief upon the river, and lie by for a day or +a night, it does not in the least disconcert him. He seats himself +upon three chairs, takes a bite of tobacco, thrusts his hands into +his trousers pockets and revels in an elysium of his own.</p> + +<p>I was told that the stockholders in these boats were in a bad way at +the present time. There were no dividends going. The same story was +repeated as to many and many an investment. Where the war created +business, as it had done on some of the main lines of railroad and in +some special towns, money was passing very freely; but away from +this, ruin seemed to have fallen on the enterprise of the country. +Men were not broken-hearted, nor were they even melancholy; but they +were simply ruined. That is nothing in the States, so long as the +ruined man has the means left to him of supplying his daily wants +till he can start himself again in life. It is almost the normal +condition of the American man in business; and therefore I am +inclined to think that when this war is over, and things begin to +settle themselves into new grooves, commerce will recover herself +more quickly there than she would do among any other people. It is so +common a thing to hear of an enterprise that has never paid a dollar +of interest on the original outlay,—of hotels, canals, railroads, +banks, blocks of houses, &c., that never paid even in the happy days +of peace,—that one is tempted to disregard the absence of dividends, +and to believe that such a trifling accident will not act as any +check on future speculation. In no country has pecuniary ruin been so +common as in the States; but then in no country is pecuniary ruin so +little ruinous. "We are a recuperative people," a west-country +gentleman once said to me. I doubted the propriety of his word, but I +acknowledged the truth of his assertion.</p> + +<p>Pittsburg and Alleghany, which latter is a town similar in its nature +to Pittsburg on the other side of the river of the same name, regard +themselves as places apart; but they are in effect one and the same +city. They live under the same blanket of soot, which is woven by the +joint efforts of the two places. Their united population is 135,000, +of which Alleghany owns about 50,000. The industry of the towns is of +that sort which arises from a union of coal and iron in the vicinity. +The Pennsylvanian coalfields are the most prolific in the Union; and +Pittsburg is therefore great, exactly as Merthyr-Tydvil and +Birmingham are great. But the foundry-work at Pittsburg is more +nearly allied to the heavy, rough works of the Welsh coal metropolis +than to the finish and polish of Birmingham.</p> + +<p>"Why cannot you consume your own smoke?" I asked a gentleman there. +"Fuel is so cheap that it would not pay," he answered. His idea of +the advantage of consuming smoke was confined to the question of its +paying as a simple operation in itself. The consequent cleanliness +and improvement in the atmosphere had not entered into his +calculations. Any such result might be a fortuitous benefit, but was +not of sufficient importance to make any effort in that direction +expedient on its own account. "Coal was burned," he said, "in the +foundries at something less than two dollars a ton; while that was +the case, it could not answer the purpose of any iron-founder to put +up an apparatus for the consumption of smoke." I did not pursue the +argument any further, as I perceived that we were looking at the +matter from two different points of view.</p> + +<p>Everything in the hotel was black; not black to the eye, for the eye +teaches itself to discriminate colours even when loaded with dirt, +but black to the touch. On coming out of a tub of water my foot took +an impress from the carpet exactly as it would have done had I trod +barefooted on a path laid with soot. I thought that I was turning +negro upwards, till I put my wet hand upon the carpet, and found that +the result was the same. And yet the carpet was green to the eye,—a +dull, dingy green, but still green. "You shouldn't damp your feet," a +man said to me, to whom I mentioned the catastrophe. Certainly +Pittsburg is the dirtiest place I ever saw, but it is, as I said +before, very picturesque in its dirt when looked at from above the +blanket.</p> + +<p>From Pittsburg I went on by train to Cincinnati, and was soon in the +State of Ohio. I confess that I have never felt any great regard for +Pennsylvania. It has always had in my estimation a low character for +commercial honesty, and a certain flavour of pretentious hypocrisy. +This probably has been much owing to the acerbity and pungency of +Sydney Smith's witty denunciations against the drab-coloured State. +It is noted for repudiation of its own debts, and for sharpness in +exaction of its own bargains. It has been always smart in banking. It +has given Buchanan as a President to the country, and Cameron as a +Secretary at War to the Government! When the battle of Bull's Run was +to be fought, Pennsylvanian soldiers were the men who, on that day, +threw down their arms because the three months' term for which they +had been enlisted was then expired! Pennsylvania does not in my mind +stand on a par with Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, +or Virginia. We are apt to connect the name of Benjamin Franklin with +Pennsylvania, but Franklin was a Boston man. Nevertheless, +Pennsylvania is rich and prosperous. Indeed it bears all those marks +which Quakers generally leave behind them.</p> + +<p>I had some little personal feeling in visiting Cincinnati, because my +mother had lived there for some time, and had there been concerned in +a commercial enterprise, by which no one, I believe, made any great +sum of money. Between thirty and forty years ago she built a bazaar +in Cincinnati, which I was assured by the present owner of the house, +was at the time of its erection considered to be the great building +of the town. It has been sadly eclipsed now, and by no means rears +its head proudly among the great blocks around it. It had become a +"Physico-medical Institute" when I was there, and was under the +dominion of a quack doctor on one side, and of a college of +rights-of-women female medical professors on the other. "I believe, +sir, no man or woman ever yet made a dollar in that building; and as +for rent, I don't even expect it." Such was the account given of the +unfortunate bazaar by the present proprietor.</p> + +<p>Cincinnati has long been known as a great town,—conspicuous among +all towns for the number of hogs which are there killed, salted, and +packed. It is the great hog metropolis of the western States; but +Cincinnati has not grown with the rapidity of other towns. It has now +170,000 inhabitants, but then it got an early start. St. Louis, which +is west of it again, near the confluence of the Missouri and +Mississippi, has gone ahead of it. Cincinnati stands on the Ohio +river, separated by a ferry from Kentucky, which is a slave State. +Ohio itself is a free-soil State. When the time comes for arranging +the line of division, if such time shall ever come, it will be very +hard to say where northern feeling ends and where southern wishes +commence. Newport and Covington, which are in Kentucky, are suburbs +of Cincinnati; and yet in these places slavery is rife. The domestic +servants are mostly slaves, though it is essential that those so kept +should be known as slaves who will not run away. It is understood +that a slave who escapes into Ohio will not be caught and given up by +the intervention of the Ohio police; and from Covington or Newport +any slave can escape into Ohio with ease. But when that division +takes place, no river like the Ohio can form the boundary between the +divided nations. Such rivers are the highways, round which in this +country people have clustered themselves. A river here is not a +natural barrier, but a connecting street. It would be as well to make +a railway a division, or the centre line of a city a national +boundary. Kentucky and Ohio States are joined together by the Ohio +river, with Cincinnati on one side and Louisville on the other; and I +do not think that man's act can upset these ties of nature. But +between Kentucky and Tennessee there is no such bond of union. There +a mathematical line has been simply drawn, a continuation of that +line which divides Virginia from North Carolina, to which two latter +States Kentucky and Tennessee belonged when the thirteen original +States first formed themselves into a union. But that mathematical +line has offered no peculiar advantages to population. No great towns +cluster there, and no strong social interests would be dissevered +should Kentucky throw in her lot with the North, and Tennessee with +the South; but Kentucky owns a quarter of a million of slaves, and +those slaves must either be emancipated or removed before such a +junction can be firmly settled.</p> + +<p>The great business of Cincinnati is hog-killing now, as it used to be +in the old days of which I have so often heard. It seems to be an +established fact, that in this portion of the world the porcine genus +are all hogs. One never hears of a pig. With us a trade in hogs and +pigs is subject to some little contumely. There is a feeling, which +has perhaps never been expressed in words, but which certainly +exists, that these animals are not so honourable in their bearings as +sheep and oxen. It is a prejudice which by no means exists in +Cincinnati. There hog killing and salting and packing are very +honourable, and the great men in the trade are the merchant princes +of the city. I went to see the performance, feeling it to be a duty +to inspect everywhere that which I found to be of most importance; +but I will not describe it. There were a crowd of men operating, and +I was told that the point of honour was to "put through" a hog a +minute. It must be understood that the animal enters upon the +ceremony alive, and comes out in that cleanly, disembowelled guise in +which it may sometimes be seen hanging up previous to the operation +of the pork-butcher's knife. To one special man was appointed a +performance which seemed to be specially disagreeable, so that he +appeared despicable in my eyes; but when on inquiry I learned that he +earned five dollars, or a pound sterling, a day, my judgment as to +his position was reversed. And after all what matters the ugly nature +of such an occupation when a man is used to it?</p> + +<p>Cincinnati is like all other American towns, with second, third, and +fourth streets, seventh, eighth, and ninth streets, and so on. Then +the cross-streets are named chiefly from trees. Chesnut, walnut, +locust, &c. I do not know whence has come this fancy for naming +streets after trees in the States, but it is very general. The town +is well built, with good fronts to many of the houses, with large +shops and larger stores;—of course also with an enormous hotel, +which has never paid anything like a proper dividend to the +speculator who built it. It is always the same story. But these towns +shame our provincial towns by their breadth and grandeur. I am afraid +that speculators with us are trammelled by an "ignorant impatience of +ruin." I should not myself like to live in Cincinnati or in any of +these towns. They are slow, dingy, and uninteresting; but they all +possess an air of substantial, civic dignity. It must however be +remembered that the Americans live much more in towns than we do. All +with us that are rich and aristocratic and luxurious live in the +country, frequenting the metropolis for only a portion of the year. +But all that are rich and aristocratic and luxurious in the States +live in the towns. Our provincial towns are not generally chosen as +the residences of our higher classes.</p> + +<p>Cincinnati has 170,000 inhabitants, and there are 14,000 children at +the free schools,—which is about one in twelve of the whole +population. This number gives the average of scholars throughout the +year ended 30th June, 1861. But there are other schools in +Cincinnati,—parish schools and private schools, and it is stated to +me that there were in all 32,000 children attending school in the +city throughout the year. The education at the State schools is very +good. Thirty-four teachers are employed, at an average salary of £92 +each, ranging from £260 to £60 per annum. It is in this matter of +education that the cities of the free States of America have done so +much for the civilization and welfare of their population. This fact +cannot be repeated in their praise too often. Those who have the +management of affairs, who are at the top of the tree, are desirous +of giving to all an opportunity of raising themselves in the scale of +human beings. I dislike universal suffrage; I dislike vote by ballot; +I dislike above all things the tyranny of democracy. But I do like +the political feeling—for it is a political feeling—which induces +every educated American to lend a hand to the education of his +fellow-citizens. It shows, if nothing else does so, a germ of truth +in that doctrine of equality. It is a doctrine to be forgiven when he +who preaches it is in truth striving to raise others to his own +level;—though utterly unpardonable when the preacher would pull down +others to his level.</p> + +<p>Leaving Cincinnati I again entered a slave State, namely, Kentucky. +When the war broke out Kentucky took upon itself to say that it would +be neutral, as if neutrality in such a position could by any means +have been possible! Neutrality on the borders of secession, on the +battle-field of the coming contest, was of course impossible. +Tennessee, to the south, had joined the South by a regular secession +ordinance. Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana to the north were of course +true to the Union. Under these circumstances it became necessary that +Kentucky should choose her side. With the exception of the little +State of Delaware, in which from her position secesssion would have +been impossible, Kentucky was, I think, less inclined to rebellion, +more desirous of standing by the North, than any other of the slave +States. She did all she could, however, to put off the evil day of so +evil a choice. Abolition within her borders was held to be abominable +as strongly as it was so held in Georgia. She had no sympathy and +could have none with the teachings and preachings of Massachusetts. +But she did not wish to belong to a Confederacy of which the northern +States were to be the declared enemy, and be the border State of the +South under such circumstances. She did all she could for personal +neutrality. She made that effort for general reconciliation of which +I have spoken as the Crittenden compromise. But compromises and +reconciliation were not as yet possible, and therefore it was +necessary that she should choose her part. Her Governor declared for +secession; and at first also her legislature was inclined to follow +the Governor. But no overt act of secession by the State was +committed, and at last it was decided that Kentucky should be +declared to be loyal. It was in fact divided. Those on the southern +border joined the secessionists, whereas the greater portion of the +State, containing Frankfort the capital and the would-be secessionist +Governor who lived there, joined the North. Men in fact became +unionists or secessionists, not by their own conviction, but through +the necessity of their positions; and Kentucky, through the necessity +of her position, became one of the scenes of civil war.</p> + +<p>I must confess that the difficulty of the position of the whole +country seems to me to have been under-estimated in England. In +common life it is not easy to arrange the circumstances of a divorce +between man and wife, all whose belongings and associations have for +many years been in common. Their children, their money, their house, +their friends, their secrets, have been joint property and have +formed bonds of union. But yet such quarrels may arise, such mutual +antipathy, such acerbity and even ill-usage, that all who know them +admit that a separation is needed. So it is here in the States. +Free-soil and slave-soil could, while both were young and unused to +power, go on together,—not without many jars and unhappy bickerings; +but they did go on together. But now they must part; and how shall +the parting be made? With which side shall go this child, and who +shall remain in possession of that pleasant homestead? Putting +secession aside, there were in the United States two distinct +political doctrines, of which the extremes were opposed to each other +as pole is opposed to pole. We have no such variance of creed, no +such radical difference as to the essential rules of life between +parties in our country. We have no such cause for personal rancour in +our Parliament as has existed for some years past in both Houses of +Congress. These two extreme parties were the slave-owners of the +South and the abolitionists of the North and West. Fifty years ago +the former regarded the institution of slavery as a necessity of +their position,—generally as an evil necessity,—and generally also +as a custom to be removed in the course of years. Gradually they have +learned to look upon slavery as good in itself, and to believe that +it has been the source of their wealth and the strength of their +position. They have declared it to be a blessing inalienable,—that +should remain among them for ever,—as an inheritance not to be +touched, and not to be spoken of with hard words. Fifty years ago the +abolitionists of the North differed only in opinion from the +slave-owners of the South in hoping for a speedier end to this stain +upon the nation; and in thinking that some action should be taken +towards the final emancipation of the bondsmen. But they also have +progressed; and as the southern masters have called the institution +blessed, they have called it accursed. Their numbers have increased, +and with their numbers their power and their violence. In this way +two parties have been formed who could not look on each other without +hatred. An intermediate doctrine has been held by men who were nearer +in their sympathies to the slave-owners than to the abolitionists; +but who were not disposed to justify slavery as a thing apart. These +men have been aware that slavery has existed in accordance with the +constitution of their country, and have been willing to attach the +stain which accompanies the institution to the individual State which +entertains it, and not to the national Government, by which the +question has been constitutionally ignored. The men who have +participated in the Government have naturally been inclined towards +the middle doctrine; but as the two extremes have retreated further +from each other, the power of this middle-class of politicians has +decreased. Mr. Lincoln, though he does not now declare himself an +abolitionist, was elected by the abolitionists; and when, as a +consequence of that election, secession was threatened, no step which +he could have taken would have satisfied the South which had opposed +him, and been at the same time true to the North which had chosen +him. But it was possible that his Government might save Maryland, +Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. As Radicals in England become +simple Whigs when they are admitted into public offices, so did Mr. +Lincoln with his government become anti-abolitionist when he entered +on his functions. Had he combated secession with emancipation of the +slaves, no slave State would or could have held by the Union. +Abolition for a lecturer may be a telling subject. It is easy to +bring down rounds of applause by tales of the wrongs of bondage. But +to men in office, abolition was too stern a reality. It signified +servile insurrection, absolute ruin to all southern slave-owners, and +the absolute enmity of every slave State.</p> + +<p>But that task of steering between the two has been very difficult. I +fear that the task of so steering with success is almost impossible. +In England it is thought that Mr. Lincoln might have maintained the +Union by compromising matters with the South,—or if not so, that he +might have maintained peace by yielding to the South. But no such +power was in his hands. While we were blaming him for opposition to +all southern terms, his own friends in the North were saying that all +principle and truth was abandoned for the sake of such States as +Kentucky and Missouri. "Virginia is gone; Maryland cannot go. And +slavery is endured and the new virtue of Washington is made to tamper +with the evil one, in order that a show of loyalty may be preserved +in one or two States which after all are not truly loyal!" That is +the accusation made against the government by the abolitionists; and +that made by us on the other side is the reverse. I believe that Mr. +Lincoln had no alternative but to fight, and that he was right also +not to fight with abolition as his battle-cry. That he may be forced +by his own friends into that cry, is, I fear, still possible. +Kentucky at any rate did not secede in bulk. She still sent her +senators to Congress, and allowed herself to be reckoned among the +stars in the American firmament. But she could not escape the +presence of the war. Did she remain loyal or did she secede, that was +equally her fate.</p> + +<p>The day before I entered Kentucky a battle was fought in that State, +which gave to the northern arms their first actual victory. It was at +a place called Mill Spring, near Somerset, towards the south of the +State. General Zollicoffer, with a Confederate army, numbering, it +was supposed, some eight thousand men, had advanced upon a smaller +Federal force, commanded by General Thomas, and had been himself +killed, while his army was cut to pieces and dispersed; the cannon of +the Confederates were taken, and their camp seized and destroyed. +Their rout was complete; but in this instance again the advancing +party had been beaten, as had, I believe, been the case in all the +actions hitherto fought throughout the war. Here, however, had been +an actual victory, and it was not surprising that in Kentucky loyal +men should rejoice greatly, and begin to hope that the Confederates +would be beaten out of the State. Unfortunately, however, General +Zollicoffer's army had only been an offshoot from the main rebel army +in Kentucky. Buell, commanding the Federal troops at Louisville, and +Sydney Johnston, the Confederate General, at Bowling Green, as yet +remained opposite to each other, and the work was still to be done.</p> + +<p>I visited the little towns of Lexington and Frankfort, in Kentucky. +At the former I found in the hotel to which I went seventy-five +teamsters belonging to the army. They were hanging about the great +hall when I entered, and clustering round the stove in the middle of +the chamber;—a dirty, rough, quaint set of men, clothed in a +wonderful variety of garbs, but not disorderly or loud. The landlord +apologized for their presence, alleging that other accommodation +could not be found for them in the town. He received, he said, a +dollar a day for feeding them, and for supplying them with a place in +which they could lie down. It did not pay him,—but what could he do? +Such an apology from an American landlord was in itself a surprising +fact. Such high functionaries are, as a rule, men inclined to tell a +traveller that if he does not like the guests among whom he finds +himself, he may go elsewhere. But this landlord had as yet filled the +place for not more than two or three weeks, and was unused to the +dignity of his position. While I was at supper, the seventy-five +teamsters were summoned into the common eating-room by a loud gong, +and sat down to their meal at the public table. They were very dirty; +I doubt whether I ever saw dirtier men; but they were orderly and +well-behaved, and but for their extreme dirt might have passed as the +ordinary occupants of a well-filled hotel in the West. Such men, in +the States, are less clumsy with their knives and forks, less astray +in an unused position, more intelligent in adapting themselves to a +new life than are Englishmen of the same rank. It is always the same +story. With us there is no level of society. Men stand on a long +staircase, but the crowd congregates near the bottom, and the lower +steps are very broad. In America men stand upon a common platform, +but the platform is raised above the ground, though it does not +approach in height the top of our staircase. If we take the average +altitude in the two countries, we shall find that the American heads +are the more elevated of the two. I conceived rather an affection for +those dirty teamsters; they answered me civilly when I spoke to them, +and sat in quietness, smoking their pipes, with a dull and dirty, but +orderly demeanour.</p> + +<p>The country about Lexington is called the Blue Grass Region, and +boasts itself as of peculiar fecundity in the matter of pasturage. +Why the grass is called blue, and or in what way or at what period it +becomes blue, I did not learn; but the country is very lovely and +very fertile. Between Lexington and Frankfort a large stock farm, +extending over three thousand acres, is kept by a gentleman, who is +very well known as a breeder of horses, cattle, and sheep. He has +spent much money on it, and is making for himself a Kentucky elysium. +He was kind enough to entertain me for a while, and showed me +something of country life in Kentucky. A farm in that part of the +State depends, and must depend, chiefly on slave-labour. The slaves +are a material part of the estate, and as they are regarded by the +law as real property—being actually adstricti glebæ—an inheritor of +land has no alternative but to keep them. A gentleman in Kentucky +does not sell his slaves. To do so is considered to be low and mean, +and is opposed to the aristocratic traditions of the country. A man +who does so willingly, puts himself beyond the pale of +good-fellowship with his neighbours. A sale of slaves is regarded as +a sign almost of bankruptcy. If a man cannot pay his debts, his +creditors can step in and sell his slaves; but he does not himself +make the sale. When a man owns more slaves than he needs, he hires +them out by the year; and when he requires more than he owns, he +takes them on hire by the year. Care is taken in such hirings not to +remove a married man away from his home. The price paid for a negro's +labour at the time of my visit was about a hundred dollars, or twenty +pounds, for the year; but this price was then extremely low in +consequence of the war disturbances. The usual price had been about +fifty or sixty per cent. above this. The man who takes the negro on +hire feeds him, clothes him, provides him with a bed, and supplies +him with medical attendance. I went into some of their cottages on +the estate which I visited, and was not in the least surprised to +find them preferable in size, furniture, and all material comforts to +the dwellings of most of our own agricultural labourers. Any +comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky slave and an +English ditcher and delver would be preposterous. The Kentucky slave +never wants for clothing fitted to the weather. He eats meat twice a +day, and has three good meals; he knows no limit but his own +appetite; his work is light; he has many varieties of amusement; he +has instant medical assistance at all periods of necessity for +himself, his wife, and his children. Of course he pays no rent, fears +no baker, and knows no hunger. I would not have it supposed that I +conceive slavery with all these comforts to be equal to freedom +without them; nor do I conceive that the negro can be made equal to +the white man. But in discussing the condition of the negro, it is +necessary that we should understand what are the advantages of which +abolition would deprive him, and in what condition he has been placed +by the daily receipt of such advantages. If a negro slave wants new +shoes, he asks for them, and receives them, with the undoubting +simplicity of a child. Such a state of things has its picturesquely +patriarchal side; but what would be the state of such a man if he +were emancipated to-morrow?</p> + +<p>The natural beauty of the place which I was visiting was very great. +The trees were fine and well-scattered over the large, park-like +pastures, and the ground was broken on every side into hills. There +was perhaps too much timber, but my friend seemed to think that that +fault would find a natural remedy only too quickly. "I do not like to +cut down trees if I can help it," he said. After that I need not say +that my host was quite as much an Englishman as an American. To the +purely American farmer a tree is simply an enemy to be trodden under +foot, and buried underground, or reduced to ashes and thrown to the +winds with what most economical despatch may be possible. If water +had been added to the landscape here it would have been perfect, +regarding it as ordinary English park-scenery. But the little rivers +at this place have a dirty trick of burying themselves under the +ground. They go down suddenly into holes, disappearing from the upper +air, and then come up again at the distance of perhaps half a mile. +Unfortunately their periods of seclusion are more prolonged than +those of their upper-air distance. There were three or four such +ascents and descents about the place.</p> + +<p>My host was a breeder of race-horses, and had imported sires from +England; of sheep also, and had imported famous rams; of cattle too, +and was great in bulls. He was very loud in praise of Kentucky and +its attractions, if only this war could be brought to an end. But I +could not obtain from him an assurance that the speculation in which +he was engaged had been profitable. Ornamental farming in England is +a very pretty amusement for a wealthy man, but I fancy,—without +intending any slight on Mr. Mechi,—that the amusement is expensive. +I believe that the same thing may be said of it in a slave State.</p> + +<p>Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky, and is as quietly dull a little +town as I ever entered. It is on the river Kentucky, and as the +grounds about it on every side rise in wooded hills, it is a very +pretty place. In January it was very pretty, but in summer it must be +lovely. I was taken up to the cemetery there by a path along the +river, and am inclined to say that it is the sweetest resting-place +for the dead that I have ever visited. Daniel Boone lies there. He +was the first white man who settled in Kentucky; or rather, perhaps, +the first who entered Kentucky with a view to a white man's +settlement. Such frontier men as was Daniel Boone never remained long +contented with the spots they opened. As soon as he had left his mark +in that territory he went again further west over the big rivers into +Missouri, and there he died. But the men of Kentucky are proud of +Daniel Boone, and so they have buried him in the loveliest spot they +could select, immediately over the river. Frankfort is worth a visit, +if only that this grave and graveyard may be seen. The legislature of +the State was not sitting when I was there, and the grass was growing +in the streets.</p> + +<p>Louisville is the commercial city of the State, and stands on the +Ohio. It is another great town, like all the others, built with high +stores, and great houses and stone-faced blocks. I have no doubt that +all the building speculations have been failures, and that the men +engaged in them were all ruined. But there, as the result of their +labour, stands a fair great city on the southern banks of the Ohio. +Here General Buell held his head-quarters, but his army lay at a +distance. On my return from the West I visited one of the camps of +this army, and will speak of it as I speak of my backward journey. I +had already at this time begun to conceive an opinion that the armies +in Kentucky and in Missouri would do at any rate as much for the +northern cause as that of the Potomac, of which so much more had been +heard in England.</p> + +<p>While I was at Louisville the Ohio was flooded. It had begun to rise +when I was at Cincinnati, and since then had gone on increasing +hourly, rising inch by inch up into the towns upon its bank. I +visited two suburbs of Louisville, both of which were submerged, as +to the streets and ground-floors of the houses. At Shipping Port, one +of these suburbs, I saw the women and children clustering in the +up-stairs room, while the men were going about in punts and wherries, +collecting drift wood from the river for their winter's firing. In +some places bedding and furniture had been brought over to the high +ground, and the women were sitting, guarding their little property. +That village, amidst the waters, was a sad sight to see; but I heard +no complaints. There was no tearing of hair and no gnashing of teeth; +no bitter tears or moans of sorrow. The men who were not at work in +the boats stood loafing about in clusters, looking at the still +rising river; but each seemed to be personally indifferent to the +matter. When the house of an American is carried down the river, he +builds himself another;—as he would get himself a new coat when his +old coat became unserviceable. But he never laments or moans for such +a loss. Surely there is no other people so passive under personal +misfortune!</p> + +<p>Going from Louisville up to St. Louis, I crossed the Ohio river and +passed through parts of Indiana and of Illinois, and striking the +Mississippi opposite St. Louis, crossed that river also, and then +entered the State of Missouri. The Ohio was, as I have said, flooded, +and we went over it at night. The boat had been moored at some +unaccustomed place. There was no light. The road was deep in mud up +to the axle-tree, and was crowded with waggons and carts, which in +the darkness of the night seemed to have stuck there. But the man +drove his four horses through it all, and into the ferry-boat, over +its side. There were three or four such omnibuses, and as many +waggons, as to each of which I predicted in my own mind some fatal +catastrophe. But they were all driven on to the boat in the dark, the +horses mixing in through each other in a chaos which would have +altogether incapacitated any English coachman. And then the vessel +laboured across the flood, going sideways, and hardly keeping her own +against the stream. But we did get over, and were all driven out +again, up to the railway station in safety. On reaching the +Mississippi about the middle of the next day, we found it frozen +over, or rather covered from side to side with blocks of ice which +had forced its way down the river, so that the steam ferry could not +reach its proper landing. I do not think that we in England would +have attempted the feat of carrying over horses and carriages under +stress of such circumstances. But it was done here. Huge plankings +were laid down over the ice, and omnibuses and waggons were driven +on. In getting out again, these vehicles, each with four horses, had +to be twisted about, and driven in and across the vessel, and turned +in spaces to look at which would have broken the heart of an English +coachman. And then with a spring they were driven up a bank as steep +as a ladder! Ah me! under what mistaken illusions have I not laboured +all the days of my youth, in supposing that no man could drive four +horses well but an English stage-coachman? I have seen performances +in America,—and in Italy and France also, but above all in +America,—which would have made the hair of any English professional +driver stand on end.</p> + +<p>And in this way I entered St. Louis.</p> + + +<p><a id="c5"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> +<h4>MISSOURI.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Missouri is a slave State lying to the west of the Mississippi and to +the north of Arkansas. It forms a portion of the territory ceded by +France to the United States in 1803. Indeed, it is difficult to say +how large a portion of the continent of North America is supposed to +be included in that territory. It contains the States of Louisiana, +Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas, as also the present Indian territory; +but it also is said to have contained all the land lying back from +them to the Rocky Mountains, Utah, Nebraska, and Dacotah, and forms +no doubt the widest dominion ever ceded by one nationality to +another.</p> + +<p>Missouri lies exactly north of the old Missouri compromise line, that +is, 36·30 north. When the Missouri compromise was made it was +arranged that Missouri should be a slave State, but that no other +State north of the 36·30 line should ever become slave soil. Kentucky +and Virginia, as also of course Maryland and Delaware, four of the +old slave States, were already north of that line; but the compromise +was intended to prevent the advance of slavery in the north-west. The +compromise has been since annulled, on the ground, I believe, that +Congress had not constitutionally the power to declare that any soil +should be free, or that any should be slave soil. That is a question +to be decided by the States themselves, as each individual State may +please. So the compromise was repealed. But slavery has not on that +account advanced. The battle has been fought in Kansas, and after a +long and terrible struggle, Kansas has come out of the fight as a +free State. Kansas is in the same parallel of latitude as Virginia, +and stretches west as far as the Rocky Mountains.</p> + +<p>When the census of the population of Missouri was taken in 1860, the +slaves amounted to 10 per cent. of the whole number. In the Gulf +States the slave population is about 45 per cent. of the whole. In +the three border States of Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland, the +slaves amount to 30 per cent. of the whole population. From these +figures it will be seen that Missouri, which is comparatively a new +slave State, has not gone a-head with slavery as the old slave States +have done, although from its position and climate, lying as far south +as Virginia, it might seem to have had the same reasons for doing so. +I think there is every reason to believe that slavery will die out in +Missouri. The institution is not popular with the people generally; +and as white labour becomes abundant,—and before the war it was +becoming abundant,—men recognize the fact that the white man's +labour is the more profitable. The heat in this State, in midsummer, +is very great, especially in the valleys of the rivers. At St. Louis, +on the Mississippi, it reaches commonly to 90 degrees, and very +frequently goes above that. The nights moreover are nearly as hot as +the days; but this great heat does not last for any very long period, +and it seems that white men are able to work throughout the year. If +correspondingly severe weather in winter affords any compensation to +the white man for what of heat he endures during the summer, I can +testify that such compensation is to be found in Missouri. When I was +there we were afflicted with a combination of snow, sleet, frost, and +wind, with a mixture of ice and mud, that makes me regard Missouri as +the most inclement land into which I ever penetrated.</p> + +<p>St. Louis, on the Mississippi, is the great town of Missouri, and is +considered by the Missourians to be the star of the West. It is not +to be beaten in population, wealth, or natural advantages by any +other city so far west; but it has not increased with such rapidity +as Chicago, which is considerably to the north of it on Lake +Michigan. Of the great western cities I regard Chicago as the most +remarkable, seeing that St. Louis was a large town before Chicago had +been founded.</p> + +<p>The population of St. Louis is 170,000. Of this number only 2000 are +slaves. I was told that a large proportion of the slaves of Missouri +are employed near the Missouri river in breaking hemp. The growth of +hemp is very profitably carried on in that valley, and the labour +attached to it is one which white men do not like to encounter. +Slaves are not generally employed in St. Louis for domestic service, +as is done almost universally in the towns of Kentucky. This work is +chiefly in the hands of Irish and Germans. Considerably above +one-third of the population of the whole city is made up of these two +nationalities. So much is confessed; but if I were to form an opinion +from the language I heard in the streets of the town, I should say +that nearly every man was either an Irishman or a German.</p> + +<p>St. Louis has none of the aspects of a slave city. I cannot say that +I found it an attractive place, but then I did not visit it at an +attractive time. The war had disturbed everything, given a special +colour of its own to men's thoughts and words, and destroyed all +interest except that which might proceed from itself. The town is +well built, with good shops, straight streets, never-ending rows of +excellent houses, and every sign of commercial wealth and domestic +comfort,—of commercial wealth and domestic comfort in the past, for +there was no present appearance either of comfort or of wealth. The +new hotel here was to be bigger than all the hotels of all other +towns. It is built, and is an enormous pile, and would be handsome +but for a terribly ambitious Grecian doorway. It is built, as far as +the walls and roof are concerned, but in all other respects is +unfinished. I was told that the shares of the original stockholders +were now worth nothing. A shareholder, who so told me, seemed to +regard this as the ordinary course of business.</p> + +<p>The great glory of the town is the "levée," as it is called, or the +long river beach up to which the steamers are brought with their bows +to the shore. It is an esplanade looking on to the river, not built +with quays or wharves, as would be the case with us, but with a +sloping bank running down to the water. In the good days of peace a +hundred vessels were to be seen here, each with its double funnels. +The line of them seemed to be never ending even when I was there, but +then a very large proportion of them were lying idle. They resemble +huge wooden houses, apparently of frail architecture, floating upon +the water. Each has its double row of balconies running round it, and +the lower or ground floor is open throughout. The upper stories are +propped and supported on ugly sticks and ricketty-looking beams; so +that the first appearance does not convey any great idea of security +to a stranger. They are always painted white and the paint is always +very dirty. When they begin to move, they moan and groan in +melancholy tones which are subversive of all comfort; and as they +continue on their courses they puff and bluster, and are for ever +threatening to burst and shatter themselves to pieces. There they lie +in a continuous line nearly a mile in length along the levée of St. +Louis, dirty, dingy, and now, alas, mute. They have ceased to groan +and puff, and if this war be continued for six months longer, will +become rotten and useless as they lie.</p> + +<p>They boast at St. Louis that they command 46,000 miles of navigable +river water, counting the great rivers up and down from that place. +These rivers are chiefly the Mississippi, the Missouri and Ohio which +fall into the Mississippi near St. Louis, the Platte and Kansas +rivers—tributaries of the Missouri, the Illinois, and the Wisconsin. +All these are open to steamers, and all of them traverse regions rich +in corn, in coal, in metals, or in timber. These ready-made highways +of the world centre, as it were, at St. Louis, and make it the depôt +of the carrying trade of all that vast country. Minnesota is 1500 +miles above New Orleans, but the wheat of Minnesota can be brought +down the whole distance without change of the vessel in which it is +first deposited. It would seem to be impossible that a country so +blessed should not become rich. It must be remembered that these +rivers flow through lands that have never yet been surpassed in +natural fertility. Of all countries in the world one would say that +the States of America should have been the last to curse themselves +with a war; but now the curse has fallen upon them with a double +vengeance. It would seem that they could never be great in war: their +very institutions forbid it; their enormous distances forbid it; the +price of labour forbids it; and it is forbidden also by the career of +industry and expansion which has been given to them. But the curse of +fighting has come upon them, and they are showing themselves to be as +eager in the works of war as they have shown themselves capable in +the works of peace. Men and angels must weep as they behold the +things that are being done, as they watch the ruin that has come and +is still coming, as they look on commerce killed and agriculture +suspended. No sight so sad has come upon the earth in our days. They +were a great people; feeding the world, adding daily to the +mechanical appliances of mankind, increasing in population beyond all +measures of such increase hitherto known, and extending education as +fast as they extended their numbers. Poverty had as yet found no +place among them, and hunger was an evil of which they had read, but +were themselves ignorant. Each man among their crowds had a right to +be proud of his manhood. To read and write,—I am speaking here of +the North,—was as common as to eat and drink. To work was no +disgrace, and the wages of work were plentiful. To live without work +was the lot of none. What blessing above these blessings was needed +to make a people great and happy? And now a stranger visiting them +would declare that they are wallowing in a very slough of despond. +The only trade open is the trade of war. The axe of the woodsman is +at rest; the plough is idle; the artificer has closed his shop. The +roar of the foundry is still heard because cannon are needed, and the +river of molten iron comes out as an implement of death. The +stone-cutter's hammer and the mason's trowel are never heard. The +gold of the country is hiding itself as though it had returned to its +mother-earth, and the infancy of a paper currency has been commenced. +Sick soldiers, who have never seen a battlefield, are dying by +hundreds in the squalid dirt of their unaccustomed camps. Men and +women talk of war, and of war only. Newspapers full of the war are +alone read. A contract for war stores,—too often a dishonest +contract,—is the one path open for commercial enterprise. The young +man must go to the war or he is disgraced. The war swallows +everything, and as yet has failed to produce even such bitter fruits +as victory or glory. Must it not be said that a curse has fallen upon +the land?</p> + +<p>And yet I still hope that it may ultimately be for good. Through +water and fire must a nation be cleansed of its faults. It has been +so with all nations, though the phases of their trials have been +different. It did not seem to be well with us in Cromwell's early +days; nor was it well with us afterwards in those disgraceful years +of the later Stuarts. We know how France was bathed in blood in her +effort to rid herself of her painted sepulchre of an ancient throne; +how Germany was made desolate, in order that Prussia might become a +nation. Ireland was poor and wretched, till her famine came. Men said +it was a curse, but that curse has been her greatest blessing. And so +will it be here in the West. I could not but weep in spirit as I saw +the wretchedness around me,—the squalid misery of the soldiers, the +inefficiency of their officers, the bickerings of their rulers, the +noise and threats, the dirt and ruin, the terrible dishonesty of +those who were trusted! These are things which made a man wish that +he were anywhere but there. But I do believe that God is still over +all, and that everything is working for good. These things are the +fire and water through which this nation must pass. The course of +this people had been too straight, and their ways had been too +pleasant. That which to others had been ever difficult had been made +easy for them. Bread and meat had come to them as things of course, +and they hardly remembered to be thankful. "We ourselves have done +it," they declared aloud. "We are not as other men. We are gods upon +the earth. Whose arm shall be long enough to stay us, or whose bolt +shall be strong enough to strike us?"</p> + +<p>Now they are stricken sore, and the bolt is from their own bow. Their +own hands have raised the barrier that has stayed them. They have +stumbled in their running, and are lying hurt upon the ground; while +they who have heard their boastings turn upon them with ridicule, and +laugh at them in their discomforture. They are rolling in the mire, +and cannot take the hand of any man to help them. Though the hand of +the bystander may be stretched to them, his face is scornful and his +voice full of reproaches. Who has not known that hour of misery when +in the sullenness of the heart all help has been refused, and +misfortune has been made welcome to do her worst? So is it now with +those once United States. The man who can see without inward tears +the self-inflicted wounds of that American people can hardly have +within his bosom the tenderness of an Englishman's heart.</p> + +<p>But the strong runner will rise again to his feet, even though he be +stunned by his fall. He will rise again, and will have learned +something by his sorrow. His anger will pass away, and he will again +brace himself for his work. What great race has ever been won by any +man, or by any nation, without some such fall during its course? Have +we not all declared that some check to that career was necessary? Men +in their pursuit of intelligence had forgotten to be honest; in +struggling for greatness they had discarded purity. The nation has +been great, but the statesmen of the nation have been little. Men +have hardly been ambitious to govern, but they have coveted the wages +of governors. Corruption has crept into high places,—into places +that should have been high,—till of all holes and corners in the +land they have become the lowest. No public man has been trusted for +ordinary honesty. It is not by foreign voices, by English newspapers +or in French pamphlets, that the corruption of American politicians +has been exposed, but by American voices and by the American press. +It is to be heard on every side. Ministers of the cabinet, senators, +representatives, State legislatures, officers of the army, officials +of the navy, contractors of every grade,—all who are presumed to +touch, or to have the power of touching public money, are thus +accused. For years it has been so. The word politician has stunk in +men's nostrils. When I first visited New York, some three years +since, I was warned not to know a man, because he was a "politician." +We in England define a man of a certain class as a black-leg. How has +it come about that in American ears the word politician has come to +bear a similar signification?</p> + +<p>The material growth of the States has been so quick, that the +political growth has not been able to keep pace with it. In commerce, +in education, in all municipal arrangements, in mechanical skill, and +also in professional ability, the country has stalked on with amazing +rapidity; but in the art of governing, in all political management +and detail, it has made no advance. The merchants of our country and +of that country have for many years met on terms of perfect equality, +but it has never been so with their statesmen and our statesmen, with +their diplomatists and our diplomatists. Lombard Street and Wall +Street can do business with each other on equal footing, but it is +not so between Downing Street and the State-office at Washington. The +science of statesmanship has yet to be learned in the States,—and +certainly the highest lesson of that science, which teaches that +honesty is the best policy.</p> + +<p>I trust that the war will have left such a lesson behind it. If it do +so, let the cost in money be what it may, that money will not have +been wasted. If the American people can learn the necessity of +employing their best men for their highest work,—if they can +recognize these honest men and trust them when they are so +recognized,—then they may become as great in politics as they have +become great in commerce and in social institutions.</p> + +<p>St. Louis, and indeed the whole State of Missouri, was at the time of +my visit under martial law. General Halleck was in command, holding +his head-quarters at St. Louis, and carrying out, at any rate as far +as the city was concerned, what orders he chose to issue. I am +disposed to think that, situated as Missouri then was, martial law +was the best law. No other law could have had force in a town +surrounded by soldiers, and in which half of the inhabitants were +loyal to the existing Government, and half of them were in favour of +rebellion. The necessity for such power is terrible, and the power +itself in the hands of one man must be full of danger; but even that +is better than anarchy. I will not accuse General Halleck of abusing +his power, seeing that it is hard to determine what is the abuse of +such power and what its proper use. When we were at St. Louis a tax +was being gathered of £100 a head from certain men presumed to be +secessionists, and as the money was not of course very readily paid, +the furniture of these suspected secessionists was being sold by +auction. No doubt such a measure was by them regarded as a great +abuse. One gentleman informed me that, in addition to this, certain +houses of his had been taken by the Government at a fixed rent, and +that the payment of the rent was now refused unless he would take the +oath of allegiance. He no doubt thought that an abuse of power! But +the worst abuse of such power comes not at first, but with long +usage.</p> + +<p>Up to the time however at which I was at St. Louis, martial law had +chiefly been used in closing grog-shops and administering the oath of +allegiance to suspected secessionists. Something also had been done +in the way of raising money by selling the property of convicted +secessionists; and while I was there eight men were condemned to be +shot for destroying railway bridges. "But will they be shot?" I asked +of one of the officers. "Oh, yes. It will be done quietly, and no one +will know anything about it. We shall get used to that kind of thing +presently." And the inhabitants of Missouri were becoming used to +martial law. It is surprising how quickly a people can reconcile +themselves to altered circumstances, when the change comes upon them +without the necessity of any expressed opinion on their own part. +Personal freedom has been considered as necessary to the American of +the States as the air he breathes. Had any suggestion been made to +him of a suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, of a +censorship of the press, or of martial law, the American would have +declared his willingness to die on the floor of the House of +Representatives, and have proclaimed with ten million voices his +inability to live under circumstances so subversive of his rights as +a man. And he would have thoroughly believed the truth of his own +assertions. Had a chance been given of an argument on the matter, of +stump speeches, and caucus meetings, these things could never have +been done. But as it is, Americans are, I think, rather proud of the +suspension of the habeas corpus. They point with gratification to the +uniformly loyal tone of the newspapers, remarking that any editor who +should dare to give even a secession squeak, would immediately find +himself shut up. And now nothing but good is spoken of martial law. I +thought it a nuisance when I was prevented by soldiers from trotting +my horse down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, but I was assured by +Americans that such restrictions were very serviceable in a +community. At St. Louis martial law was quite popular. Why should not +General Halleck be as well able to say what was good for the people +as any law or any lawyer? He had no interest in the injury of the +State, but every interest in its preservation. "But what," I asked, +"would be the effect were he to tell you to put out all your fires at +eight o'clock?" "If he were so to order, we should do it; but we know +that he will not." But who does know to what General Halleck or other +generals may come; or how soon a curfew-bell may be ringing in +American towns? The winning of liberty is long and tedious, but the +losing it is a downhill easy journey.</p> + +<p>It was here, in St. Louis, that General Fremont had held his military +court. He was a great man here during those hundred days through +which his command lasted. He lived in a great house, had a bodyguard, +was inaccessible as a great man should be, and fared sumptuously +every day. He fortified the city,—or rather, he began to do so. He +constructed barracks here, and instituted military prisons. The +fortifications have been discontinued as useless, but the barracks +and the prisons remain. In the latter there were 1200 secessionist +soldiers who had been taken in the State of Missouri. "Why are they +not exchanged?" I asked. "Because they are not exactly soldiers," I +was informed. "The secessionists do not acknowledge them." "Then +would it not be cheaper to let them go?" "No," said my informant; +"because in that case we should have to catch them again." And so the +1200 remain in their wretched prison,—thinned from week to week and +from day to day by prison disease and prison death.</p> + +<p>I went out twice to Benton barracks, as the camp of wooden huts was +called, which General Fremont had erected near the fair-ground of the +city. This fair-ground, I was told, had been a pleasant place. It had +been constructed for the recreation of the city, and for the purpose +of periodical agricultural exhibitions. There is still in it a pretty +ornamented cottage, and in the little garden a solitary Cupid stood +dismayed by the dirt and ruin around him. In the fair-green are the +round buildings intended for show cattle and agricultural implements, +but now given up to cavalry horses and Parrott guns. But Benton +barracks are outside the fair-green. Here on an open space, some +half-mile in length, two long rows of wooden sheds have been built, +opposite to each other, and behind them are other sheds used for +stabling and cooking-places. Those in front are divided, not into +separate huts, but into chambers capable of containing nearly two +hundred men each. They were surrounded on the inside by great wooden +trays, in three tiers,—and on each tray four men were supposed to +sleep. I went into one or two while the crowd of soldiers was in +them, but found it inexpedient to stay there long. The stench of +those places was foul beyond description. Never in my life before had +I been in a place so horrid to the eyes and nose as Benton barracks. +The path along the front outside was deep in mud. The whole space +between the two rows of sheds was one field of mud, so slippery that +the foot could not stand. Inside and outside every spot was deep in +mud. The soldiers were mud-stained from foot to sole. These volunteer +soldiers are in their nature dirty, as must be all men brought +together in numerous bodies without special appliances for +cleanliness, or control and discipline as to their personal habits. +But the dirt of the men in the Benton barracks surpassed any dirt +that I had hitherto seen. Nor could it have been otherwise with them. +They were surrounded by a sea of mud, and the foul hovels in which +they were made to sleep and live were fetid with stench and reeking +with filth. I had at this time been joined by another Englishman, and +we went through this place together. When we inquired as to the +health of the men, we heard the saddest tales,—of three hundred men +gone out of one regiment, of whole companies that had perished, of +hospitals crowded with fevered patients. Measles had been the great +scourge of the soldiers here,—as it had also been in the army of the +Potomac. I shall not soon forget my visits to Benton barracks. It may +be that our own soldiers were as badly treated in the Crimea; or that +French soldiers were treated worse on their march into Russia. It may +be that dirt, and wretchedness, disease and listless idleness, a +descent from manhood to habits lower than those of the beasts, are +necessary in warfare. I have sometimes thought that it is so; but I +am no military critic and will not say. This I say,—that the +degradation of men to the state in which I saw the American soldiers +in Benton barracks, is disgraceful to humanity.</p> + +<p>General Halleck was at this time commanding in Missouri, and was +himself stationed at St. Louis; but his active measures against the +rebels were going on to the right and to the left. On the left shore +of the Mississippi, at Cairo, in Illinois, a fleet of gun-boats was +being prepared to go down the river, and on the right an army was +advancing against Springfield, in the south-western district of +Missouri, with the object of dislodging Price, the rebel guerilla +leader there, and, if possible, of catching him. Price had been the +opponent of poor General Lyon who was killed at Wilson's Creek, near +Springfield, and of General Fremont, who during his hundred days had +failed to drive him out of the State. This duty had now been +intrusted to General Curtis, who had for some time been holding his +head-quarters at Rolla, halfway between St. Louis and Springfield. +Fremont had built a fort at Rolla, and it had become a military +station. Over 10,000 men had been there at one time, and now General +Curtis was to advance from Rolla against Price with something above +that number of men. Many of them, however, had already gone on, and +others were daily being sent up from St. Louis. Under these +circumstances my friend and I, fortified with a letter of +introduction to General Curtis, resolved to go and see the army at +Rolla.</p> + +<p>On our way down by the railway we encountered a young German officer, +an aide-de-camp of the Federals, and under his auspices we saw Rolla +to advantage. Our companions in the railway were chiefly soldiers and +teamsters. The car was crowded and filled with tobacco smoke, apple +peel, and foul air. In these cars during the winter there is always a +large lighted stove, a stove that might cook all the dinners for a +French hotel, and no window is ever opened. Among our +fellow-travellers there was here and there a west-country Missouri +farmer going down, under the protection of the advancing army, to +look after the remains of his chattels,—wild, dark, uncouth, +savage-looking men. One such hero I specially remember, as to whom +the only natural remark would be that one would not like to meet him +alone on a dark night. He was burly and big, unwashed and rough, with +a black beard, shorn some two months since. He had sharp, angry eyes, +and sat silent, picking his teeth with a bowie knife. I met him +afterwards at the Rolla hotel, and found that he was a gentleman of +property near Springfield. He was mild and meek as a sucking dove, +asked my advice as to the state of his affairs, and merely guessed +that things had been pretty rough with him. Things had been pretty +rough with him. The rebels had come upon his land. House, fences, +stock, and crop were all gone. His homestead had been made a ruin, +and his farm had been turned into a wilderness. Everything was gone. +He had carried his wife and children off to Illinois, and had now +returned, hoping that he might get on in the wake of the army till he +could see the debris of his property. But even he did not seem +disturbed. He did not bemoan himself or curse his fate. "Things were +pretty rough," he said; and that was all that he did say.</p> + +<p>It was dark when we got into Rolla. Everything had been covered with +snow, and everywhere the snow was frozen. We had heard that there was +an hotel, and that possibly we might get a bedroom there. We were +first taken to a wooden building, which we were told was the +head-quarters of the army, and in one room we found a colonel with a +lot of soldiers loafing about, and in another a provost-marshal +attended by a newspaper correspondent. We were received with open +arms, and a suggestion was at once made that we were no doubt picking +up news for European newspapers. "Air you a son of the Mrs. +Trollope?" said the correspondent. "Then, sir, you are an accession +to Rolla." Upon which I was made to sit down, and invited to "loaf +about" at the head-quarters as long as I might remain at Rolla. +Shortly, however, there came on a violent discussion about waggons. A +general had come in and wanted all the colonel's waggons, but the +colonel swore that he had none, declared how bitterly he was impeded +with sick men, and became indignant and reproachful. It was Brutus +and Cassius again; and as we felt ourselves in the way, and anxious +moreover to ascertain what might be the nature of the Rolla hotel, we +took up our heavy portmanteaux—for they were heavy—and with a guide +to show us the way, started off through the dark and over the hill up +to our inn. I shall never forget that walk. It was up hill and down +hill, with an occasional half-frozen stream across it. My friend was +impeded with an enormous cloak lined with fur, which in itself was a +burden for a coalheaver. Our guide, who was a clerk out of the +colonel's office, carried an umbrella and a small dressing-bag, but +we ourselves manfully shouldered our portmanteaux. Sydney Smith +declared that an Englishman only wasted his time in training himself +for gymnastic aptitudes, seeing that for a shilling he could always +hire a porter. Had Sydney Smith ever been at Rolla he would have +written differently. I could tell at great length how I fell on my +face in the icy snow, how my friend stuck in the frozen mud when he +essayed to jump the stream, and how our guide walked on easily in +advance, encouraging us with his voice from a distance. Why is it +that a stout Englishman bordering on fifty finds himself in such a +predicament as that? No Frenchman, no Italian, no German, would so +place himself, unless under the stress of insurmountable +circumstances. No American would do so under any circumstances. As I +slipped about on the ice and groaned with that terrible fardle on my +back, burdened with a dozen shirts, and a suit of dress clothes, and +three pair of boots, and four or five thick volumes, and a set of +maps, and a box of cigars, and a washing-tub, I confessed to myself +that I was a fool. What was I doing in such a galley as that? Why had +I brought all that useless lumber down to Rolla? Why had I come to +Rolla, with no certain hope even of shelter for a night? But we did +reach the hotel; we did get a room between us with two bedsteads. +And, pondering over the matter in my mind, since that evening, I have +been inclined to think that the stout Englishman is in the right of +it. No American of my age and weight will ever go through what I went +through then; but I am not sure that he does not in his accustomed +career go through worse things even than that. However, if I go to +Rolla again during the war, I will at any rate leave the books behind +me.</p> + +<p>What a night we spent in that inn! They who know America will be +aware that in all hotels there is a free admixture of different +classes. The traveller in Europe may sit down to dinner with his +tailor and shoemaker; but if so, his tailor and shoemaker have +dressed themselves as he dresses, and are prepared to carry +themselves according to a certain standard, which in exterior does +not differ from his own. In the large Eastern cities of the States, +such as Boston, New York, and Washington, a similar practice of life +is gradually becoming prevalent. There are various hotels for various +classes, and the ordinary traveller does not find himself at the same +table with a butcher fresh from the shambles. But in the West there +are no distinctions whatever. "A man's a man for a' that" in the +West, let the "a' that" comprise what it may of coarse attire and +unsophisticated manners. One soon gets used to it. In that inn at +Rolla was a public room, heated in the middle by a stove, and round +that we soon found ourselves seated in a company of soldiers, +farmers, labourers, and teamsters. But there was among them a +general;—not a fighting, or would-be fighting general of the present +time, but one of the old-fashioned local generals,—men who held, or +had once held, some fabulous generalship in the State militia. There +we sat, cheek by jowl with our new friends, till nearly twelve +o'clock, talking politics and discussing the war. The General was a +stanch Unionist, having, according to his own showing, suffered +dreadful things from secessionist persecutors since the rebellion +commenced. As a matter of course everybody present was for the Union. +In such a place one rarely encounters any difference of opinion. The +General was very eager about the war, advocating the immediate +abolition of slavery, not as a means of improving the condition of +the southern slaves, but on the ground that it would ruin the +southern masters. We all sat by, edging in a word now and then, but +the General was the talker of the evening. He was very wrathy, and +swore at every other word. "It was pretty well time," he said, "to +crush out this rebellion, and by +<span class="nowrap">——</span> +it must and should be crushed +out; General Jim Lane was the man to do it, and +by <span class="nowrap">——</span> General Jim +Lane would do it!" and so on. In all such conversations the time for +action has always just come, and also the expected man. But the time +passes by as other weeks and months have passed before it, and the +new General is found to be no more successful than his brethren. Our +friend was very angry against England. "When we've polished off these +accursed rebels, I guess we'll take a turn at you. You had your turn +when you made us give up Mason and Slidell, and we'll have our turn +by-and-by." But in spite of his dislike to our nation he invited us +warmly to come and see him at his home on the Missouri river. It was, +according to his showing, a new Eden,—a Paradise upon earth. He +seemed to think that we might perhaps desire to buy a location, and +explained to us how readily we could make our fortunes. But he +admitted in the course of his eulogiums that it would be as much as +his life was worth for him to ride out five miles from his own house. +In the meantime the teamsters greased their boots, the soldiers +snored, those who were wet took off their shoes and stockings, +hanging them to dry round the stove, and the western farmers chewed +tobacco in silence and ruminated. At such a house all the guests go +in to their meals together. A gong is sounded on a sudden, close +behind your ears; accustomed as you may probably be to the sound you +jump up from your chair in the agony of the crash, and by the time +that you have collected your thoughts the whole crowd is off in a +general stampede into the eating room. You may as well join them; if +you hesitate as to feeding with so rough a lot of men, you will have +to sit down afterwards with the women and children of the family, and +your lot will then be worse. Among such classes in the western States +the men are always better than the women. The men are dirty and +civil, the women are dirty and uncivil.</p> + +<p>On the following day we visited the camp, going out in an ambulance +and returning on horseback. We were accompanied by the General's +aide-de-camp, and also, to our great gratification, by the General's +daughter. There had been a hard frost for some nights, but though the +cold was very great there was always heat enough in the middle of the +day to turn the surface of the ground into glutinous mud; +consequently we had all the roughness induced by frost, but none of +the usually attendant cleanliness. Indeed, it seemed that in these +parts nothing was so dirty as frost. The mud stuck like paste and +encompassed everything. We heard that morning that from sixty to +seventy baggage-waggons had "broken through," as they called it, and +stuck fast near a river in their endeavour to make their way on to +Lebanon. We encountered two generals of brigade, General Siegel, a +German, and General Ashboth, an Hungarian, both of whom were waiting +till the weather should allow them to advance. They were extremely +courteous, and warmly invited us to go on with them to Lebanon and +Springfield, promising to us such accommodation as they might be able +to obtain for themselves. I was much tempted to accept the offer; but +I found that day after day might pass before any forward movement was +commenced, and that it might be weeks before Springfield or even +Lebanon could be reached. It was my wish, moreover, to see what I +could of the people, rather than to scrutinize the ways of the army. +We dined at the tent of General Ashboth, and afterwards rode his +horses through the camp back to Rolla. I was greatly taken with this +Hungarian gentleman. He was a tall, thin, gaunt man of fifty, a +pure-blooded Magyar as I was told, who had come from his own country +with Kossuth to America. His camp circumstances were not very +luxurious, nor was his table very richly spread; but he received us +with the ease and courtesy of a gentleman. He showed us his sword, +his rifle, his pistols, his chargers, and daguerreotype of a friend +he had loved in his own country. They were all the treasures that he +carried with him,—over and above a chess-board and a set of chessmen +which sorely tempted me to accompany him in his march.</p> + +<p>In my next chapter, which will, I trust, be very short, I purport to +say a few words as to what I saw of the American army, and therefore +I will not now describe the regiments which we visited. The tents +were all encompassed by snow, and the ground on which they stood was +a bed of mud; but yet the soldiers out here were not so wretchedly +forlorn, or apparently so miserably uncomfortable, as those at Benton +barracks. I did not encounter that horrid sickly stench, nor were the +men so pale and wobegone. On the following day we returned to St. +Louis, bringing back with us our friend the German aide-de-camp. I +stayed two days longer in that city, and then I thought that I had +seen enough of Missouri;—enough of Missouri at any rate under the +present circumstances of frost and secession. As regards the people +of the West, I must say that they were not such as I expected to find +them. With the Northerns we are all more or less intimately +acquainted. Those Americans whom we meet in our own country, or on +the Continent, are generally from the North, or if not so they have +that type of American manners which has become familiar to us. They +are talkative, intelligent, inclined to be social, though frequently +not sympathetically social with ourselves; somewhat <i>soi-disant</i>, but +almost invariably companionable. As the traveller goes southward into +Maryland and Washington, the type is not altered to any great extent. +The hard intelligence of the Yankee gives place gradually to the +softer, and perhaps more polished manner of the Southern. But the +change thus experienced is not so great as is that between the +American of the western and the American of the Atlantic States. In +the West I found the men gloomy and silent,—I might almost say +sullen. A dozen of them will sit for hours round a stove, speechless. +They chew tobacco and ruminate. They are not offended if you speak to +them, but they are not pleased. They answer with monosyllables, or, +if it be practicable, with a gesture of the head. They care nothing +for the graces,—or shall I say, for the decencies of life? They are +essentially a dirty people. Dirt, untidiness, and noise, seem in +nowise to afflict them. Things are constantly done before your eyes, +which should be done and might be done behind your back. No doubt we +daily come into the closest contact with matters which, if we saw all +that appertains to them, would cause us to shake and shudder. In +other countries we do not see all this, but in the western States we +do. I have eaten in Bedouin tents, and have been ministered to by +Turks and Arabs. I have sojourned in the hotels of old Spain and of +Spanish America. I have lived in Connaught, and have taken up my +quarters with monks of different nations. I have, as it were, been +educated to dirt, and taken out my degree in outward abominations. +But my education had not reached a point which would enable me to +live at my ease in the western States. A man or woman who can do that +may be said to have graduated in the highest honours, and to have +become absolutely invulnerable, either through the sense of touch, or +by the eye, or by the nose. Indifference to appearances is there a +matter of pride. A foul shirt is a flag of triumph. A craving for +soap and water is as the wail of the weak and the confession of +cowardice. This indifference is carried into all their affairs, or +rather this manifestation of indifference. A few pages back, I spoke +of a man whose furniture had been sold to pay a heavy tax raised on +him specially as a secessionist; the same man had also been refused +the payment of rent due to him by the Government, unless he would +take a false oath. I may presume that he was ruined in his +circumstances by the strong hand of the northern army. But he seemed +in nowise to be unhappy about his ruin. He spoke with some scorn of +the martial law in Missouri, but I felt that it was esteemed a small +matter by him that his furniture was seized and sold. No men love +money with more eager love than these western men, but they bear the +loss of it as an Indian bears his torture at the stake. They are +energetic in trade, speculating deeply whenever speculation is +possible; but nevertheless they are slow in motion, loving to loaf +about. They are slow in speech, preferring to sit in silence, with +the tobacco between their teeth. They drink, but are seldom drunk to +the eye; they begin at it early in the morning, and take it in a +solemn, sullen, ugly manner, standing always at a bar; swallowing +their spirits, and saying nothing as they swallow it. They drink +often, and to great excess; but they carry it off without noise, +sitting down and ruminating over it with the everlasting cud within +their jaws. I believe that a stranger might go into the West, and +passing from hotel to hotel through a dozen of them, might sit for +hours at each in the large everlasting public hall, and never have a +word addressed to him. No stranger should travel in the western +States, or indeed in any of the States, without letters of +introduction. It is the custom of the country, and they are easily +procured. Without them everything is barren; for men do not travel in +the States of America as they do in Europe, to see scenery and visit +the marvels of old cities which are open to all the world. The social +and political life of the Americans must constitute the interest of +the traveller, and to these he can hardly make his way without +introductions.</p> + +<p>I cannot part with the West without saying in its favour that there +is a certain manliness about its men, which gives them a dignity of +their own. It is shown in that very indifference of which I have +spoken. Whatever turns up the man is still there,—still +unsophisticated and still unbroken. It has seemed to me that no race +of men requires less outward assistance than these pioneers of +civilization. They rarely amuse themselves. Food, newspapers, and +brandy-smashes suffice for life; and while these last, whatever may +occur, the man is still there in his manhood. The fury of the mob +does not shake him, nor the stern countenance of his present martial +tyrant. Alas! I cannot stick to my text by calling him a just man. +Intelligence, energy, and endurance are his virtues. Dirt, +dishonesty, and morning drinks are his vices.</p> + +<p>All native American women are intelligent. It seems to be their +birthright. In the eastern cities they have, in their upper classes, +superadded womanly grace to this intelligence, and consequently they +are charming as companions. They are beautiful also, and, as I +believe, lack nothing that a lover can desire in his love. But I +cannot fancy myself much in love with a western lady, or rather with +a lady in the West. They are as sharp as nails, but then they are +also as hard. They know, doubtless, all that they ought to know, but +then they know so much more than they ought to know. They are tyrants +to their parents, and never practise the virtue of obedience till +they have half-grown-up daughters of their own. They have faith in +the destiny of their country, if in nothing else; but they believe +that that destiny is to be worked out by the spirit and talent of the +young women. I confess that for me Eve would have had no charms had +she not recognized Adam as her lord. I can forgive her in that she +tempted him to eat the apple. Had she come from the West country she +would have ordered him to make his meal, and then I could not have +forgiven her.</p> + +<p>St. Louis should be, and still will be, a town of great wealth. To no +city can have been given more means of riches. I have spoken of the +enormous mileage of water-communication of which she is the centre. +The country around her produces Indian corn, wheat, grasses, hemp, +and tobacco. Coal is dug even within the boundaries of the city, and +iron-mines are worked at a distance from it of a hundred miles. The +iron is so pure, that it is broken off in solid blocks, almost free +from alloy; and as the metal stands up on the earth's surface in the +guise almost of a gigantic metal pillar, instead of lying low within +its bowels, it is worked at a cheap rate, and with great certainty. +Nevertheless, at the present moment, the iron-works of Pilot Knob, as +the place is called, do not pay. As far as I could learn, nothing did +pay, except government contracts.</p> + + +<p><a id="c6"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> +<h4>CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>To whatever period of life my days may be prolonged, I do not think +that I shall ever forget Cairo. I do not mean Grand Cairo, which is +also memorable in its way, and a place not to be forgotten,—but +Cairo in the State of Illinois, which by native Americans is always +called Caaro. An idea is prevalent in the States, and I think I have +heard the same broached in England, that a popular British author had +Cairo, State of Illinois, in his eye when under the name of Eden he +depicted a chosen, happy spot on the Mississippi river, and told us +how certain English emigrants fixed themselves in that locality, and +there made light of those little ills of life which are incident to +humanity even in the garden of the valley of the Mississippi. But I +doubt whether that author ever visited Cairo in mid-winter, and I am +sure that he never visited Cairo when Cairo was the seat of an +American army. Had he done so, his love of truth would have forbidden +him to presume that even Mark Tapley could have enjoyed himself in +such an Eden.</p> + +<p>I had no wish myself to go to Cairo, having heard it but +indifferently spoken of by all men; but my friend with whom I was +travelling was peremptory in the matter. He had heard of gun-boats +and mortar-boats, of forts built upon the river, of Columbiads, +Dahlgrens, and Parrotts, of all the pomps and circumstance of +glorious war, and entertained an idea that Cairo was the nucleus or +pivot of all really strategetic movements in this terrible national +struggle. Under such circumstances I was as it were forced to go to +Cairo, and bore myself, under the circumstances, as much like Mark +Tapley as my nature would permit. I was not jolly while I was there +certainly, but I did not absolutely break down and perish in its mud.</p> + +<p>Cairo is the southern terminus of the Illinois central railway. There +is but one daily arrival there, namely, at half-past four in the +morning, and but one despatch, which is at half-past three in the +morning. Everything is thus done to assist that view of life which +Mark Tapley took when he resolved to ascertain under what possible +worst circumstances of existence he could still maintain his jovial +character. Why anybody should ever arrive at Cairo at half-past four +A.M., I cannot understand. The departure at any hour is easy of +comprehension. The place is situated exactly at the point at which +the Ohio and the Mississippi meet, and is, I should say, merely +guessing on the matter, some ten or twelve feet lower than the winter +level of the two rivers. This gives it naturally a depressed +appearance, which must have much aided Mark Tapley in his endeavours. +Who were the founders of Cairo I have never ascertained. They are +probably buried fathoms deep in the mud, and their names will no +doubt remain a mystery to the latest ages. They were brought thither, +I presume, by the apparent water privileges of the place; but the +water privileges have been too much for them, and by the excess of +their powers have succeeded in drowning all the capital of the early +Cairovians, and in throwing a wet blanket of thick, moist, glutinous +dirt over all their energies.</p> + +<p>The free State of Illinois runs down far south between the slave +States of Kentucky to the east, and of Missouri to the west, and is +the most southern point of the continuous free-soil territory of the +Northern States. This point of it is a part of a district called +Egypt, which is as fertile as the old country from whence it has +borrowed a name; but it suffers under those afflictions which are +common to all newly-settled lands which owe their fertility to the +vicinity of great rivers. Fever and ague universally prevail. Men and +women grow up with their lantern faces like spectres. The children +are prematurely old; and the earth which is so fruitful is hideous in +its fertility. Cairo and its immediate neighbourhood must, I suppose, +have been subject to yearly inundation before it was "settled up." At +present it is guarded on the shores of each river by high mud banks, +built so as to protect the point of land. These are called the +levees, and do perform their duty by keeping out the body of the +waters. The shore between the banks is, I believe, never above breast +deep with the inundation; and from the circumstances of the place, +and the soft, half-liquid nature of the soil, this inundation +generally takes the shape of mud instead of water.</p> + +<p>Here, at the very point, has been built a town. Whether the town +existed during Mr. Tapley's time I have not been able to learn. At +the period of my visit, it was falling quickly into ruin; indeed I +think I may pronounce it to have been on its last legs. At that +moment a galvanic motion had been pumped into it by the war movements +of General Halleck, but the true bearings of the town, as a town, +were not less plainly to be read on that account. Every street was +absolutely impassable from mud. I mean that in walking down the +middle of any street in Cairo a moderately framed man would soon +stick fast and not be able to move. The houses are generally built at +considerable intervals and rarely face each other, and along one side +of each street a plank boarding was laid, on which the mud had +accumulated only up to one's ankles. I walked all over Cairo with big +boots, and with my trousers tucked up to my knees; but at the +crossings I found considerable danger, and occasionally had my doubts +as to the possibility of progress. I was alone in my work, and saw no +one else making any such attempt. A few only were moving about, and +they moved in wretched carts, each drawn by two miserable, +floundering horses. These carts were always empty, but were presumed +to be engaged in some way on military service. No faces looked out at +the windows of the houses, no forms stood in the doorways. A few +shops were open, but only in the drinking shops did I see customers. +In these silent, muddy men were sitting,—not with drink before them, +as men sit with us,—but with the cud within their jaws, ruminating. +Their drinking is always done on foot. They stand silent at a bar, +with two small glasses before them. Out of one they swallow the +whisky, and from the other they take a gulp of water, as though to +rinse their mouths. After that, they again sit down and ruminate. It +was thus that men enjoyed themselves at Cairo.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell what was the existing population of Cairo. I asked one +resident; but he only shook his head and said that the place was +about "played out." And a miserable play it must have been. I tried +to walk round the point on the levees, but I found that the mud was +so deep and slippery on that which protected the town from the +Mississippi, that I could not move on it. On the other, which forms +the bank of the Ohio, the railway runs, and here was gathered all the +life and movement of the place. But the life was galvanic in its +nature, created by a war-galvanism of which the shocks were almost +neutralized by mud.</p> + +<p>As Cairo is of all towns in America the most desolate, so is its +hotel the most forlorn and wretched. Not that it lacked custom. It +was so full that no room was to be had on our first entry from the +railway cars at five A.M., and we were reduced to the necessity of +washing our hands and faces in the public wash-room. When I entered +it the barber and his assistants were asleep there, and four or five +citizens from the railway were busy at the basins. There is a fixed +resolution in these places that you shall be drenched with dirt and +drowned in abominations, which is overpowering to a mind less strong +than Mark Tapley's. The filth is paraded and made to go as far as +possible. The stranger is spared none of the elements of nastiness. I +remember how an old woman once stood over me in my youth, forcing me +to swallow the gritty dregs of her terrible medicine-cup. The +treatment I received in the hotel at Cairo reminded me of that old +woman. In that room I did not dare to brush my teeth lest I should +give offence; and I saw at once that I was regarded with suspicion +when I used my own comb instead of that provided for the public.</p> + +<p>At length we got a room, one room for the two. I had become so +depressed in spirits that I did not dare to object to this +arrangement. My friend could not complain much, even to me, feeling +that these miseries had been produced by his own obstinacy. "It is a +new phase of life," he said. That, at any rate, was true. If nothing +more be necessary for pleasurable excitement than a new phase of +life, I would recommend all who require pleasurable excitement to go +to Cairo. They will certainly find a new phase of life. But do not +let them remain too long, or they may find something beyond a new +phase of life. Within a week of that time my friend was taking +quinine, looking hollow about the eyes, and whispering to me of fever +and ague. To say that there was nothing eatable or drinkable in that +hotel, would be to tell that which will be understood without +telling. My friend, however, was a cautious man, carrying with him +comfortable tin pots, hermetically sealed, from Fortnum & Mason's; +and on the second day of our sojourn we were invited by two officers +to join their dinner at a Cairo eating-house. We ploughed our way +gallantly through the mud to a little shanty, at the door of which we +were peremptorily demanded by the landlord to scrub ourselves before +we entered with the stump of an old broom. This we did, producing on +our nether persons the appearance of bread which has been carefully +spread with treacle by an economic housekeeper. And the proprietor +was right, for had we not done so, the treacle would have run off +through the whole house. But after this we fared royally. Squirrel +soup and prairie chickens regaled us. One of our new friends had +laden his pockets with champagne and brandy; the other with glasses +and a corkscrew; and as the bottle went round, I began to feel +something of the spirit of Mark Tapley in my soul.</p> + +<p>But our visit to Cairo had been made rather with reference to its +present warlike character, than with any eye to the natural beauties +of the place. A large force of men had been collected there, and also +a fleet of gun-boats. We had come there fortified with letters to +generals and commodores, and were prepared to go through a large +amount of military inspection. But the bird had flown before our +arrival; or rather the body and wings of the bird, leaving behind +only a draggled tail and a few of its feathers. There were only a +thousand soldiers at Cairo when we were there;—that is, a thousand +stationed in the Cairo sheds. Two regiments passed through the place +during the time, getting out of one steamer on to another, or passing +from the railway into boats. One of these regiments passed before me +down the slope of the river-bank, and the men as a body seemed to be +healthy. Very many were drunk, and all were mud-clogged up to their +shoulders and very caps. In other respects they appeared to be in +good order. It must be understood that these soldiers, the +volunteers, had never been made subject to any discipline as to +cleanliness. They wore their hair long. Their hats or caps, though +all made in some military form and with some military appendance, +were various and ill-assorted. They all were covered with loose, +thick, blue-gray great-coats, which no doubt were warm and wholesome, +but which from their looseness and colour seemed to be peculiarly +susceptible of receiving and showing a very large amount of mud. +Their boots were always good; but each man was shod as he liked. Many +wore heavy over-boots coming up the leg;—boots of excellent +manufacture, and from their cost, if for no other reason, quite out +of the reach of an English soldier; boots in which a man would be not +at all unfortunate to find himself hunting; but from these, or from +their high-lows, shoes, or whatever they might wear, the mud had +never been even scraped. These men were all warmly clothed, but +clothed apparently with an endeavour to contract as much mud as might +be possible.</p> + +<p>The generals and commodores were gone up the Ohio river and up the +Tennessee in an expedition with gun-boats, which turned out to be +successful, and of which we have all read in the daily history of +this war. They had departed the day before our arrival, and though we +still found at Cairo a squadron of gun-boats,—if gun-boats go in +squadrons,—the bulk of the army had been moved. There was left there +one regiment and one colonel, who kindly described to us the battles +he had fought, and gave us permission to see everything that was to +be seen. Four of these gun-boats were still lying in the Ohio, close +under the terminus of the railway with their flat, ugly noses against +the muddy bank, and we were shown over two of them. They certainly +seemed to be formidable weapons for river warfare, and to have been +"got up quite irrespective of expense." So much, indeed, may be said +for the Americans throughout the war. They cannot be accused of +parsimony. The largest of these vessels, called the "Benton," had +cost £36,000. These boats are made with sides sloping inwards, at an +angle of 45 degrees. The iron is two-and-a-half inches thick, and it +has not, I believe, been calculated that this will resist cannon shot +of great weight, should it be struck in a direct line. But the angle +of the sides of the boat makes it improbable that any such shot +should strike them; and the iron, bedded as it is upon oak, is +supposed to be sufficient to turn a shot that does not hit it in a +direct line. The boats are also roofed in with iron, and the pilots +who steer the vessel stand encased, as it were, under an iron cupola. +I imagine that these boats are well calculated for the river service, +for which they have been built. Six or seven of them had gone up the +Tennessee river the day before we reached Cairo, and while we were +there they succeeded in knocking down Fort Henry, and in carrying off +the soldiers stationed there and the officer in command. One of the +boats, however, had been penetrated by a shot which made its way into +the boiler, and the men on deck, six, I think, in number, were +scalded to death by the escaping steam. The two pilots up in the +cupola were destroyed in this terrible manner. As they were +altogether closed in by the iron roof and sides, there was no escape +for the steam. The boats, however, were well made and very powerfully +armed, and will, probably, succeed in driving the secessionist armies +away from the great river banks. By what machinery the secessionist +armies are to be followed into the interior is altogether another +question.</p> + +<p>But there was also another fleet at Cairo, and we were informed that +we were just in time to see the first essay made at testing the +utility of this armada. It consisted of no less than thirty-eight +mortar-boats, each of which had cost £1700. These mortar-boats were +broad, flat-bottomed rafts, each constructed with a deck raised three +feet above the bottom. They were protected by high iron sides, +supposed to be proof against rifle balls, and when supplied had been +furnished each with a little boat, a rope, and four rough sweeps or +oars. They had no other furniture or belongings, and were to be moved +either by steam tugs or by the use of the long oars which were sent +with them. It was intended that one 13-inch mortar, of enormous +weight, should be put upon each, that these mortars should be fired +with twenty-three pounds of powder, and that the shell thrown should, +at a distance of three miles, fall with absolute precision into any +devoted town which the rebels might hold on the river banks. The +grandeur of the idea is almost sublime. So large an amount of powder +had, I imagine, never then been used for the single charge in any +instrument of war; and when we were told that thirty-eight of them +were to play at once on a city, and that they could be used with +absolute precision, it seemed as though the fate of Sodom and +Gomorrah could not be worse than the fate of that city. Could any +city be safe when such implements of war were about upon the waters?</p> + +<p>But when we came to inspect the mortar-boats, our misgivings as to +any future destination for this fleet were relieved, and our +admiration was given to the smartness of the contractor who had +secured to himself the job of building them. In the first place they +had all leaked till the spaces between the bottoms and the decks were +filled with water. This space had been intended for ammunition, but +now seemed hardly to be fitted for that purpose. The officer who was +about to test them by putting a mortar into one and by firing it off +with twenty-three pounds of powder, had the water pumped out of a +selected raft, and we were towed by a steam-tug from their moorings a +mile up the river, down to the spot where the mortar lay ready to be +lifted in by a derrick. But as we turned on the river, the tug-boat +which had brought us down, was unable to hold us up against the force +of the stream. A second tug-boat was at hand, and with one on each +side we were just able, in half-an-hour, to recover the 100 yards +which we had lost down the river. The pressure against the stream was +so great, owing partly to the weight of the raft, and partly to the +fact that its flat head buried itself in the water, that it was +almost immoveable against the stream, although the mortar was not yet +on it.</p> + +<p>It soon became manifest that no trial could be made on that day, and +so we were obliged to leave Cairo without having witnessed the firing +of the great gun. My belief is that very little evil to the enemy +will result from those mortar-boats, and that they cannot be used +with much effect. Since that time they have been used on the +Mississippi, but as yet we do not know with what result. Island No. +10 has been taken, but I do not know that the mortar-boats +contributed much to that success. The enormous cost of moving them +against the stream of the river is in itself a barrier to their use. +When we saw them—and then they were quite new—many of the rivets +were already gone. The small boats had been stolen from some of them, +and the ropes and oars from others. There they lay, thirty-eight in +number, up against the mud-banks of the Ohio, under the boughs of the +half-clad, melancholy forest trees, as sad a spectacle of reckless +prodigality as the eye ever beheld. But the contractor who made them +no doubt was a smart man.</p> + +<p>This armada was moored on the Ohio against the low, reedy bank, a +mile above the levee, where the old unchanged forest of nature came +down to the very edge of the river, and mixed itself with the shallow +overflowing waters. I am wrong in saying that it lay under the boughs +of the trees, for such trees do not spread themselves out with broad +branches. They stand thickly together, broken, stunted, spongy with +rot, straight and ugly, with ragged tops and shattered arms, +seemingly decayed, but still ever renewing themselves with the rapid +moist life of luxuriant forest vegetation. Nothing to my eyes is +sadder than the monotonous desolation of such scenery. We, in +England, when we read and speak of the primeval forests of America, +are apt to form pictures in our minds of woodland glades, with +spreading oaks and green mossy turf beneath,—of scenes than which +nothing that God has given us is more charming. But these forests are +not after that fashion; they offer no allurement to the lover, no +solace to the melancholy man of thought. The ground is deep with mud, +or overflown with water. The soil and the river have no defined +margins. Each tree, though full of the forms of life, has all the +appearance of death. Even to the outward eye they seem to be laden +with ague, fever, sudden chills, and pestilential malaria.</p> + +<p>When we first visited the spot we were alone, and we walked across +from the railway line to the place at which the boats were moored. +They lay in treble rank along the shore, and immediately above them +an old steam-boat was fastened against the bank. Her back was broken, +and she was given up to ruin,—placed there that she might rot +quietly into her watery grave. It was mid-winter, and every tree was +covered with frozen sleet and small particles of snow which had +drizzled through the air; for the snow had not fallen in hearty, +honest flakes. The ground beneath our feet was crisp with frost, but +traitorous in its crispness; not frozen manfully so as to bear a +man's weight, but ready at every point to let him through into the +fat, glutinous mud below. I never saw a sadder picture, or one which +did more to awaken pity for those whose fate had fixed their abodes +in such a locality. And yet there was a beauty about it too,—a +melancholy, death-like beauty. The disordered ruin and confused decay +of the forest was all gemmed with particles of ice. The eye reaching +through the thin underwood could form for itself picturesque shapes +and solitary bowers of broken wood, which were bright with the opaque +brightness of the hoar-frost. The great river ran noiselessly along, +rapid, but still with an apparent lethargy in its waters. The ground +beneath our feet was fertile beyond compare, but as yet fertile to +death rather than to life. Where we then trod man had not yet come +with his axe and his plough; but the railroad was close to us, and +within a mile of the spot thousands of dollars had been spent in +raising a city which was to have been rich with the united wealth of +the rivers and the land. Hitherto fever and ague, mud and malaria, +had been too strong for man, and the dollars had been spent in vain. +The day, however, will come when this promontory between the two +great rivers will be a fit abode for industry. Men will settle there, +wandering down from the North and East, and toil sadly, and leave +their bones among the mud. Thin, pale-faced, joyless mothers will +come there, and grow old before their time; and sickly children will +be born, struggling up with wan faces to their sad life's labour. But +the work will go on, for it is God's work; and the earth will be +prepared for the people, and the fat rottenness of the still living +forest will be made to give forth its riches.</p> + +<p>We found that two days at Cairo were quite enough for us. We had seen +the gun-boats and the mortar-boats, and gone through the sheds of the +soldiers. The latter were bad, comfortless, damp, and cold; and +certain quarters of the officers, into which we were hospitably +taken, were wretched abodes enough; but the sheds of Cairo did not +stink like those of Benton barracks at St. Louis, nor had illness +been prevalent there to the same degree. I do not know why this +should have been so, but such was the result of my observation. The +locality of Benton barracks must, from its nature, have been the more +healthy, but it had become by art the foulest place I ever visited. +Throughout the army it seemed to be the fact, that the men under +canvas were more comfortable, in better spirits, and also in better +health than those who were lodged in sheds. We had inspected the +Cairo army and the Cairo navy, and had also seen all that Cairo had +to show us of its own. We were thoroughly disgusted with the hotel, +and retired on the second night to bed, giving positive orders that +we might be called at half-past two, with reference to that terrible +start to be made at half-past three. As a matter of course we kept +dozing and waking till past one, in our fear lest neglect on the part +of the watcher should entail on us another day at this place; of +course we went fast asleep about the time at which we should have +roused ourselves; and of course we were called just fifteen minutes +before the train started. Everybody knows how these things always go. +And then the pair of us, jumping out of bed in that wretched chamber, +went through the mockery of washing and packing which always takes +place on such occasions;—a mockery indeed of washing, for there was +but one basin between us! And a mockery also of packing, for I left +my hair-brushes behind me! Cairo was avenged in that I had declined +to avail myself of the privileges of free citizenship which had been +offered to me in that barber's shop. And then, while we were in our +agony, pulling at the straps of our portmanteaux and swearing at the +faithlessness of the boots, up came the clerk of the hotel—the great +man from behind the bar—and scolded us prodigiously for our delay. +"Called! We had been called an hour ago!" Which statement, however, +was decidedly untrue, as we remarked, not with extreme patience. "We +should certainly be late," he said; "it would take us five minutes to +reach the train, and the cars would be off in four." Nobody who has +not experienced them can understand the agonies of such moments,—of +such moments as regards travelling in general; but none who have not +been at Cairo can understand the extreme agony produced by the threat +of a prolonged sojourn in that city. At last we were out of the +house, rushing through the mud, slush, and half-melted snow, along +the wooden track to the railway, laden with bags and coats, and +deafened by that melancholy, wailing sound, as though of a huge polar +she-bear in the pangs of travail upon an iceberg, which proceeds from +an American railway-engine before it commences its work. How we +slipped and stumbled, and splashed and swore, rushing along in the +dark night, with buttons loose, and our clothes half on! And how +pitilessly we were treated! We gained our cars, and even succeeded in +bringing with us our luggage; but we did not do so with the sympathy, +but amidst the derision of the bystanders. And then the seats were +all full, and we found that there was a lower depth even in the +terrible deep of a railway train in a western State. There was a +second-class carriage, prepared, I presume, for those who esteemed +themselves too dirty for association with the aristocracy of Cairo; +and into this we flung ourselves. Even this was a joy to us, for we +were being carried away from Eden. We had acknowledged ourselves to +be no fitting colleagues for Mark Tapley, and would have been glad to +escape from Cairo even had we worked our way out of the place as +assistant-stokers to the engine-driver. Poor Cairo! unfortunate +Cairo! "It is about played out!" said its citizen to me. But in truth +the play was commenced a little too soon. Those players have played +out; but another set will yet have their innings, and make a score +that shall perhaps be talked of far and wide in the western world.</p> + +<p>We were still bent upon army inspection, and with this purpose went +back from Cairo to Louisville in Kentucky. I had passed through +Louisville before, as told in my last chapter, but had not gone south +from Louisville towards the Green River, and had seen nothing of +General Buell's soldiers. I should have mentioned before that when we +were at St. Louis, we asked General Halleck, the officer in command +of the northern army of Missouri, whether he could allow us to pass +through his lines to the South. This he assured us he was forbidden +to do, at the same time offering us every facility in his power for +such an expedition if we could obtain the consent of Mr. Seward, who +at that time had apparently succeeded in engrossing into his own +hands, for the moment, supreme authority in all matters of +Government. Before leaving Washington we had determined not to ask +Mr. Seward, having but little hope of obtaining his permission, and +being unwilling to encounter his refusal. Before going to General +Halleck we had considered the question of visiting the land of Dixie +without permission from any of the men in authority. I ascertained +that this might easily have been done from Kentucky to Tennessee, but +that it could only be done on foot. There are very few available +roads running North and South through these States. The railways came +before roads; and even where the railways are far asunder, almost all +the traffic of the country takes itself to them, preferring a long +circuitous conveyance with steam, to short distances without. +Consequently such roads as there are run laterally to the railways, +meeting them at this point or that, and thus maintaining the +communication of the country. Now the railways were of course in the +hands of the armies. The few direct roads leading from North to South +were in the same condition, and the bye-roads were impassable from +mud. The frontier of the North therefore, though very extended, was +not very easily to be passed, unless, as I have said before, by men +on foot. For myself I confess that I was anxious to go South; but not +to do so without my coats and trousers, or shirts and +pocket-handkerchiefs. The readiest way of getting across the +line,—and the way which was I believe the most frequently used,—was +from below Baltimore in Maryland by boat across the Potomac. But in +this there was a considerable danger of being taken, and I had no +desire to become a state-prisoner in the hands of Mr. Seward under +circumstances which would have justified our Minister in asking for +my release only as a matter of favour. Therefore when at St. Louis, I +gave up all hopes of seeing "Dixie" during my present stay in +America. I presume it to be generally known that Dixie is the negro's +heaven, and that the southern slave States, in which it is presumed +that they have found a Paradise, have since the beginning of the war +been so named.</p> + +<p>We remained a few days at Louisville, and were greatly struck with +the natural beauty of the country around it. Indeed, as far as I was +enabled to see, Kentucky has superior attractions as a place of rural +residence for an English gentleman, to any other State in the Union. +There is nothing of landscape there equal to the banks of the upper +Mississippi, or to some parts of the Hudson river. It has none of the +wild grandeur of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, nor does it +break itself into valleys equal to those of the Alleghanies in +Pennsylvania. But all those are beauties for the tourist rather than +for the resident. In Kentucky the land lies in knolls and soft +sloping hills. The trees stand apart, forming forest openings. The +herbage is rich, and the soil, though not fertile like the prairies +of Illinois, or the river bottoms of the Mississippi and its +tributaries, is good, steadfast, wholesome farming ground. It is a +fine country for a resident gentleman farmer, and in its outward +aspect reminds me more of England in its rural aspects, than any +other State which I visited. Round Louisville there are beautiful +sites for houses, of which advantage in some instances has been +taken. But, nevertheless, Louisville though a well-built, handsome +city, is not now a thriving city. I liked it because the hotel was +above par, and because the country round it was good for walking; but +it has not advanced as Cincinnati and St. Louis have advanced. And +yet its position on the Ohio is favourable, and it is well +circumstanced as regards the wants of its own State. But it is not a +free-soil city. Nor indeed is St. Louis; but St. Louis is tending +that way, and has but little to do with the "domestic institution." +At the hotels in Cincinnati and St. Louis you are served by white +men, and are very badly served. At Louisville the ministration is by +black men, "bound to labour." The difference in the comfort is very +great. The white servants are noisy, dirty, forgetful, indifferent, +and sometimes impudent. The negroes are the very reverse of all this; +you cannot hurry them; but in all other respects,—and perhaps even +in that respect also,—they are good servants. This is the work for +which they seem to have been intended. But nevertheless where they +are, life and energy seem to languish, and prosperity cannot make any +true advance. They are symbols of the luxury of the white men who +employ them, and as such are signs of decay and emblems of decreasing +power. They are good labourers themselves, but their very presence +makes labour dishonourable. That Kentucky will speedily rid herself +of the institution I believe firmly. When she has so done, the +commercial city of that State may perhaps go a-head again like her +sisters.</p> + +<p>At this very time the Federal army was commencing that series of +active movements in Kentucky and through Tennessee which led to such +important results, and gave to the North the first solid victories +which they had gained since the contest began. On the 19th of January +one wing of General Buell's army, under General Thomas, had defeated +the secessionists near Somerset, in the south-eastern district of +Kentucky, under General Zollicoffer, who was there killed. But in +that action the attack was made by Zollicoffer and the secessionists. +When we were at Louisville we heard of the success of that gun-boat +expedition up the Tennessee river by which Fort Henry was taken. Fort +Henry had been built by the Confederates on the Tennessee,—exactly +on the confines of the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. They had +also another fort, Fort Donnelson, on the Cumberland river, which at +that point runs parallel to the Tennessee, and is there distant from +it but a very few miles. Both these rivers run into the Ohio. +Nashville, which is the capital of Tennessee, is higher up on the +Cumberland; and it was now intended to send the gun-boats down the +Tennessee back into the Ohio, and thence up the Cumberland, there to +attack Fort Donnelson, and afterwards to assist General Buell's army +in making its way down to Nashville. The gun-boats were attached to +General Halleck's army, and received their directions from St. Louis. +General Buell's head-quarters were at Louisville, and his advanced +position was on the Green River, on the line of the railway from +Louisville to Nashville. The secessionists had destroyed the railway +bridge over the Green River, and were now lying at Bowling Green, +between the Green River and Nashville. This place it was understood +that they had fortified.</p> + +<p>Matters were in this position when we got a military pass to go down +by the railway to the army on the Green River,—for the railway was +open to no one without a military pass;—and we started, trusting +that Providence would supply us with rations and quarters. An officer +attached to General Buell's staff, with whom however our acquaintance +was of the very slightest, had telegraphed down to say that we were +coming. I cannot say that I expected much from the message, seeing +that it simply amounted to a very thin introduction to a general +officer to whom we were strangers even by name, from a gentleman to +whom we had brought a note from another gentleman whose acquaintance +we had chanced to pick up on the road. We manifestly had no right to +expect much; but to us, expecting very little, very much was given. +General Johnson was the officer to whose care we were confided, he +being a brigadier under General M'Cook, who commanded the advance. We +were met by an aide-de-camp and saddle-horses, and soon found +ourselves in the General's tent, or rather in a shanty formed of +solid upright wooden logs, driven into the ground with the bark still +on, and having the interstices filled in with clay. This was roofed +with canvas, and altogether made a very eligible military residence. +The General slept in a big box about nine feet long and four broad +which occupied one end of the shanty, and he seemed in all his +fixings to be as comfortably put up as any gentleman might be when +out on such a picnic as this. We arrived in time for dinner, which +was brought in, table and all, by two negroes. The party was made up +by a doctor, who carved, and two of the staff, and a very nice dinner +we had. In half-an-hour we were intimate with the whole party, and as +familiar with the things around us as though we had been living in +tents all our lives. Indeed I had by this time been so often in the +tents of the northern army, that I almost felt entitled to make +myself at home. It has seemed to me that an Englishman has always +been made welcome in these camps. There has been and is at this +moment a terribly bitter feeling among Americans against England, and +I have heard this expressed quite as loudly by men in the army as by +civilians; but I think I may say that this has never been brought to +bear upon individual intercourse. Certainly we have said some very +sharp things of them,—words which, whether true or false, whether +deserved or undeserved, must have been offensive to them. I have +known this feeling of offence to amount almost to an agony of anger. +But nevertheless I have never seen any falling off in the hospitality +and courtesy generally shown by a civilized people to passing +visitors. I have argued the matter of England's course throughout the +war, till I have been hoarse with asseverating the rectitude of her +conduct and her national unselfishness. I have met very strong +opponents on the subject, and have been coerced into loud strains of +voice; but I never yet met one American who was personally uncivil to +me as an Englishman, or who seemed to be made personally angry by my +remarks. I found no coldness in that hospitality to which as a +stranger I was entitled, because of the national ill-feeling which +circumstances have engendered. And while on this subject I will +remark, that when travelling I have found it expedient to let those +with whom I might chance to talk know at once that I was an +Englishman. In fault of such knowledge things would be said which +could not but be disagreeable to me; but not even from any rough +western enthusiast in a railway carriage have I ever heard a word +spoken insolently to England, after I had made my nationality known. +I have learned that Wellington was beaten at Waterloo; that Lord +Palmerston was so unpopular that he could not walk alone in the +streets; that the House of Commons was an acknowledged failure; that +starvation was the normal condition of the British people, and that +the Queen was a bloodthirsty tyrant. But these assertions were not +made with the intention that they should be heard by an Englishman. +To us as a nation they are at the present moment unjust almost beyond +belief; but I do not think that the feeling has ever taken the guise +of personal discourtesy.</p> + +<p>We spent two days in the camp close upon the Green River, and I do +not know that I enjoyed any days of my trip more thoroughly than I +did these. In truth for the last month, since I had left Washington, +my life had not been one of enjoyment. I had been rolling in mud and +had been damp with filth. Camp Wood, as they called this military +settlement on the Green River, was also muddy; but we were +excellently well-mounted; the weather was very cold, but peculiarly +fine, and the soldiers around us, as far as we could judge, seemed to +be better off in all respects than those we had visited at St. Louis, +at Rolla, or at Cairo. They were all in tents, and seemed to be +light-spirited and happy. Their rations were excellent,—but so much +may, I think, be said of the whole northern army from Alexandria on +the Potomac to Springfield in the west of Missouri. There was very +little illness at that time in the camp in Kentucky, and the reports +made to us led us to think that on the whole this had been the most +healthy division of the army. The men, moreover, were less muddy than +their brethren either east or west of them,—at any rate this may be +said of them as regards the infantry.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the greatest charm of the place to me was the beauty of +the scenery. The Green River at this spot is as picturesque a stream +as I ever remember to have seen in such a country. It lies low down +between high banks, and curves hither and thither, never keeping a +straight line. Its banks are wooded; but not, as is so common in +America, by continuous, stunted, uninteresting forest, but by large +single trees standing on small patches of meadow by the water-side, +with the high banks rising over them, with glades through them open +for the horseman. The rides here in summer must be very lovely. Even +in winter they were so, and made me in love with the place in spite +of that brown, dull, barren aspect which the presence of an army +always creates. I have said that the railway bridge which crossed the +Green River at this spot had been destroyed by the secessionists. +This had been done effectually as regarded the passage of trains, but +only in part as regarded the absolute fabric of the bridge. It had +been, and still was when I saw it, a beautifully light construction, +made of iron and supported over a valley, rather than over a river, +on tall stone piers. One of these piers had been blown up; but when +we were there, the bridge had been repaired with beams and wooden +shafts. This had just been completed, and an engine had passed over +it. I must confess that it looked to me most perilously insecure; but +the eye uneducated in such mysteries is a bad judge of engineering +work. I passed with a horse backwards and forwards on it, and it did +not tumble down then; but I confess that on the first attempt I was +glad enough to lead the horse by the bridle.</p> + +<p>That bridge was certainly a beautiful fabric, and built in a most +lovely spot. Immediately under it there was also a pontoon bridge. +The tents of General M'Cook's division were immediately at the +northern end of it, and the whole place was alive with soldiers, +nailing down planks, pulling up temporary rails at each side, +carrying over straw for the horses, and preparing for the general +advance of the troops. It was a glorious day. There had been heavy +frost at night; but the air was dry, and the sun though cold was +bright. I do not know when I saw a prettier picture. It would perhaps +have been nothing without the loveliness of the river scenery; but +the winding of the stream at the spot, the sharp wooded hills on each +side, the forest openings, and the busy, eager, strange life together +filled the place with no common interest. The officers of the army at +the spot spoke with bitterest condemnation of the vandalism of their +enemy in destroying the bridge. The justice of the indignation, I +ventured very strongly to question. "Surely you would have destroyed +their bridge?" I said. "But they are rebels," was the answer. It has +been so throughout the contest; and the same argument has been held +by soldiers and by non-soldiers,—by women and by men. "Grant that +they are rebels," I have answered. "But when rebels fight they cannot +be expected to be more scrupulous in their mode of doing so than +their enemies who are not rebels." The whole population of the North +has from the beginning of this war considered themselves entitled to +all the privileges of belligerents; but have called their enemies +Goths and Vandals for even claiming those privileges for themselves. +The same feeling was at the bottom of their animosity against +England. Because the South was in rebellion, England should have +consented to allow the North to assume all the rights of a +belligerent, and should have denied all those rights to the South! +Nobody has seemed to understand that any privilege which a +belligerent can claim must depend on the very fact of his being in +encounter with some other party having the same privilege. Our press +has animadverted very strongly on the States government for the +apparent untruthfulness of their arguments on this matter; but I +profess that I believe that Mr. Seward and his colleagues,—and not +they only but the whole nation,—have so thoroughly deceived +themselves on this subject, have so talked and speechified themselves +into a misunderstanding of the matter, that they have taught +themselves to think that the men of the South could be entitled to no +consideration from any quarter. To have rebelled against the stars +and stripes seems to a northern man to be a crime putting the +criminal altogether out of all courts,—a crime which should have +armed the hands of all men against him, as the hands of all men are +armed at a dog that is mad, or a tiger that has escaped from its +keeper. It is singular that such a people, a people that has founded +itself on rebellion, should have such a horror of rebellion; but, as +far as my observation may have enabled me to read their feelings +rightly, I do believe that it has been as sincere as it is +irrational.</p> + +<p>We were out riding early on the morning of the second day of our +sojourn in the camp, and met the division of General Mitchell, a +detachment of General Buell's army, which had been in camp between +the Green River and Louisville, going forward to the bridge which was +then being prepared for their passage. This division consisted of +about 12,000 men, and the road was crowded throughout the whole day +with them and their waggons. We first passed a regiment of cavalry, +which appeared to be endless. Their cavalry regiments are, in +general, more numerous than those of the infantry, and on this +occasion we saw, I believe, about 1200 men pass by us. Their horses +were strong and serviceable, and the men were stout and in good +health; but the general appearance of everything about them was rough +and dirty. The American cavalry have always looked to me like +brigands. A party of them would, I think, make a better picture than +an equal number of our dragoons; but if they are to be regarded in +any other view than that of the picturesque, it does not seem to me +that they have been got up successfully. On this occasion they were +forming themselves into a picture for my behoof, and as the picture +was, as a picture, very good, I at least have no reason to complain.</p> + +<p>We were taken to see one German regiment, a regiment of which all the +privates were German and all the officers save one,—I think the +surgeon. We saw the men in their tents, and the food which they eat, +and were disposed to think that hitherto things were going well with +them. In the evening the colonel and lieutenant-colonel, both of whom +had been in the Prussian service, if I remember rightly, came up to +the general's quarters, and we spent the evening together in smoking +cigars and discussing slavery round the stove. I shall never forget +that night, or the vehement abolition enthusiasm of the two German +colonels. Our host had told us that he was a slave-owner; and as our +wants were supplied by two sable ministers, I concluded that he had +brought with him a portion of his domestic institution. Under such +circumstances I myself should have avoided such a subject, having +been taught to believe that southern gentlemen did not generally take +delight in open discussions on the subject. But had we been arguing +the question of the population of the planet Jupiter, or the final +possibility of the transmutation of metals, the matter could not have +been handled with less personal feeling. The Germans, however, spoke +the sentiments of all the Germans of the western States,—that is, of +all the Protestant Germans, and to them is confined the political +influence held by the German immigrants. They all regard slavery as +an evil, holding on the matter opinions quite as strong as ours have +ever been. And they argue that as slavery is an evil, it should +therefore be abolished at once. Their opinions are as strong as ours +have ever been, and they have not had our West Indian experience. Any +one desiring to understand the present political position of the +States should realize the fact of the present German influence on +political questions. Many say that the present President was returned +by German voters. In one sense this is true, for he certainly could +not have been returned without them; but for them, or for their +assistance, Mr. Breckinridge would have been President, and this +civil war would not have come to pass. As abolitionists they are much +more powerful than the republicans of New England, and also more in +earnest. In New England the matter is discussed politically; in the +great western towns, where the Germans congregate by thousands, they +profess to view it philosophically. A man, as a man, is entitled to +freedom. That is their argument, and it is a very old one. When you +ask them what they would propose to do with 4,000,000 of enfranchised +slaves and with their ruined masters,—how they would manage the +affairs of those 12,000,000 of people, all whose wealth and work and +very life have hitherto been hinged and hung upon slavery, they again +ask you whether slavery is not in itself bad, and whether anything +acknowledged to be bad should be allowed to remain.</p> + +<p>But the American Germans are in earnest, and I am strongly of opinion +that they will so far have their way, that the country which for the +future will be their country, will exist without the taint of +slavery. In the northern nationality, which will reform itself after +this war is over, there will, I think, be no slave State. That final +battle of abolition will have to be fought among a people apart; and +I must fear that while it lasts their national prosperity will not be +great.</p> + + +<p><a id="c7"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> +<h4>THE ARMY OF THE NORTH.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>I trust that it may not be thought that in this chapter I am going to +take upon myself the duties of a military critic. I am well aware +that I have no capacity for such a task, and that my opinion on such +matters would be worth nothing. But it is impossible to write of the +American States as they were when I visited them, and to leave that +subject of the American army untouched. It was all but impossible to +remain for some months in the northern States without visiting the +army. It was impossible to join in any conversation in the States +without talking about the army. It was impossible to make inquiry as +to the present and future condition of the people without basing such +inquiries more or less upon the doings of the army. If a stranger +visit Manchester with the object of seeing what sort of place +Manchester is, he must visit the cotton mills and printing +establishments, though he may have no taste for cotton and no +knowledge on the subject of calicoes. Under pressure of this kind I +have gone about from one army to another, looking at the drilling of +regiments, of the manœuvres of cavalry, at the practice of +artillery, and at the inner life of the camps. I do not feel that I +am in any degree more fitted to take the command of a campaign than I +was before I began, or even more fitted to say who can and who cannot +do so. But I have obtained on my own mind's eye a tolerably clear +impression of the outward appearance of the northern army; I have +endeavoured to learn something of the manner in which it was brought +together, and of its cost as it now stands; and I have learned—as +any man in the States may learn, without much trouble or personal +investigation—how terrible has been the peculation of the +contractors and officers by whom that army has been supplied. Of +these things, writing of the States at this moment, I must say +something. In what I shall say as to that matter of peculation I +trust that I may be believed to have spoken without personal +ill-feeling or individual malice.</p> + +<p>While I was travelling in the States of New England and in the +North-west, I came across various camps at which young regiments were +being drilled and new regiments were being formed. These lay in our +way as we made our journeys, and therefore we visited them; but they +were not objects of any very great interest. The men had not acquired +even any pretence of soldierlike bearing. The officers for the most +part had only just been selected, having hardly as yet left their +civil occupations, and anything like criticism was disarmed by the +very nature of the movement which had called the men together. I then +thought, as I still think, that the men themselves were actuated by +proper motives, and often by very high motives, in joining the +regiments. No doubt they looked to the pay offered. It is not often +that men are able to devote themselves to patriotism without any +reference to their personal circumstances. A man has got before him +the necessity of earning his bread, and very frequently the necessity +of earning the bread of others besides himself. This comes before him +not only as his first duty, but as the very law of his existence. His +wages are his life, and when he proposes to himself to serve his +country that subject of payment comes uppermost as it does when he +proposes to serve any other master. But the wages given, though very +high in comparison with those of any other army, have not been of a +nature to draw together from their distant homes at so short a +notice, so vast a cloud of men, had no other influence been at work. +As far as I can learn, the average rate of wages in the country since +the war began has been about 65 cents a day over and beyond the +workmen's diet. I feel convinced that I am putting this somewhat too +low, taking the average of all the markets from which the labour has +been withdrawn. In large cities labour has been higher than this, and +a considerable proportion of the army has been taken from large +cities. But taking 65 cents a day as the average, labour has been +worth about 17 dollars a month over and above the labourers' diet. In +the army the soldier receives 13 dollars a month, and also receives +his diet and clothes; in addition to this, in many States, 6 dollars +a month have been paid by the State to the wives and families of +those soldiers who have left wives and families in the States behind +them. Thus for the married men the wages given by the army have been +2 dollars a month, or less than £5 a year, more than his earnings at +home, and for the unmarried man they have been 4 dollars a month, or +less than £10 a year below his earnings at home. But the army also +gives clothing to the extent of 3 dollars a month. This would place +the unmarried soldier, in a pecuniary point of view, worse off by one +dollar a month, or £2 10<i>s.</i> a year, than he would have been at home; +and would give the married man 5 dollars a month, or £12 a year more +than his ordinary wages for absenting himself from his family. I +cannot think therefore that the pecuniary attractions have been very +great.</p> + +<p>Our soldiers in England enlist at wages which are about one half that +paid in the ordinary labour market to the class from whence they +come. But labour in England is uncertain, whereas in the States it is +certain. In England the soldier with his shilling gets better food +than the labourer with his two shillings; and the Englishman has no +objection to the rigidity of that discipline which is so distasteful +to an American. Moreover, who in England ever dreamed of raising +600,000 new troops in six months, out of a population of thirty +million? But this has been done in the northern States out of a +population of eighteen million. If England were invaded, Englishmen +would come forward in the same way, actuated, as I believe, by the +same high motives. My object here is simply to show that the American +soldiers have not been drawn together by the prospect of high wages, +as has been often said since the war began.</p> + +<p>They who inquire closely into the matter will find that hundreds and +thousands have joined the army as privates, who in doing so have +abandoned all their best worldly prospects, and have consented to +begin the game of life again, believing that their duty to their +country has now required their services. The fact has been that in +the different States a spirit of rivalry has been excited. Indiana +has endeavoured to show that she was as forward as Illinois; +Pennsylvania has been unwilling to lag behind New York; +Massachusetts, who has always struggled to be foremost in peace, has +desired to boast that she was first in war also; the smaller States +have resolved to make their names heard, and those which at first +were backward in sending troops have been shamed into greater +earnestness by the public voice. There has been a general feeling +throughout the people that the thing should be done;—that the +rebellion must be put down, and that it must be put down by arms. +Young men have been ashamed to remain behind; and their elders, +acting under that glow of patriotism which so often warms the hearts +of free men, but which perhaps does not often remain there long in +all its heat, have left their wives and have gone also. It may be +true that the voice of the majority has been coercive on many;—that +men have enlisted partly because the public voice required it of +them, and not entirely through the promptings of individual spirit. +Such public voice in America is very potent; but it is not, I think, +true that the army has been gathered together by the hope of high +wages.</p> + +<p>Such was my opinion of the men when I saw them from State to State +clustering into their new regiments. They did not look like soldiers; +but I regarded them as men earnestly intent on a work which they +believed to be right. Afterwards when I saw them in their camps, +amidst all the pomps and circumstances of glorious war, positively +converted into troops, armed with real rifles and doing actual +military service, I believed the same of them,—but cannot say that I +then liked them so well. Good motives had brought them there. They +were the same men, or men of the same class that I had seen before. +They were doing just that which I knew they would have to do. But +still I found that the more I saw of them the more I lost of that +respect for them which I had once felt. I think it was their dirt +that chiefly operated upon me. Then, too, they had hitherto done +nothing, and they seemed to be so terribly intent upon their rations! +The great boast of this army was that they eat meat twice a day, and +that their daily supply of bread was more than they could consume.</p> + +<p>When I had been two or three weeks in Washington, I went over to the +army of the Potomac and spent a few days with some of the officers. I +had on previous occasions ridden about the camps, and had seen a +review at which General Maclellan trotted up and down the lines with +all his numerous staff at his heels. I have always believed reviews +to be absurdly useless as regards the purpose for which they are +avowedly got up,—that, namely, of military inspection. And I +believed this especially of this review. I do not believe that any +Commander-in-chief ever learns much as to the excellence or +deficiencies of his troops by watching their manœuvres on a vast +open space; but I felt sure that General Maclellan had learned +nothing on this occasion. If before his review he did not know +whether his men were good as soldiers, he did not possess any such +knowledge after the review. If the matter may be regarded as a review +of the general;—if the object was to show him off to the men, that +they might know how well he rode, and how grand he looked with his +staff of forty or fifty officers at his heels, then this review must +be considered as satisfactory. General Maclellan does ride very well. +So much I learned, and no more.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to have a pass for crossing the Potomac either from +one side or from the other, and such a pass I procured from a friend +in the War-office, good for the whole period of my sojourn in +Washington. The wording of the pass was more than ordinarily long, as +it recommended me to the special courtesy of all whom I might +encounter; but in this respect it was injurious to me rather than +otherwise, as every picket by whom I was stopped found it necessary +to read it to the end. The paper was almost invariably returned to me +without a word; but the musket which was not unfrequently kept +extended across my horse's nose by the reader's comrade would be +withdrawn, and then I would ride on to the next barrier. It seemed to +me that these passes were so numerous and were signed by so many +officers, that there could have been no risk in forging them. The +army of the Potomac into which they admitted the bearer lay in +quarters which were extended over a length of twenty miles up and +down on the Virginian side of the river, and the river could be +traversed at five different places. Crowds of men and women were +going over daily, and no doubt all the visitors who so went with +innocent purposes were provided with proper passports; but any whose +purposes were not innocent, and who were not so provided, could have +passed the pickets with counterfeited orders. This, I have little +doubt, was done daily. Washington was full of secessionists, and +every movement of the Federal army was communicated to the +Confederates at Richmond, at which city was now established the +Congress and head-quarters of the Confederacy. But no such tidings of +the Confederate army reached those in command at Washington. There +were many circumstances in the contest which led to this result, and +I do not think that General Maclellan had any power to prevent it. +His system of passes certainly did not do so.</p> + +<p>I never could learn from any one what was the true number of this +army on the Potomac. I have been informed by those who professed to +know that it contained over 200,000 men, and by others who also +professed to know, that it did not contain 100,000. To me the +soldiers seemed to be innumerable, hanging like locusts over the +whole country,—a swarm desolating everything around them. Those +pomps and circumstances are not glorious in my eyes. They affect me +with a melancholy which I cannot avoid. Soldiers gathered together in +a camp are uncouth and ugly when they are idle; and when they are at +work their work is worse than idleness. When I have seen a thousand +men together, moving their feet hither at one sound and thither at +another, throwing their muskets about awkwardly, prodding at the air +with their bayonets, trotting twenty paces here and backing ten paces +there, wheeling round in uneven lines, and looking, as they did so, +miserably conscious of the absurdity of their own performances, I +have always been inclined to think how little the world can have +advanced in civilization, while grown-up men are still forced to +spend their days in such grotesque performances. Those to whom the +"pomps and circumstances" are dear—nay, those by whom they are +considered simply necessary—will be able to confute me by a thousand +arguments. I readily own myself confuted. There must be soldiers, and +soldiers must be taught. But not the less pitiful is it to see men of +thirty undergoing the goose-step, and tortured by orders as to the +proper mode of handling a long instrument which is half-gun and +half-spear. In the days of Hector and Ajax, the thing was done in a +more picturesque manner, and the songs of battle should, I think, be +confined to those ages.</p> + +<p>The ground occupied by the divisions on the further or south-western +side of the Potomac was, as I have said, about twenty miles in length +and perhaps seven in breadth. Through the whole of this district the +soldiers were everywhere. The tents of the various brigades were +clustered together in streets, the regiments being divided; and the +divisions, combining the brigades, lay apart at some distance from +each other. But everywhere, at all points, there were some signs of +military life. The roads were continually thronged with waggons, and +tracks were opened for horses wherever a shorter way might thus be +made available. On every side the trees were falling, or had fallen. +In some places whole woods had been felled with the express purpose +of rendering the ground impracticable for troops, and firs and pines +lay one over the other, still covered with their dark rough foliage, +as though a mighty forest had grown there along the ground, without +any power to raise itself towards the heavens. In other places the +trees had been chopped off from their trunks about a yard from the +ground, so that the soldier who cut it should have no trouble in +stooping, and the tops had been dragged away for firewood, or for the +erection of screens against the wind. Here and there in solitary +places there were outlying tents, looking as though each belonged to +some military recluse; and in the neighbourhood of every division was +to be found a photographing-establishment upon wheels, in order that +the men might send home to their sweethearts pictures of themselves +in their martial costumes.</p> + +<p>I wandered about through these camps both on foot and on horseback +day after day, and every now and then I would come upon a farm-house +that was still occupied by its old inhabitants. Many of such houses +had been deserted, and were now held by the senior officers of the +army; but some of the old families remained, living in the midst of +this scene of war in a condition most forlorn. As for any tillage of +their land, that under such circumstances might be pronounced as +hopeless. Nor could there exist encouragement for farm-work of any +kind. Fences had been taken down and burned; the ground had been +overrun in every direction. The stock had of course disappeared; it +had not been stolen, but had been sold in a hurry for what under such +circumstances it might fetch. What farmer could work or have any hope +for his land in the middle of such a crowd of soldiers? But yet there +were the families. The women were in their houses, and the children +playing at their doors, and the men, with whom I sometimes spoke, +would stand around with their hands in their pockets. They knew that +they were ruined; they expected no redress. In nine cases out of ten +they were inimical in spirit to the soldiers around them. And yet it +seemed that their equanimity was never disturbed. In a former chapter +I have spoken of a certain general,—not a fighting general of the +army, but a local farming general,—who spoke loudly and with many +curses of the injury inflicted on him by the secessionists. With that +exception, I heard no loud complaint of personal suffering. These +Virginian farmers must have been deprived of everything,—of the very +means of earning bread. They still hold by their houses, though they +were in the very thick of the war, because there they had shelter for +their families, and elsewhere they might seek it in vain. A man +cannot move his wife and children if he have no place to which to +move them, even though his house be in the midst of disease, of +pestilence, or of battle. So it was with them then, but it seemed as +though they were already used to it.</p> + +<p>But there was a class of inhabitants in that same country to whom +fate had been even more unkind than to those whom I saw. The lines of +the northern army extended perhaps seven or eight miles from the +Potomac, and the lines of the Confederate army were distant some four +miles from those of their enemies. There was, therefore, an +intervening space or strip of ground about four miles broad, which +might be said to be no man's land. It was no man's land as to +military possession, but it was still occupied by many of its old +inhabitants. These people were not allowed to pass the lines either +of one army or of the other; or if they did so pass they were not +allowed to return to their homes. To these homes they were forced to +cling, and there they remained. They had no market, no shops at which +to make purchases even if they had money to buy; no customers with +whom to deal even if they had produce to sell. They had their cows, +if they could keep them from the Confederate soldiers, their pigs and +their poultry; and on them they were living—a most forlorn life. Any +advance made by either party must be over their homesteads. In the +event of battle they would be in the midst of it; and in the meantime +they could see no one, hear of nothing, go no whither beyond the +limits of that miserable strip of ground!</p> + +<p>The earth was hard with frost when I paid my visit to the camp, and +the general appearance of things around my friend's quarters was on +that account cheerful enough. It was the mud which made things sad +and wretched. When the frost came it seemed as though the army had +overcome one of its worst enemies. Unfortunately cold weather did not +last long. I have been told in Washington that they rarely have had +so open a season. Soon after my departure that terrible enemy, the +mud, came back upon them, but during my stay the ground was hard and +the weather very sharp. I slept in a tent, and managed to keep my +body warm by an enormous overstructure of blankets and coats; but I +could not keep my head warm. Throughout the night I had to go down, +like a fish beneath the water, for protection, and come up for air at +intervals, half-smothered. I had a stove in my tent, but the heat of +that when lighted was more terrible than the severity of the frost.</p> + +<p>The tents of the brigade with which I was staying had been pitched +not without an eye to appearances. They were placed in streets as it +were, each street having its name, and between them screens had been +erected of fir-poles and fir-branches, so as to keep off the wind. +The outside boundaries of the nearest regiment were ornamented with +arches, crosses, and columns constructed in the same way; so that the +quarters of the men were reached, as it were, through gateways. The +whole thing was pretty enough, and while the ground was hard the camp +was picturesque, and a visit to it was not unpleasant. But +unfortunately the ground was in its nature soft and deep, composed of +red clay, and as the frost went and the wet weather came, mud became +omnipotent and destroyed all prettiness. And I found that the cold +weather, let it be ever so cold, was not severe upon the men. It was +wet which they feared and had cause to fear, both for themselves and +for their horses. As to the horses, but few of them were protected by +any shelter or covering whatsoever. Through both frost and wet they +remained out, tied to the wheel of a waggon or to some temporary rack +at which they were fed. In England we should imagine that any horse +so treated must perish; but here the animals seemed to stand it. Many +of them were miserable enough in appearance, but nevertheless they +did the work required of them. I have observed that horses throughout +the States are treated in a hardier manner than is usually the case +with us.</p> + +<p>At the period of which I am speaking, January, 1862, the health of +the army of the Potomac was not as good as it had been, and was +beginning to give way under the effects of the winter. Measles had +become very prevalent, and also small-pox—though not of a virulent +description; and men, in many instances, were sinking under fatigue. +I was informed by various officers that the Irish regiments were on +the whole the most satisfactory. Not that they made the best +soldiers, for it was asserted that they were worse, as soldiers, than +the Americans or Germans; not that they became more easily subject to +rule, for it was asserted that they were unruly;—but because they +were rarely ill. Diseases which seized the American troops on all +sides seemed to spare them. The mortality was not excessive, but the +men became sick and ailing, and fell under the doctor's hands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Olmstead, whose name is well known in England as a writer on the +southern States, was at this time secretary to a Sanitary Commission +on the army, and published an abstract of the results of the +inquiries made, on which I believe perfect reliance may be placed. +This inquiry was extended to two hundred regiments, which were +presumed to be included in the army of the Potomac; but these +regiments were not all located on the Virginian side of the river, +and must not therefore be taken as belonging exclusively to the +divisions of which I have been speaking. Mr. Olmstead says, "The +health of our armies is evidently not above the average of armies in +the field. The mortality of the army of the Potomac during the summer +months averaged 3½ per cent., and for the whole army it is stated at +5 per cent." "Of the camps inspected, 5 per cent.," he says, "were in +admirable order; 44 per cent. fairly clean and well policed. The +condition of 26 per cent. was negligent and slovenly, and of 24 per +cent. decidedly bad, filthy, and dangerous." Thus 50 per cent. were +either negligent and slovenly, or filthy and dangerous. I wonder what +the report would have been had Camp Benton at St. Louis been +surveyed! "In about 80 per cent. of the regiments the officers +claimed to give systematic attention to the cleanliness of the men; +but it is remarked that they rarely enforced the washing of the feet, +and not always of the head and neck." I wish Mr. Olmstead had added +that they never enforced the cutting of the hair. No single trait has +been so decidedly disadvantageous to the appearance of the American +army, as the long, uncombed, rough locks of hair which the men have +appeared so loth to abandon. In reading the above one cannot but +think of the condition of those other twenty regiments!</p> + +<p>According to Mr. Olmstead two-thirds of the men were native-born, and +one-third was composed of foreigners. These foreigners are either +Irish or German. Had a similar report been made of the armies in the +West, I think it would have been seen that the proportion of +foreigners was still greater. The average age of the privates was +something under twenty-five, and that of the officers thirty-four. I +may here add, from my own observation, that an officer's rank could +in no degree be predicated from his age. Generals, colonels, majors, +captains, and lieutenants, had been all appointed at the same time +and without reference to age or qualification. Political influence or +the power of raising recruits had been the standard by which military +rank was distributed. The old West Point officers had generally been +chosen for high commands, but beyond this everything was necessarily +new. Young colonels and ancient captains abounded without any harsh +feeling as to the matter on either side. Indeed in this respect the +practice of the country generally was simply carried out. Fathers and +mothers in America seem to obey their sons and daughters naturally, +and as they grow old become the slaves of their grandchildren.</p> + +<p>Mr. Olmstead says that food was found to be universally good and +abundant. On this matter Mr. Olmstead might have spoken in stronger +language without exaggeration. The food supplied to the American +armies has been extravagantly good, and certainly has been wastefully +abundant. Very much has been said of the cost of the American army, +and it has been made a matter of boasting that no army so costly has +ever been put into the field by any other nation. The assertion is, I +believe, at any rate true. I have found it impossible to ascertain +what has hitherto been expended on the army. I much doubt whether +even Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, or Mr. Stanton, the +Secretary-at-War, know themselves, and I do not suppose that Mr. +Stanton's predecessor much cared. Some approach, however, may be +reached to the amount actually paid in wages and for clothes and +diet, and I give below a statement which I have seen of the actual +annual sum proposed to be expended on these heads, presuming the army +to consist of 500,000 men. The army is stated to contain 660,000 men, +but the former numbers given would probably be found to be nearer the +mark.<br /> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="5"> + <tr> + <td> + + </td> + <td align="center"> + Dollars + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Wages of privates, including<br /> + <span class="ind2">sergeants and corporals</span> + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 86,640,000 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Salaries of regimental officers + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 23,784,000 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Extra wages of privates; extra pay to <br /> + <span class="ind2">mounted officers, and salary of</span><br /> + <span class="ind2">officers above the rank of colonel</span> + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + <span class="u"> 17,000,000</span> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 127,424,000<br /> + or <br /> + £25,484,000<br /> + sterling. <br /> + + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p class="noindent">To this must be +added the cost of diet and clothing. The food of the +men, I was informed, was supplied at an average cost of 17 cents a +day, which, for an army of 500,000 men, would amount to £6,200,000 +per annum. The clothing of the men is shown by the printed statement +of their war department to amount to 3 dollars a month for a period +of five years. That, at least, is the amount allowed to a private of +infantry or artillery. The cost of the cavalry uniforms and of the +dress of the non-commissioned officers is something higher, but not +sufficiently so to make it necessary to make special provision for +the difference in a statement so rough as this. At 3 dollars a month +the clothing of the army would amount to £3,600,000. The actual +annual cost would therefore be as +<span class="nowrap">follows:—</span><br /> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="5"> + <tr> + <td>Salaries and wages + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £25,484,400 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Diet of the soldiers + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 6,200,000 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Clothing for the soldiers + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + <span class="u"> 3,600,000</span> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £35,284,400 + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p class="noindent">I believe that these +figures may be trusted, unless it be with +reference to that sum of $17,000,000 or £3,400,000, which is presumed +to include the salaries of all general-officers with their staffs, +and also the extra wages paid to soldiers in certain cases. This is +given as an estimate, and may be over or under the mark. The sum +named as the cost of clothing would be correct, or nearly so, if the +army remained in its present force for five years. If it so remained +for only one year the cost would be one-fifth higher. It must of +course be remembered that the sum above named includes simply the +wages, clothes, and food of the men. It does not comprise the +purchase of arms, horses, ammunition, or waggons; the forage of +horses; the transport of troops, or any of those incidental expenses +of warfare which are always, I presume, heavier than the absolute +cost of the men, and which in this war have been probably heavier +than in any war ever waged on the face of God's earth. Nor does it +include that terrible item of peculation as to which I will say a +word or two before I finish this chapter.</p> + +<p>The yearly total payment of the officers and soldiers of the armies +is as follows. As regards the officers it must be understood that +this includes all the allowances made to them, except as regards +those on the staff. The sums named apply only to the infantry and +artillery. The pay of the cavalry is about ten per cent. +higher.<br /> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="5"> + <tr> + <td> + Lieutenant-General.<br /> + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £1,850 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="ind2">General Scott alone holds</span><br /> + <span class="ind2"><span class="nowrap">that rank in the States' army </span></span> + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Major-General + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 1,150 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Brigadier-General + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 800 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + *Colonel + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 530 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + *Lieutenant-Colonel + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 475 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Major + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 430 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Captain + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 300 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + First Lieutenant + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 265 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Second Lieutenant + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 245 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + First Sergeant + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 48 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Sergeant + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 40 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Corporal + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 34 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Private + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 31 + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"><tr><td> +*A Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel are +attached to each regiment.<br /> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>In every grade named the pay is, I believe, higher than that given by +us, or, as I imagine, by any other nation. It is, however, probable +that the extra allowances paid to some of our higher officers when on +duty may give to their positions for a time a higher pecuniary +remuneration. It will of course be understood that there is nothing +in the American army answering to our colonel of a regiment. With us +the officer so designated holds a nominal command of high dignity and +emolument as a reward for past services.</p> + +<p>I have already spoken of my visits to the camps of the other armies +in the field, that of General Halleck, who held his head-quarters at +St. Louis, in Missouri, and that of General Buell, who was at +Louisville, in Kentucky. There was also a fourth army under General +Hunter, in Kansas, but I did not make my way as far west as that. I +do not pretend to any military knowledge, and should be foolish to +attempt military criticism; but as far as I could judge by +appearance, I should say that the men in Buell's army were, of the +three, in the best order. They seemed to me to be cleaner than the +others, and, as far as I could learn, were in better health. Want of +discipline and dirt have, no doubt, been the great faults of the +regiments generally, and the latter drawback may probably be included +in the former. These men have not been accustomed to act under the +orders of superiors, and when they entered on the service hardly +recognized the fact that they would have to do so in ought else than +in their actual drill and fighting. It is impossible to conceive any +class of men to whom the necessary discipline of a soldier would come +with more difficulty than to an American citizen. The whole training +of his life has been against it. He has never known respect for a +master, or reverence for men of a higher rank than himself. He has +probably been made to work hard for his wages,—harder than an +Englishman works,—but he has been his employer's equal. The language +between them has been the language of equals, and their arrangement +as to labour and wages has been a contract between equals. If he did +not work he would not get his money,—and perhaps not if he did. +Under these circumstances he has made his fight with the world; but +those circumstances have never taught him that special deference to a +superior, which is the first essential of a soldier's duty. But +probably in no respect would that difficulty be so severely felt as +in all matters appertaining to personal habits. Here at any rate the +man would expect to be still his own master, acting for himself and +independent of all outer control. Our English Hodge, when taken from +the plough to the camp, would, probably, submit without a murmur to +soap and water and a barber's shears; he would have received none of +that education which would prompt him to rebel against such +ordinances; but the American citizen, who for a while expects to +shake hands with his captain whenever he sees him, and is astonished +when he learns that he must not offer him drinks, cannot at once be +brought to understand that he is to be treated like a child in the +nursery;—that he must change his shirt so often, wash himself at +such and such intervals, and go through a certain process of +cleansing his outward garments daily. I met while travelling a +sergeant of an old regular American regiment, and he spoke of the +want of discipline among the volunteers as hopeless. But even he +instanced it chiefly by their want of cleanliness. "They wear their +shirts till they drop off their backs," said he; "and what can you +expect from such men as that?" I liked that sergeant for his zeal and +intelligence, and also for his courtesy when he found that I was an +Englishman; for previous to his so finding he had begun to abuse the +English roundly,—but I did not quite agree with him about the +volunteers. It is very bad that soldiers should be dirty, bad also +that they should treat their captains with familiarity and desire to +exchange drinks with the majors. But even discipline is not +everything; and discipline will come at last even to the American +soldiers, distasteful as it may be, when the necessity for it is made +apparent. But these volunteers have great military virtues. They are +intelligent, zealous in their cause, handy with arms, willing enough +to work at all military duties, and personally brave. On the other +hand they are sickly, and there has been a considerable amount of +drunkenness among them. No man who has looked to the subject can, I +think, doubt that a native American has a lower physical development +than an Irishman, a German, or an Englishman. They become old sooner, +and die at an earlier age. As to that matter of drink, I do not think +that much need be said against them. English soldiers get drunk when +they have the means of doing so, and American soldiers would not get +drunk if the means were taken away from them. A little drunkenness +goes a long way in a camp, and ten drunkards will give a bad name to +a company of a hundred. Let any man travel with twenty men of whom +four are tipsy, and on leaving them he will tell you that every man +of them was a drunkard.</p> + +<p>I have said that these men are brave, and I have no doubt that they +are so. How should it be otherwise with men of such a race? But it +must be remembered that there are two kinds of courage, one of which +is very common and the other very uncommon. Of the latter description +of courage it cannot be expected that much should be found among the +privates of any army, and perhaps not very many examples among the +officers. It is a courage self-sustained, based on a knowledge of the +right and on a life-long calculation that any results coming from +adherence to the right will be preferable to any that can be produced +by a departure from it. This is the courage which will enable a man +to stand his ground in battle or elsewhere, though broken worlds +should fall around him. The other courage, which is mainly an affair +of the heart or blood and not of the brain, always requires some +outward support. The man who finds himself prominent in danger bears +himself gallantly, because the eyes of many will see him; whether as +an old man he leads an army, or as a young man goes on a forlorn +hope, or as a private carries his officer on his back out of the +fire, he is sustained by the love of praise. And the men who are not +individually prominent in danger, who stand their ground shoulder to +shoulder, bear themselves gallantly also, each trusting in the +combined strength of his comrades. When such combined strength has +been acquired, that useful courage is engendered which we may rather +call confidence, and which of all courage is the most serviceable in +the army. At the battle of Bull's Run the army of the North became +panic-stricken and fled. From this fact many have been led to believe +that the American soldiers would not fight well, and that they could +not be brought to stand their ground under fire. This I think has +been an unfair conclusion. In the first place the history of the +battle of Bull's Run has yet to be written; as yet the history of the +flight only has been given to us. As far as I can learn, the northern +soldiers did at first fight well;—so well, that the army of the +South believed itself to be beaten. But a panic was created—at +first, as it seems, among the teamsters and waggons. A cry was +raised, and a rush was made by hundreds of drivers with their carts +and horses; and then men who had never seen war before, who had not +yet had three months' drilling as soldiers, to whom the turmoil of +that day must have seemed as though hell were opening upon them, +joined themselves to the general clamour, and fled to Washington, +believing that all was lost. But at the same time the regiments of +the enemy were going through the same farce in the other direction! +It was a battle between troops who knew nothing of battles; of +soldiers who were not yet soldiers. That individual high-minded +courage, which would have given to each individual recruit the +self-sustained power against a panic, which is to be looked for in a +general, was not to be looked for in them. Of the other courage of +which I have spoken, there was as much as the circumstances of the +battle would allow.</p> + +<p>On subsequent occasions the men have fought well. We should, I think, +admit that they have fought very well when we consider how short has +been their practice at such work. At Somerset, at Fort Henry, at Fort +Donnelson, at Corinth, the men behaved with courage, standing well to +their arms, though at each place the slaughter among them was great. +They have always gone well into fire, and have generally borne +themselves well under fire. I am convinced that we in England can +make no greater mistake than to suppose that the Americans as +soldiers are deficient in courage.</p> + +<p>But now I must come to a matter in which a terrible deficiency has +been shown, not by the soldiers, but by those whose duty it has been +to provide for the soldiers. It is impossible to speak of the army of +the North and to leave untouched that hideous subject of army +contracts. And I think myself the more specially bound to allude to +it because I feel that the iniquities which have prevailed, prove +with terrible earnestness the demoralizing power of that dishonesty +among men in high places, which is the one great evil of the American +States. It is there that the deficiency exists, which must be +supplied before the public men of the nation can take a high rank +among other public men. There is the gangrene, which must be cut out +before the government, as a government, can be great. To make money +is the one thing needful, and men have been anxious to meddle with +the affairs of government, because there might money be made with the +greatest ease. "Make money," the Roman satirist said; "make it +honestly if you can, but at any rate make money." That first counsel +would be considered futile and altogether vain by those who have +lately dealt with the public wants of the American States.</p> + +<p>This is bad in a most fatal degree, not mainly because men in high +places have been dishonest, or because the government has been badly +served by its own paid officers. That men in high places should be +dishonest, and that the people should be cheated by their rulers is +very bad. But there is worse than this. The thing becomes so common, +and so notorious, that the American world at large is taught to +believe that dishonesty is in itself good. "It behoves a man to be +smart, sir!" Till the opposite doctrine to that be learned; till men +in America,—ay, and in Europe, Asia, and Africa,—can learn that it +specially behoves a man not to be smart, they will have learned +little of their duty towards God, and nothing of their duty towards +their neighbour.</p> + +<p>In the instances of fraud against the States' government to which I +am about to allude, I shall take all my facts from the report made to +the House of Representatives at Washington by a Committee of that +House in December, 1861. "Mr. Washbourne, from the Select Committee +to inquire into the Contracts of the Government, made the following +Report." That is the heading of the pamphlet. The Committee was known +as the Van Wyck Committee, a gentleman of that name having acted as +chairman.</p> + +<p>The Committee first went to New York, and began their inquiries with +reference to the purchase of a steam-boat called the "Catiline." In +this case a certain Captain Comstock had been designated from +Washington as the agent to be trusted in the charter or purchase of +the vessel. He agreed on behalf of the Government to hire that +special boat for £2000 a month for three months, having given +information to friends of his on the matter, which enabled them to +purchase it out-and-out for less than £4000. These friends were not +connected with shipping matters, but were lawyers and hotel +proprietors. The Committee conclude "that the vessel was chartered to +the Government at an unconscionable price; and that Captain Comstock, +by whom this was effected, while enjoying <i>the peculiar confidence of +the Government</i>, was acting for and in concert with the parties who +chartered the vessel, and was in fact their agent." But the report +does not explain why Captain Comstock was selected for this work by +authority from Washington, nor does it recommend that he be punished. +It does not appear that Captain Comstock had ever been in the regular +service of the Government, but that he had been master of a steamer.</p> + +<p>In the next place one Starbuck is employed to buy ships. As a +government agent he buys two for £1300, and sells them to the +government for £2900. The vessels themselves, when delivered at the +Navy Yard, were found to be totally unfit for the service for which +they had been purchased. But why was Starbuck employed, when, as +appears over and over again in the report, New York was full of paid +government servants ready and fit to do the work? Starbuck was merely +an agent, and who will believe that he was allowed to pocket the +whole difference of £1600? The greater part of the plunder was, +however, in this case refunded.</p> + +<p>Then we come to the case of Mr. George D. Morgan, brother-in-law of +Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. I have spoken of this +gentleman before, and of his singular prosperity. He amassed a large +fortune in five months, as a government agent for the purchase of +vessels, he having been a wholesale grocer by trade. This gentleman +had had no experience whatsoever with reference to ships. It is shown +by the evidence that he had none of the requisite knowledge, and that +there were special servants of the government in New York at that +time, sent there specially for such services as these, who were in +every way trustworthy, and who had the requisite knowledge. Yet Mr. +Morgan was placed in this position by his brother-in-law the +Secretary of the Navy, and in that capacity made about £20,000 in +five months, all of which was paid by the government, as is well +shown to have been the fact in the report before me. One result of +such a mode of agency is given;—one other result, I mean, besides +the £20,000 put into the pocket of the brother of the Secretary of +the Navy. A ship called the "Stars and Stripes" was bought by Mr. +Morgan for £11,000, which had been built some months before for +£7000. This vessel was bought from a company which was blessed with a +President. The President made the bargain with the government agent, +but insisted on keeping back from his own company £2000 out of the +£11,000 for expenses incident to the purchase. The company did not +like being mulcted of its prey, and growled heavily; but their +President declared that such bargains were not got at Washington for +nothing. Members of Congress had to be paid to assist in such things. +At least he could not reduce his little private bill for such +assistance below £1600. He had, he said, positively paid out so much +to those venal Members of Congress, and had made nothing for himself +to compensate him for his own exertions. When this President came to +be examined, he admitted that he had really made no payments to +Members of Congress. His own capacity had been so great that no such +assistance had been found necessary. But he justified his charge on +the ground that the sum taken by him was no more than the company +might have expected him to lay out on Members of Congress, or on +ex-Members who are specially mentioned, had he not himself carried on +the business with such consummate discretion! It seems to me that the +Members or ex-Members of Congress were shamefully robbed in this +matter.</p> + +<p>The report deals manfully with Mr. Morgan, showing that for five +months' work,—which work he did not do and did not know how to +do,—he received as large a sum as the President's salary for the +whole Presidential term of four years. So much better is it to be an +agent of government than simply an officer! And the Committee adds, +that they "do not find in this transaction the less to censure in the +fact that this arrangement between the Secretary of the Navy and Mr. +Morgan was one between brothers-in-law." After that who will believe +that Mr. Morgan had the whole of that £20,000 for himself? And yet +Mr. Welles still remains Secretary of the Navy, and has justified the +whole transaction in an explanation admitting everything, and which +is considered by his friends to be an able State paper. "It behoves a +man to be smart, sir." Mr. Morgan and Secretary Welles will no doubt +be considered by their own party to have done their duty well as high +trading public functionaries. The faults of Mr. Morgan and of +Secretary Welles are nothing to us in England; but the light in which +such faults may be regarded by the American people is much to us.</p> + +<p>I will now go on to the case of a Mr. Cummings. Mr. Cummings, it +appears, had been for many years the editor of a newspaper in +Philadelphia, and had been an intimate political friend and ally of +Mr. Cameron. Now at the time of which I am writing, April, 1861, Mr. +Cameron was Secretary-at-War, and could be very useful to an old +political ally living in his own State. The upshot of the present +case will teach us to think well of Mr. Cameron's gratitude.</p> + +<p>In April, 1861, stores were wanted for the army at Washington, and +Mr. Cameron gave an order to his old friend Cummings to expend +2,000,000 dollars, pretty much according to his fancy, in buying +stores. Governor Morgan, the Governor of New York State and a +relative of our other friend Morgan, was joined with Mr. Cummings in +this commission, Mr. Cameron no doubt having felt himself bound to +give the friends of his colleague at the Navy a chance. Governor +Morgan at once made over his right to his relative; but better things +soon came in Mr. Morgan's way, and he relinquished his share in this +partnership at an early date. In this transaction he did not himself +handle above 25,000 dollars. Then the whole job fell into the hands +of Mr. Cameron's old political friend.</p> + +<p>The 2,000,000 of dollars, or £400,000, were paid into the hands of +certain government treasurers at New York, but they had orders to +honour the draft of the political friend of the Secretary-at-War, and +consequently £50,000 was immediately withdrawn by Mr. Cummings, and +with this he went to work. It is shown that he knew nothing of the +business; that he employed a clerk from Albany whom he did not know, +and confided to this clerk the duty of buying such stores as were +bought; that this clerk was recommended to him by Mr. Weed, the +editor of a newspaper at Albany, who is known in the States as the +special political friend of Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State; and +that in this way he spent £32,000. He bought linen pantaloons and +straw hats to the amount of £4200, because he thought the soldiers +looked hot in the warm weather; but he afterwards learned that they +were of no use. He bought groceries of a hardware dealer named +Davidson, at Albany, that town whence came Mr. Weed's clerk. He did +not know what was Davidson's trade, nor did he know exactly what he +was going to buy; but Davidson proposed to sell him something which +Mr. Cummings believed to be some kind of provisions, and he bought +it. He did not know for how much,—whether over £2000 or not. He +never saw the articles and had no knowledge of their quality. It was +out of the question that he should have such knowledge, as he naïvely +remarks. His clerk Humphreys saw the articles. He presumed they were +brought from Albany, but did not know. He afterwards bought a +ship,—or two or three ships. He inspected one ship "by a mere casual +visit:" that is to say, he did not examine her boilers; he did not +know her tonnage, but he took the word of the seller for everything. +He could not state the terms of the charter, or give the substance of +it. He had had no former experience in buying or chartering ships. He +also bought 75,000 pair of shoes at only 25 cents, or one shilling a +pair, more than their proper price. He bought them of a Mr. Hall, who +declares that he paid Mr. Cummings nothing for the job, but regarded +it as a return for certain previous favours conferred by him on Mr. +Cummings in the occasional loans of £100 or £200.</p> + +<p>At the end of the examination it appears that Mr. Cummings still held +in his hand a slight balance of £28,000, of which he had forgotten to +make mention in the body of his own evidence. "This item seems to +have been overlooked by him in his testimony," says the report. And +when the report was made nothing had yet been learned of the destiny +of this small balance.</p> + +<p>Then the report gives a list of the army supplies miscellaneously +purchased by Mr. Cummings:—280 dozen pints of ale at 9<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a +dozen; a lot of codfish and herrings; 200 boxes of cheeses and a +large assortment of butter; some tongues; straw hats and linen +"pants;" 23 barrels of pickles; 25 casks of Scotch ale, price not +stated; a lot of London porter, price not stated; and some Hall +carbines of which I must say a word more further on. It should be +remembered that no requisition had come from the army for any of the +articles named; that the purchase of herrings and straw hats was +dictated solely by the discretion of Cummings and his man +Humphreys,—or, as is more probable, by the fact that some other +person had such articles by him for sale; and that the government had +its own established officers for the supply of things properly +ordered by military requisition. These very same articles also were +apparently procured, in the first place, as a private speculation, +and were made over to the government on the failure of that +speculation. "Some of the above articles," says the report, "were +shipped by the 'Catiline,' which were probably loaded on private +account, and not being able to obtain a clearance was in some way, +through Mr. Cummings, transferred over to the government,—<i>Scotch +ale, London porter, selected herrings</i>, and all." The italics as well +as the words are taken from the report.</p> + +<p>This was the confidential political friend of the Secretary-at-War, +by whom he was intrusted with £400,000 of public money! £28,000 had +not been accounted for when the report was made, and the army +supplies were bought after the fashion above named. That +Secretary-at-War, Mr. Cameron, has since left the Cabinet; but he has +not been turned out in disgrace; he has been nominated as minister to +Russia, and the world has been told that there was some difference of +opinion between him and his colleagues respecting slavery! Mr. +Cameron in some speech or paper declared on his leaving the Cabinet +that he had not intended to remain long as Secretary-at-War. This +assertion, I should think, must have been true.</p> + +<p>And now about the Hall carbines, as to which the gentlemen on this +Committee tell their tale with an evident delight in the richness of +its incidents which at once puts all their readers in accord with +them. There were altogether some five thousand of these, all of which +the government sold to a Mr. Eastman in June, 1861, for 14<i>s.</i> each, +as perfectly useless, and afterwards bought in August for £4 8<i>s.</i> +each, about 4<i>s.</i> a carbine having been expended in their repair in +the mean time. But as regards 790 of these now famous weapons, it +must be explained they had been sold by the government as perfectly +useless, and at a nominal price, previously to this second sale made +by the government to Mr. Eastman. They had been so sold, and then, in +April, 1861, they had been bought again for the government by the +indefatigable Cummings for £3 each. Then they were again sold as +useless for 14<i>s.</i> each to Eastman, and instantly rebought on behalf +of the government for £4 8<i>s.</i> each! Useless for war purposes they +may have been, but as articles of commerce it must be confessed that +they were very serviceable.</p> + +<p>This last purchase was made by a man named Stevens on behalf of +General Fremont, who at that time commanded the army of the United +States in Missouri. Stevens had been employed by General Fremont as +an agent on the behalf of government, as is shown with clearness in +the report, and on hearing of these muskets telegraphed to the +General at once. "I have 5000 Hall's rifled cast-steel muskets, +breech-loading, new, at 22 dollars." General Fremont telegraphed back +instantly, "I will take the whole 5000 carbines … I will +pay all extra charges <span class="nowrap">…"</span> And +so the purchase was made. The muskets, it seems, were +not absolutely useless even as weapons of war. "Considering the +emergency of the times," a competent witness considered them to be +worth "10 or 12 dollars." The government had been as much cheated in +selling them as it had in buying them. But the nature of the latter +transaction is shown by the facts that Stevens was employed, though +irresponsibly employed, as a government agent by General Fremont; +that he bought the muskets in that character himself, making on the +transaction £1 18<i>s.</i> on each musket; and that the same man +afterwards appeared as an aide-de-camp on General Fremont's staff. +General Fremont had no authority himself to make such a purchase, and +when the money was paid for the first instalment of the arms, it was +so paid by the special order of General Fremont himself out of moneys +intended to be applied to other purposes. The money was actually paid +to a gentleman known at Fremont's head-quarters as his special +friend, and was then paid in that irregular way because this friend +desired that that special bill should receive immediate payment. +After that who can believe that Stevens was himself allowed to pocket +the whole amount of the plunder?</p> + +<p>There is a nice little story of a clergyman in New York who sold for +£40 and certain further contingencies, the right to furnish 200 +cavalry horses; but I should make this too long if I told all the +nice little stories. As the frauds at St. Louis were, if not in fact +the most monstrous, at any rate the most monstrous which have as yet +been brought to the light, I cannot finish this account without +explaining something of what was going on at that western Paradise in +those halcyon days of General Fremont.</p> + +<p>General Fremont, soon after reaching St. Louis, undertook to build +ten forts for the protection of that city. These forts have since +been pronounced as useless, and the whole measure has been treated +with derision by officers of his own army. But the judgment displayed +in the matter is a military question with which I do not presume to +meddle. Even if a general be wrong in such a matter, his character as +a man is not disgraced by such error. But the manner of building them +was the affair with which Mr. Van Wyck's committee had to deal. It +seems that five of the forts, the five largest, were made under the +orders of a certain Major Kappner at a cost of £12,000, and that the +other five could have been built at least for the same sum. Major +Kappner seems to have been a good and honest public servant, and +therefore quite unfit for the superintendence of such work at St. +Louis. The other five smaller forts were also in progress, the works +on them having been continued from 1st September to 25th September, +1861; but on the 25th September General Fremont himself gave special +orders that a contract should be made with a man named Beard, a +Californian, who had followed him from California to St. Louis. This +contract is dated the 25th of September. But nevertheless the work +specified in that contract was done previous to that date, and most +of the money paid was paid previous to that date. The contract did +not specify any lump sum, but agreed that the work should be paid for +by the yard and by the square foot. No less a sum was paid to Beard +for this work—the cormorant Beard, as the report calls him—than +£24,200, the last payment only, amounting to £4000, having been made +subsequent to the date of the contract. £20,200 was paid to Beard +before the date of the contract! The amounts were paid at five times, +and the last four payments were made on the personal order of General +Fremont. This Beard was under no bond, and none of the officers of +the government knew anything of the terms under which he was working. +On the 14th of October General Fremont was ordered to discontinue +these works, and to abstain from making any further payments on their +account. But, disobeying this order, he directed his Quartermaster to +pay a further sum of £4000 to Beard out of the first sums he should +receive from Washington, he then being out of money. This however was +not paid. "It must be understood," says the report, "that every +dollar ordered to be paid by General Fremont on account of these +works was diverted from a fund specially appropriated for another +purpose." And then again, "The money appropriated by Congress to +subsist and clothe and transport our armies was then, in utter +contempt of all law and of the army regulations, as well as in +defiance of superior authority, ordered to be diverted from its +lawful purpose and turned over to the cormorant Beard. While he had +received 170,000 dollars (£24,200) from the Government, it will be +seen from the testimony of Major Kappner that there had only been +paid to the honest German labourers, who did the work on the first +five forts built under his directions, the sum of 15,500 dollars +(£3100), leaving from 40,000 to 50,000 dollars (£8000 to £10,000) +still due; and while these labourers, whose families were clamouring +for bread, were besieging the Quartermaster's department for their +pay, this infamous contractor Beard is found following up the army +and in the confidence of the Major-General, who gives him orders for +large purchases, which could only have been legally made through the +Quartermaster's department." After that who will believe that all the +money went into Beard's pocket? Why should General Fremont have +committed every conceivable breach of order against his government, +merely with the view of favouring such a man as Beard?</p> + +<p>The collusion of the Quartermaster M'Instry with fraudulent knaves in +the purchase of horses is then proved. M'Instry was at this time +Fremont's Quartermaster at St. Louis. I cannot go through all these. +A man of the name of Jim Neil comes out in beautiful pre-eminence. No +dealer in horses could get to the Quartermaster except through Jim +Neil, or some such go-between. The Quartermaster contracted with Neil +and Neil with the owners of horses; Neil at the time being also +military inspector of horses for the Quartermaster. He bought horses +as cavalry horses for £24 or less, and passed them himself as +artillery horses for £30. In other cases the military inspectors were +paid by the sellers to pass horses. All this was done under +Quartermaster M'Instry, who would himself deal with none but such as +Neil. In one instance, one Elleard got a contract from M'Instry, the +profit of which was £8000. But there was a man named Brady. Now Brady +was a friend of M'Instry's, who, scenting the carrion afar off, had +come from Detroit, in Michigan, to St. Louis. M'Instry himself had +also come from Detroit. In this case Elleard was simply directed by +M'Instry to share his profits with Brady, and consequently paid to +Brady £4000, although Brady gave to the business neither capital nor +labour. He simply took the £4000 as the Quartermaster's friend. This +Elleard, it seems, also gave a carriage and horses to Mrs. Fremont. +Indeed Elleard seems to have been a civil and generous fellow. Then +there is a man named Thompson, whose case is very amusing. Of him the +Committee thus speaks:—"It must be said that Thompson was not +forgetful of the obligations of gratitude, for, after he got through +with the contract, he presented the son of Major M'Instry with a +riding pony. That was the only mark of respect," to use his own +words, "that he showed to the family of Major M'Instry."</p> + +<p>General Fremont himself desired that a contract should be made with +one Augustus Sacchi for a thousand Canadian horses. It turned out +that Sacchi was "nobody: a man of straw living in a garret in New +York whom nobody knew, a man who was brought out there"—to St. +Louis—"as a good person through whom to work." "It will hardly be +believed," says the report, "that the name of this same man Sacchi +appears in the newspapers as being on the staff of General Fremont, +at Springfield, with the rank of captain."</p> + +<p>I do not know that any good would result from my pursuing further the +details of this wonderful report. The remaining portion of it refers +solely to the command held by General Fremont in Missouri, and adds +proof upon proof of the gross robberies inflicted upon the government +of the States by the very persons set in high authority to protect +the government. We learn how all utensils for the camp, kettles, +blankets, shoes, mess-pans, &c., were supplied by one firm, without a +contract, at an enormous price, and of a quality so bad as to be +almost useless, because the Quartermaster was under obligations to +the partners. We learn that one partner in that firm gave £40 towards +a service of plate for the Quartermaster, and £60 towards a carriage +for Mrs. Fremont. We learn how futile were the efforts of any honest +tradesman to supply good shoes to soldiers who were shoeless, and the +history of one special pair of shoes which was thrust under the nose +of the Quartermaster is very amusing. We learn that a certain +paymaster properly refused to settle an account for matters with +which he had no concern, and that General Fremont at once sent down +soldiers to arrest him unless he made the illegal payment. In October +£1000 was expended in ice, all which ice was wasted. Regiments were +sent hither and thither with no military purpose, merely because +certain officers, calling themselves generals, desired to make up +brigades for themselves. Indeed every description of fraud was +perpetrated, and this was done not through the negligence of those in +high command, but by their connivance and often with their express +authority.</p> + +<p>It will be said that the conduct of General Fremont during the days +of his command in Missouri is not a matter of much moment to us in +England; that it has been properly handled by the Committee of +Representatives appointed by the American Congress to inquire into +the matter; and that after the publication of such a report by them, +it is ungenerous in a writer from another nation to speak upon the +subject. This would be so if the inquiries made by that Committee and +their report had resulted in any general condemnation of the men +whose misdeeds and peculations have been exposed. This, however, is +by no means the case. Those who were heretofore opposed to General +Fremont on political principles are opposed to him still; but those +who heretofore supported him are ready to support him +again.<a href="#fn03">*</a><a id="fnb03"></a> He has +not been placed beyond the pale of public favour by the record which +has been made of his public misdeeds. He is decried by the democrats +because he is a republican, and by the anti-abolitionists because he +is an abolitionist; but he is not decried because he has shown +himself to be dishonest in the service of his government. He was +dismissed from his command in the West, but men on his side of the +question declare that he was so dismissed because his political +opponents had prevailed. Now, at the moment that I am writing this, +men are saying that the President must give him another command. He +is still a major-general in the army of the States, and is as +probable a candidate as any other that I could name for the next +Presidency.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn03"></a>*Since +this was written General Fremont has been restored to high +military command, and now holds equal rank and equal authority with +Maclellan and Halleck. In fact, the charges made against him by the +Committee of the House of Representatives have not been allowed to +stand in his way. He is politically popular with a large section of +the nation, and therefore it has been thought well to promote him to +high place. Whether he be fit for such place, either as regards +capability or integrity, seems to be considered of no +moment. <a href="#fnb03"><span class="caption"> [back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>The same argument must be used with reference to the other gentlemen +named. Mr. Welles is still a Cabinet Minister and Secretary for the +Navy. It has been found impossible to keep Mr. Cameron in the +Cabinet, but he was named as the Minister of the States government to +Russia after the publication of the Van Wyck report, when the result +of his old political friendship with Mr. Alexander Cummings was well +known to the President who appointed him and to the Senate who +sanctioned his appointment. The individual corruption of any one +man—of any ten men—is not much. It should not be insisted on loudly +by any foreigner in making up a balance-sheet of the virtues and +vices of the good and bad qualities of any nation. But the light in +which such corruption is viewed by the people whom it most nearly +concerns is very much. I am far from saying that democracy has failed +in America. Democracy there has done great things for a numerous +people, and will yet, as I think, be successful. But that doctrine as +to the necessity of smartness must be eschewed before a verdict in +favour of American democracy can be pronounced. "It behoves a man to +be smart, sir." In those words are contained the curse under which +the States' government has been suffering for the last thirty years. +Let us hope that the people will find a mode of ridding themselves of +that curse. I, for one, believe that they will do so.</p> + + +<p><a id="c8"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> +<h4>BACK TO BOSTON.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>From Louisville we returned to Cincinnati, in making which journey we +were taken to a place called Seymour in Indiana, at which spot we +were to "make connection" with the train running on the Mississippi +and Ohio line from St. Louis to Cincinnati. We did make the +connection, but were called upon to remain four hours at Seymour in +consequence of some accident on the line. In the same way, when going +eastwards from Cincinnati to Baltimore a few days later, I was +detained another four hours at a place called Crossline, in Ohio. On +both occasions I spent my time in realizing, as far as that might be +possible, the sort of life which men lead who settle themselves at +such localities. Both these towns,—for they call themselves +towns,—had been created by the railways. Indeed this has been the +case with almost every place at which a few hundred inhabitants have +been drawn together in the western States. With the exception of such +cities as Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, settlers can hardly be +said to have chosen their own localities. These have been chosen for +them by the originators of the different lines of railway. And there +is nothing in Europe in any way like to these western railway +settlements. In the first place the line of the rails runs through +the main street of the town, and forms not unfrequently the only +road. At Seymour I could find no way of getting away from the rails +unless I went into the fields. At Crossline, which is a larger place, +I did find a street in which there was no railroad, but it was +deserted, and manifestly out of favour with the inhabitants. As there +were railway junctions at both these posts, there were of course +cross-streets, and the houses extended themselves from the centre +thus made along the lines, houses being added to houses at short +intervals as new comers settled themselves down. The panting and +groaning, and whistling of engines is continual; for at such places +freight trains are always kept waiting for passenger trains, and the +slower freight trains for those which are called fast. This is the +life of the town; and indeed as the whole place is dependent on the +railway, so is the railway held in favour and beloved. The noise of +the engines is not disliked, nor are its puffings and groanings held +to be unmusical. With us a locomotive steam-engine is still, as it +were, a beast of prey, against which one has to be on one's +guard,—in respect to which one specially warns the children. But +there, in the western States, it has been taken to the bosoms of them +all as a domestic animal; no one fears it, and the little children +run about almost among its wheels. It is petted and made much of on +all sides,—and, as far as I know, it seldom bites or tears. I have +not heard of children being destroyed wholesale in the streets, or of +drunken men becoming frequent sacrifices. But had I been consulted +beforehand as to the natural effects of such an arrangement, I should +have said that no child could have been reared in such a town, and +that any continuance of population under such circumstances must have +been impracticable.</p> + +<p>Such places, however, do thrive and prosper with a prosperity +especially their own, and the boys and girls increase and multiply in +spite of all dangers. With us in England, it is difficult to realize +the importance which is attached to a railway in the States, and the +results which a railway creates. We have roads everywhere, and our +country had been cultivated throughout, with more or less care, +before our system of railways had been commenced; but in America, +especially in the North, the railways have been the precursors of +cultivation. They have been carried hither and thither, through +primeval forests and over prairies, with small hope of other traffic +than that which they themselves would make by their own influences. +The people settling on their edges have had the very best of all +roads at their service; but they have had no other roads. The face of +the country between one settlement and another is still in many cases +utterly unknown; but there is the connecting road by which produce is +carried away, and new comers are brought in. The town that is distant +a hundred miles by the rail is so near that its inhabitants are +neighbours; but a settlement twenty miles distant across the +uncleared country is unknown, unvisited, and probably unheard of by +the women and children. Under such circumstances the railway is +everything. It is the first necessity of life, and gives the only +hope of wealth. It is the backbone of existence from whence spring, +and by which are protected, all the vital organs and functions of the +community. It is the right arm of civilization for the people, and +the discoverer of the fertility of the land. It is all in all to +those people, and to those regions. It has supplied the wants of +frontier life with all the substantial comfort of the cities, and +carried education, progress, and social habits into the wilderness. +To the eye of the stranger such places as Seymour and Crossline are +desolate and dreary. There is nothing of beauty in them, given either +by nature or by art. The railway itself is ugly, and its numerous +sidings and branches form a mass of iron road which is bewildering +and, according to my ideas, in itself disagreeable. The wooden houses +open down upon the line, and have no gardens to relieve them. A +foreigner, when first surveying such a spot, will certainly record +within himself a verdict against it; but in doing so he probably +commits the error of judging it by a wrong standard. He should +compare it with the new settlements which men have opened up in spots +where no railway has assisted them, and not with old towns in which +wealth has long been congregated. The traveller may see what is the +place with the railway; then let him consider how it might have +thriven without the railway.</p> + +<p>I confess that I became tired of my sojourn at both the places I have +named. At each I think that I saw every house in the place, although +my visit to Seymour was made in the night; and at both I was +lamentably at a loss for something to do. At Crossline I was all +alone, and began to feel that the hours which I knew must pass before +the missing train could come, would never make away with themselves. +There were many others stationed there as I was, but to them had been +given a capability for loafing which niggardly Nature has denied to +me. An American has the power of seating himself in the close +vicinity of a hot stove and feeding in silence on his own thoughts by +the hour together. It may be that he will smoke; but after a while +his cigar will come to an end. He sits on, however, certainly +patient, and apparently contented. It may be that he chews, but if +so, he does it with motionless jaws, and so slow a mastication of the +pabulum on which he feeds, that his employment in this respect only +disturbs the absolute quiet of the circle when, at certain long, +distant intervals, he deposits the secretion of his tobacco in an +ornamental utensil which may probably be placed in the furthest +corner of the hall. But during all this time he is happy. It does not +fret him to sit there and think and do nothing. He is by no means an +idle man,—probably one much given to commercial enterprise. Idle men +out there in the West we may say there are none. How should any idle +man live in such a country? All who were sitting hour after hour in +that circle round the stove of the Crossline Hotel hall,—sitting +there hour after hour in silence, as I could not sit,—were men who +earned their bread by labour. They were farmers, mechanics, +storekeepers; there was a lawyer or two, and one clergyman. +Sufficient conversation took place at first to indicate the +professions of many of them. One may conclude that there could not be +place there for an idle man. But they all of them had a capacity for +a prolonged state of doing nothing, which is to me unintelligible, +and which is very much to be envied. They are patient as cows, which +from hour to hour lie on the grass chewing their cud. An Englishman, +if he be kept waiting by a train in some forlorn station in which he +can find no employment, curses his fate and all that has led to his +present misfortune with an energy which tells the story of his deep +and thorough misery. Such, I confess, is my state of existence under +such circumstances. But a western American gives himself up to +"loafing," and is quite happy. He balances himself on the back legs +of an arm-chair, and remains so, without speaking, drinking, or +smoking for an hour at a stretch; and while he is doing so he looks +as though he had all that he desired. I believe that he is happy, and +that he has all that he wants for such an occasion;—an arm-chair in +which to sit, and a stove on which he can put his feet, and by which +he can make himself warm.</p> + +<p>Such was not the phase of character which I had expected to find +among the people of the West. Of all virtues, patience would have +been the last which I should have thought of attributing to them. I +should have expected to see them angry when robbed of their time, and +irritable under the stress of such grievances as railway delays; but +they are never irritable under such circumstances as I have attempted +to describe, nor, indeed, are they a people prone to irritation under +any grievances. Even in political matters they are long-enduring, and +do not form themselves into mobs for the expression of hot opinion. +We in England thought that masses of the people would rise in anger +if Mr. Lincoln's government should consent to give up Slidell and +Mason; but the people bore it without any rising. The habeas corpus +has been suspended, the liberty of the press has been destroyed for a +time, the telegraph wires have been taken up by the government into +their own hands; but nevertheless the people have said nothing. There +has been no rising of a mob, and not even an expression of an adverse +opinion. The people require to be allowed to vote periodically, and +having acquired that privilege permit other matters to go by the +board. In this respect we have, I think, in some degree misunderstood +their character. They have all been taught to reverence the nature of +that form of government under which they live, but they are not +specially addicted to hot political fermentation. They have learned +to understand that democratic institutions have given them liberty, +and on that subject they entertain a strong conviction which is +universal. But they have not habitually interested themselves deeply +in the doings of their legislators or of their government. On the +subject of slavery there have been and are different opinions, held +with great tenacity and maintained occasionally with violence; but on +other subjects of daily policy the American people have not, I think, +been eager politicians. Leading men in public life have been much +less trammelled by popular will than among us. Indeed with us the +most conspicuous of our statesmen and legislators do not lead, but +are led. In the States the noted politicians of the day have been the +leaders, and not unfrequently the coercers of opinion. Seeing this, I +claim for England a broader freedom in political matters than the +States have as yet achieved. In speaking of the American form of +government, I will endeavour to explain more clearly the ideas which +I have come to hold on this matter.</p> + +<p>I survived my delay at Seymour, after which I passed again through +Cincinnati, and then survived my subsequent delay at Crossline. As to +Cincinnati, I must put on record the result of a country walk which I +took there,—or rather on which I was taken by my friend. He +professed to know the beauties of the neighbourhood, and to be well +acquainted with all that was attractive in its vicinity. Cincinnati +is built on the Ohio, and is closely surrounded by picturesque hills +which overhang the suburbs of the city. Over these I was taken, +ploughing my way through a depth of mud which cannot be understood by +any ordinary Englishman. But the depth of mud was not the only +impediment, nor the worst which we encountered. As we began to ascend +from the level of the outskirts of the town we were greeted by a +rising flavour in the air, which soon grew into a strong odour, and +at last developed itself into a stench that surpassed in +offensiveness anything that my nose had ever hitherto suffered. When +we were at the worst we hardly knew whether to descend or to proceed. +It had so increased in virulence, that at one time I felt sure that +it arose from some matter buried in the ground beneath my feet. But +my friend, who declared himself to be quite at home in Cincinnati +matters, and to understand the details of the great Cincinnati trade, +declared against this opinion of mine. Hogs, he said, were at the +bottom of it. It was the odour of hogs going up to the Ohio +heavens;—of hogs in a state of transit from hoggish nature to +clothes-brushes, saddles, sausages, and lard. He spoke with an +authority that constrained belief; but I can never forgive him in +that he took me over those hills, knowing all that he professed to +know. Let the visitors to Cincinnati keep themselves within the city, +and not wander forth among the mountains. It is well that the odour +of hogs should ascend to heaven and not hang heavy over the streets; +but it is not well to intercept that odour in its ascent. My friend +became ill with fever, and had to betake himself to the care of +nursing friends; so that I parted company with him at Cincinnati. I +did not tell him that his illness was deserved as well as natural, +but such was my feeling on the matter. I myself happily escaped the +evil consequences which his imprudence might have entailed on me.</p> + +<p>I passed again through Pittsburg, and over the Alleghany mountains by +Altoona, and down to Baltimore,—back into civilization, secession, +conversation, and gastronomy. I never had secessionist sympathies and +never expressed them. I always believed in the North as a +people,—discrediting, however, to the utmost the existing northern +Government, or, as I should more properly say, the existing northern +Cabinet; but nevertheless, with such feelings and such belief, I +found myself very happy at Baltimore. Putting aside Boston, which +must, I think, be generally preferred by Englishmen to any other city +in the States, I should choose Baltimore as my residence if I were +called upon to live in America. I am not led to this opinion, if I +know myself, solely by the canvas-back ducks; and as to the +terrapins, I throw them to the winds. The madeira, which is still +kept there with a reverence which I should call superstitious were it +not that its free circulation among outside worshippers prohibits the +just use of such a word, may have something to do with it; as may +also the beauty of the women,—to some small extent. Trifles do bear +upon our happiness in a manner that we do not ourselves understand, +and of which we are unconscious. But there was an English look about +the streets and houses which I think had as much to do with it as +either the wine, the women, or the ducks; and it seemed to me as +though the manners of the people of Maryland were more English than +those of other Americans. I do not say that they were on this account +better. My English hat is, I am well aware, less graceful, and I +believe less comfortable, than a Turkish fez and turban; nevertheless +I prefer my English hat. New York I regard as the most thoroughly +American of all American cities. It is by no means the one in which I +should find myself the happiest, but I do not on that account condemn +it.</p> + +<p>I have said that in returning to Baltimore I found myself among +secessionists. In so saying, I intend to speak of a certain set whose +influence depends perhaps more on their wealth, position, and +education than on their numbers. I do not think that the population +of the city was then in favour of secession, even if it had ever been +so. I believe that the mob of Baltimore is probably the roughest mob +in the States,—is more akin to a Paris mob, and I may, perhaps, also +say to a Manchester mob, than that of any other American city. There +are more roughs in Baltimore than elsewhere, and the roughs there are +rougher. In those early days of secession, when the troops were being +first hurried down from New England for the protection of Washington, +this mob was vehemently opposed to its progress. Men had been taught +to think that the rights of the State of Maryland were being invaded +by the passage of the soldiers; and they also were undoubtedly imbued +with a strong prepossession for the southern cause. The two ideas had +then gone together. But the mob of Baltimore had ceased to be +secessionists within twelve months of their first exploit. In April, +1861, they had refused to allow Massachusetts soldiers to pass +through the town on their way to Washington; and in February, 1862, +they were nailing Union flags on the door-posts of those who refused +to display such banners as signs of triumph at the northern +victories!</p> + +<p>That Maryland can ever go with the South, even in the event of the +South succeeding in secession, no Marylander can believe. It is not +pretended that there is any struggle now going on with such an +object. No such result has been expected, certainly since the +possession of Washington was secured to the North by the army of the +Potomac. By few, I believe, was such a result expected even when +Washington was insecure. And yet the feeling for secession among a +certain class in Baltimore is as strong now as ever it was. And it is +equally strong in certain districts of the State,—in those districts +which are most akin to Virginia in their habits, modes of thought, +and ties of friendship. These men, and these women also, pray for the +South if they be pious, give their money to the South if they be +generous, work for the South if they be industrious, fight for the +South if they be young, and talk for the South morning, noon, and +night in spite of General Dix and his columbiads on Federal Hill. It +is in vain to say that such men and women have no strong feeling on +the matter, and that they are praying, working, fighting, and talking +under dictation. Their hearts are in it. And judging from them, even +though there were no other evidence from which to judge, I have no +doubt that a similar feeling is strong through all the seceding +States. On this subject the North, I think, deceives itself in +supposing that the southern rebellion has been carried on without any +strong feeling on the part of the southern people. Whether the mob of +Charleston be like the mob of Baltimore I cannot tell; but I have no +doubt as to the gentry of Charleston and the gentry of Baltimore +being in accord on the subject.</p> + +<p>In what way, then, when the question has been settled by the force of +arms, will these classes find themselves obliged to act? In Virginia +and Maryland they comprise, as a rule, the highest and best educated +of the people. As to parts of Kentucky the same thing may be said, +and probably as to the whole of Tennessee. It must be remembered that +this is not as though certain aristocratic families in a few English +counties should find themselves divided off from the politics and +national aspirations of their countrymen,—as was the case long since +with reference to the Roman Catholic adherents of the Stuarts, and as +has been the case since then in a lesser degree with the firmest of +the old Tories who had allowed themselves to be deceived by Sir +Robert Peel. In each of these cases the minority of dissentients was +so small that the nation suffered nothing, though individuals were +all but robbed of their nationality. But as regards America it must +be remembered that each State has in itself a governing power, and is +in fact a separate people. Each has its own legislature, and must +have its own line of politics.</p> + +<p>The secessionists of Maryland and of Virginia may consent to live in +obscurity; but if this be so, who is to rule in those States? From +whence are to come the senators and the members of Congress; the +governors and attorney-generals? From whence is to come the national +spirit of the two States, and the salt that shall preserve their +political life? I have never believed that these States would succeed +in secession. I have always felt that they would be held within the +Union, whatever might be their own wishes. But I think that they will +be so held in a manner and after a fashion that will render any +political vitality almost impossible till a new generation shall have +sprung up. In the meantime life goes on pleasantly enough in +Baltimore, and ladies meet together, knitting stockings and sewing +shirts for the southern soldiers, while the gentlemen talk southern +politics and drink the health of the (southern) President in +ambiguous terms, as our Cavaliers used to drink the health of the +king.</p> + +<p>During my second visit to Baltimore I went over to Washington for a +day or two, and found the capital still under the empire of King Mud. +How the elite of a nation—for the inhabitants of Washington consider +themselves to be the elite—can consent to live in such a state of +thraldom, a foreigner cannot understand. Were I to say that it was +intended to be typical of the condition of the government, I might be +considered cynical; but undoubtedly the sloughs of despond which were +deepest in their despondency were to be found in localities which +gave an appearance of truth to such a surmise. The Secretary of +State's office in which Mr. Seward was still reigning, though with +diminished glory, was divided from the Head-Quarters of the +Commander-in-Chief, which are immediately opposite to it, by an +opaque river which admitted of no transit. These buildings stand at +the corner of President Square, and it had been long understood that +any close intercourse between them had not been considered desirable +by the occupants of the military side of the causeway. But the +Secretary of State's office was altogether unapproachable without a +long circuit and begrimed legs. The Secretary-at-War's department +was, if possible, in a worse condition. This is situated on the other +side of the President's house, and the mud lay, if possible, thicker +in this quarter than it did round Mr. Seward's chambers. The passage +over Pennsylvania Avenue, immediately in front of the War Office, was +a thing not to be attempted in those days. Mr. Cameron, it is true, +had gone, and Mr. Stanton was installed; but the labour of cleansing +the interior of that establishment had hitherto allowed no time for a +glance at the exterior dirt, and Mr. Stanton should, perhaps, be held +as excused. That the Navy Office should be buried in mud, and quite +debarred from approach, was to be expected. The space immediately in +front of Mr. Lincoln's own residence was still kept fairly clean, and +I am happy to be able to give testimony to this effect. Long may it +remain so. I could not, however, but think that an energetic and +careful President would have seen to the removal of the dirt from his +own immediate neighbourhood. It was something that his own shoes +should remain unpolluted; but the foul mud always clinging to the +boots and leggings of those by whom he was daily surrounded must, I +should think, have been offensive to him. The entrance to the +Treasury was difficult to achieve by those who had not learned by +practice the ways of the place; but I must confess that a tolerably +clear passage was maintained on that side which led immediately down +to the halls of Congress. Up at the Capitol the mud was again +triumphant in the front of the building; this however was not of +great importance, as the legislative chambers of the States are +always reached by the back-door. I, on this occasion, attempted to +leave the building by the grand entrance, but I soon became entangled +among rivers of mud and mazes of shifting sand. With difficulty I +recovered my steps, and finding my way back to the building was +forced to content myself by an exit among the crowd of senators and +representatives who were thronging down the back-stairs.</p> + +<p>Of dirt of all kinds it behoves Washington and those concerned in +Washington to make themselves free. It is the Augean stables through +which some American Hercules must turn a purifying river before the +American people can justly boast either of their capital or of their +government. As to the material mud, enough has been said. The +presence of the army perhaps caused it, and the excessive quantity of +rain which had fallen may also be taken as a fair plea. But what +excuse shall we find for that other dirt? It also had been caused by +the presence of the army, and by that long-continued down-pouring of +contracts which had fallen like Danaë's golden shower into the laps +of those who understood how to avail themselves of such heavenly +waters. The leaders of the rebellion are hated in the North. The +names of Jefferson Davis, of Cobb, Tombes, and Floyd are mentioned +with execration by the very children. This has sprung from a true and +noble feeling; from a patriotic love of national greatness and a +hatred of those who, for small party purposes, have been willing to +lessen the name of the United States. I have reverenced the feeling +even when I have not shared it. But, in addition to this, the names +of those also should be execrated who have robbed their country when +pretending to serve it; who have taken its wages in the days of its +great struggle, and at the same time have filched from its coffers; +who have undertaken the task of steering the ship through the storm +in order that their hands might be deep in the meal-tub and the +bread-basket, and that they might stuff their own sacks with the +ship's provisions. These are the men who must be loathed by the +nation,—whose fate must be held up as a warning to others before +good can come! Northern men and women talk of hanging Davis and his +accomplices. I myself trust that there will be no hanging when the +war is over. I believe there will be none, for the Americans are not +a blood-thirsty people. But if punishment of any kind be meted out, +the men of the North should understand that they have worse offenders +among them than Davis and Floyd.</p> + +<p>At the period of which I am now speaking, there had come a change +over the spirit of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet. Mr. Seward was still his +Secretary of State, but he was, as far as outside observers could +judge, no longer his Prime Minister. In the early days of the war, +and up to the departure of Mr. Cameron from out of the cabinet, Mr. +Seward had been the Minister of the nation. In his despatches he +talks ever of We or of I. In every word of his official writings, of +which a large volume has been published, he shows plainly that he +intends to be considered as the man of the day,—as the hero who is +to bring the States through their difficulties. Mr. Lincoln may be +King, but Mr. Seward is Mayor of the Palace and carries the King in +his pocket. From the depth of his own wisdom he undertakes to teach +his ministers in all parts of the world, not only their duties, but +their proper aspiration. He is equally kind to foreign statesmen, and +sends to them messages as though from an altitude which no European +politician had ever reached. At home he has affected the Prime +Minister in everything, dropping the We and using the I in a manner +that has hardly made up by its audacity for its deficiency in +discretion. It is of course known everywhere that he had run Mr. +Lincoln very hard for the position of republican candidate for the +Presidency. Mr. Lincoln beat him, and Mr. Seward is well aware that +in the States a man has never a second chance for the Presidential +chair. Hence has arisen his ambition to make for himself a new place +in the annals of American politics. Hitherto there has been no Prime +Minister known in the Government of the United States. Mr. Seward has +attempted a revolution in that matter, and has essayed to fill the +situation. For awhile it almost seemed that he was successful. He +interfered with the army, and his interferences were endured. He took +upon himself the business of the police, and arrested men at his own +will and pleasure. The habeas corpus was in his hand, and his name +was current through the States as a covering authority for every +outrage on the old laws. Sufficient craft, or perhaps cleverness, he +possessed to organize a position which should give him a power +greater than the power of the President; but he had not the genius +which would enable him to hold it. He made foolish prophecies about +the war, and talked of the triumphs which he would win. He wrote +state papers on matters which he did not understand, and gave himself +the airs of diplomatic learning while he showed himself to be sadly +ignorant of the very rudiments of diplomacy. He tried to joke as Lord +Palmerston jokes, and nobody liked his joking. He was greedy after +the little appanages of power, taking from others who loved them as +well as he did, privileges with which he might have dispensed. And +then, lastly, he was successful in nothing. He had given himself out +as the commander of the Commander-in-Chief; but then under his +command nothing got itself done. For a month or two some men had +really believed in Mr. Seward. The policemen of the country had come +to have an absolute trust in him, and the underlings of the public +offices were beginning to think that he might be a great man. But +then, as is ever the case with such men, there came suddenly a +downfall. Mr. Cameron went from the cabinet, and everybody knew that +Mr. Seward would be no longer commander of the Commander-in-Chief. +His prime ministership was gone from him, and he sank down into the +comparatively humble position of Minister for Foreign Affairs. His +lettres de cachet no longer ran. His passport system was repealed. +His prisoners were released. And though it is too much to say that +writs of habeas corpus were no longer suspended, the effect and very +meaning of the suspension were at once altered. When I first left +Washington Mr. Seward was the only minister of the cabinet whose name +was ever mentioned with reference to any great political measure. +When I returned to Washington Mr. Stanton was Mr. Lincoln's leading +minister, and, as Secretary-at-War, had practically the management of +the army and of the internal police.</p> + +<p>I have spoken here of Mr. Seward by name, and in my preceding +paragraphs I have alluded with some asperity to the dishonesty of +certain men who had obtained political power under Mr. Lincoln and +used it for their own dishonest purposes. I trust that I may not be +understood as bringing any such charges against Mr. Seward. That such +dishonesty has been frightfully prevalent all men know who knew +anything of Washington during the year 1861. In a former chapter I +have alluded to this more at length, stating circumstances and in +some cases giving the names of the persons charged with offences. +Whenever I have done so, I have based my statements on the Van Wyck +Report, and the evidence therein given. This is the published report +of a Committee appointed by the House of Representatives; and as it +has been before the world for some months without refutation, I think +that I have a right to presume it to be +true.<a href="#fn04">*</a><a id="fnb04"></a> On no less authority +than this would I consider myself justified in bringing any such +charge. Of Mr. Seward's incompetency I have heard very much among +American politicians; much also of his ambition. With worse offences +than these I have not heard him charged.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn04"></a>*I ought perhaps to state +that General Fremont has published an +answer to the charges preferred against him. That answer refers +chiefly to matters of military capacity or incapacity, as to which I +have expressed no opinion. General Fremont does allude to the +accusations made against him regarding the building of the +forts;—but in doing so he seems to me rather to admit than to deny +the facts as stated by the +Committee.<a href="#fnb04"><span class="caption"> [back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>At the period of which I am writing, February, 1862, the long list of +military successes which attended the northern army through the late +winter and early spring had commenced. Fort Henry, on the Tennessee +river, had first been taken, and after that, Fort Donnelson on the +Cumberland river, also in the State of Tennessee. Price had been +driven out of Missouri into Arkansas by General Curtis, acting under +General Halleck's orders. The chief body of the Confederate army in +the West had abandoned the fortified position which they had long +held at Bowling Green, in the south-western district of Kentucky. +Roanoke Island, on the coast of North Carolina, had been taken by +General Burnside's expedition, and a belief had begun to manifest +itself in Washington that the army of the Potomac was really about to +advance. It is impossible to explain in what way the renewed +confidence of the northern party showed itself, or how one learned +that the hopes of the secessionists were waxing dim; but it was so; +and even a stranger became aware of the general feeling as clearly as +though it were a defined and established fact. In the early part of +the winter, when I reached Washington, the feeling ran all the other +way. Northern men did not say that they were despondent; they did not +with spoken words express diffidence as to their success; but their +looks betrayed diffidence, and the moderation of their self-assurance +almost amounted to despondency. In the capital the parties were very +much divided. The old inhabitants were either secessionists or +influenced by "secession proclivities," as the word went; but the men +of the government and of the two houses of Congress were, with a few +exceptions, of course northern. It should be understood that these +parties were at variance with each other on almost every point as to +which men can disagree. In our civil war it may be presumed that all +Englishmen were at any rate anxious for England. They desired and +fought for different modes of government; but each party was equally +English in its ambition. In the States there is the hatred of a +different nationality added to the rancour of different politics. The +Southerners desire to be a people of themselves,—to divide +themselves by every possible mark of division from New England; to be +as little akin to New York as they are to London,—or if possible +less so. Their habits, they say, are different; their education, +their beliefs, their propensities, their very virtues and vices are +not the education, or the beliefs, or the propensities, or the +virtues and vices of the North. The bond that ties them to the North +is to them a Mezentian marriage, and they hate their northern spouses +with a Mezentian hatred. They would be anything sooner than citizens +of the United States. They see to what Mexico has come, and the +republics of Central America; but the prospect of even that +degradation is less bitter to them than a share in the glory of the +stars and stripes. Better, with them, to reign in hell than serve in +heaven! It is not only in politics that they will be beaten, if they +be beaten,—as one party with us may be beaten by another; but they +will be beaten as we should be beaten if France annexed us, and +directed that we should live under French rule. Let an Englishman +digest and realize that idea, and he will comprehend the feelings of +a southern gentleman as he contemplates the probability that his +State will be brought back into the Union. And the northern feeling +is as strong. The northern man has founded his national ambition on +the territorial greatness of his nation. He has panted for new lands, +and for still extended boundaries. The western world has opened her +arms to him, and has seemed to welcome him as her only lord. British +America has tempted him towards the north, and Mexico has been as a +prey to him on the south. He has made maps of his empire, including +all the continent, and has preached the Monroe doctrine as though it +had been decreed by the gods. He has told the world of his increasing +millions, and has never yet known his store to diminish. He has pawed +in the valley, and rejoiced in his strength. He has said among the +trumpets, Ha, ha! He has boasted aloud in his pride, and called on +all men to look at his glory. And now shall he be divided and shorn? +Shall he be hemmed in from his ocean and shut off from his rivers? +Shall he have a hook run into his nostrils, and a thorn driven into +his jaw? Shall men say that his day is over, when he has hardly yet +tasted the full cup of his success? Has his young life been a dream, +and not a truth? Shall he never reach that giant manhood which the +growth of his boyish years has promised him? If the South goes from +him, he will be divided, shorn, and hemmed in. The hook will have +pierced his nose, and the thorn will fester in his jaw. Men will +taunt him with his former boastings, and he will awake to find +himself but a mortal among mortals.</p> + +<p>Such is the light in which the struggle is regarded by the two +parties, and such the hopes and feelings which have been engendered. +It may therefore be surmised with what amount of neighbourly love +secessionist and northern neighbours regarded each other in such +towns as Baltimore and Washington. Of course there was hatred of the +deepest dye; of course there were muttered curses, or curses which +sometimes were not simply muttered. Of course there were +wretchedness, heart-burnings, and fearful divisions in families. +That, perhaps, was the worst of all. The daughter's husband would be +in the northern ranks, while the son was fighting in the South; or +two sons would hold equal rank in the two armies, sometimes sending +to each other frightful threats of personal vengeance. Old friends +would meet each other in the street, passing without speaking; or, +worse still, would utter words of insult for which payment is to be +demanded when a southern gentleman may again be allowed to quarrel in +his own defence.</p> + +<p>And yet society went on. Women still smiled, and men were happy to +whom such smiles were given. Cakes and ale were going and ginger was +still hot in the mouth. When many were together no words of +unhappiness were heard. It was at those small meetings of two or +three that women would weep instead of smiling, and that men would +run their hands through their hair and sit in silence, thinking of +their ruined hopes and divided children.</p> + +<p>I have spoken of southern hopes and northern fears, and have +endeavoured to explain the feelings of each party. For myself I think +that the Southerners have been wrong in their hopes, and that those +of the North have been wrong in their fears. It is not better to rule +in hell than serve in heaven. Of course a southern gentleman will not +admit the premises which are here by me taken for granted. The hell +to which I allude is, the sad position of a low and debased nation. +Such, I think, will be the fate of the Gulf States, if they succeed +in obtaining secession,—of a low and debased nation, or, worse +still, of many low and debased nations. They will have lost their +cotton monopoly by the competition created during the period of the +war, and will have no material of greatness on which either to found +themselves or to flourish. That they had much to bear when linked +with the North, much to endure on account of that slavery from which +it was all but impossible that they should disentangle themselves, +may probably be true. But so have all political parties among all +free nations much to bear from political opponents, and yet other +free nations do not go to pieces. Had it been possible that the +slave-owners and slave properties should have been scattered in parts +through all the States and not congregated in the South, the slave +party would have maintained itself as other parties do; but in such +case, as a matter of course, it would not have thought of secession. +It has been the close vicinity of slave-owners to each other, the +fact that their lands have been coterminous, that theirs was +especially a cotton district, which has tempted them to secession. +They have been tempted to secession, and will, as I think, still +achieve it in those Gulf States,—much to their misfortune.</p> + +<p>And the fears of the North are, I think, equally wrong. That they +will be deceived as to that Monroe doctrine is no doubt more than +probable. That ambition for an entire continent under one rule will +not, I should say, be gratified. But not on that account need the +nation be less great, or its civilization less extensive. That hook +in its nose and that thorn in its jaw will, after all, be but a hook +of the imagination and an ideal thorn. Do not all great men suffer +such ere their greatness be established and acknowledged? There is +scope enough for all that manhood can do between the Atlantic and the +Pacific, even though those hot, swampy cotton-fields be taken away; +even though the snows of the British provinces be denied to them. And +as for those rivers and that sea-board, the Americans of the North +will have lost much of their old energy and usual force of will, if +any southern Confederacy be allowed to deny their right of way or to +stop their commercial enterprises. I believe that the South will be +badly off without the North; but I feel certain that the North will +never miss the South when once the wounds to her pride have been +closed.</p> + +<p>From Washington I journeyed back to Boston through the cities which I +had visited in coming thither, and stayed again on my route for a few +days at Baltimore, at Philadelphia, and at New York. At each town +there were those whom I now regarded almost as old friends, and as +the time of my departure drew near I felt a sorrow that I was not to +be allowed to stay longer. As the general result of my sojourn in the +country, I must declare that I was always happy and comfortable in +the eastern cities, and generally unhappy and uncomfortable in the +West. I had previously been inclined to think that I should like the +roughness of the West, and that in the East I should encounter an +arrogance which would have kept me always on the verge of hot water; +but in both these surmises I found myself to have been wrong. And I +think that most English travellers would come to the same conclusion. +The western people do not mean to be harsh or uncivil, but they do +not make themselves pleasant. In all the eastern cities,—I speak of +the eastern cities north of Washington,—a society may be found which +must be esteemed as agreeable by Englishmen who like clever genial +men, and who love clever pretty women.</p> + +<p>I was forced to pass twice again over the road between New York and +Boston, as the packet by which I intended to leave America was fixed +to sail from the former port. I had promised myself, and had promised +others, that I would spend in Boston the last week of my sojourn in +the States, and this was a promise which I was by no means inclined +to break. If there be a gratification in this world which has no +alloy, it is that of going to an assured welcome. The belief that +men's arms and hearts are open to receive one,—and the arms and +hearts of women, too, as far as they allow themselves to open +them,—is the salt of the earth, the sole remedy against +sea-sickness, the only cure for the tedium of railways, the one +preservative amidst all the miseries and fatigue of travel. These +matters are private, and should hardly be told of in a book; but in +writing of the States, I should not do justice to my own convictions +of the country if I did not say how pleasantly social intercourse +there will ripen into friendship, and how full of love that +friendship may become. I became enamoured of Boston at last. Beacon +Street was very pleasant to me, and the view over Boston Common was +dear to my eyes. Even the State House, with its great yellow-painted +dome, became sightly; and the sunset over the western waters that +encompass the city beats all other sunsets that I have seen.</p> + +<p>During my last week there the world of Boston was moving itself on +sleighs. There was not a wheel to be seen in the town. The omnibuses +and public carriages had been dismounted from their axles and put +themselves upon snow runners, and the private world had taken out its +winter carriages, and wrapped itself up in buffalo robes. Men now +spoke of the coming thaw as of a misfortune which must come, but +which a kind Providence might perhaps postpone,—as we all, in short, +speak of death. In the morning the snow would have been hardened by +the night's frost, and men would look happy and contented. By an hour +after noon the streets would be all wet, and the ground would be +slushy and men would look gloomy and speak of speedy dissolution. +There were those who would always prophesy that the next day would +see the snow converted into one dull, dingy river. Such I regarded as +seers of tribulation, and endeavoured with all my mind to disbelieve +their interpretations of the signs. That sleighing was excellent fun. +For myself I must own that I hardly saw the best of it at Boston, for +the coming of the end was already at hand when I arrived there, and +the fresh beauty of the hard snow was gone. Moreover when I essayed +to show my prowess with a pair of horses on the established course +for such equipages, the beasts ran away, knowing that I was not +practised in the use of snow chariots, and brought me to grief and +shame. There was a lady with me on the sleigh whom, for a while, I +felt that I was doomed to consign to a snowy grave,—whom I would +willingly have overturned into a drift of snow, so as to avoid worse +consequences, had I only known how to do so. But Providence, even +though without curbs and assisted only by simple snaffles, did at +last prevail; and I brought the sleigh, horses, and lady alive back +to Boston, whether with or without permanent injury I have never yet +ascertained.</p> + +<p>At last the day of tribulation came, and the snow was picked up and +carted out of Boston. Gangs of men, standing shoulder to shoulder, +were at work along the chief streets, picking, shovelling, and +disposing of the dirty blocks. Even then the snow seemed to be nearly +a foot thick; but it was dirty, rough, half-melted in some places, +though hard as stone in others. The labour and cost of cleansing the +city in this way must be very great. The people were at it as I left, +and I felt that the day of tribulation had in truth come.</p> + +<p>Farewell to thee, thou western Athens! When I have forgotten thee my +right hand shall have forgotten its cunning, and my heart forgotten +its pulses. Let us look at the list of names with which Boston has +honoured itself in our days, and then ask what other town of the same +size has done more. Prescott, Bancroft, Motley, Longfellow, Lowell, +Emerson, Dana, Agassiz, Holmes, Hawthorne! Who is there among us in +England who has not been the better for these men? Who does not owe +to some of them a debt of gratitude? In whose ears is not their names +familiar? It is a bright galaxy and far extended, for so small a +city. What city has done better than this? All these men, save one, +are now alive and in the full possession of their powers. What other +town of the same size has done as well in the same short space of +time? It may be that this is the Augustan æra of Boston,—its +Elizabethan time. If so, I am thankful that my steps have wandered +thither at such a period.</p> + +<p>While I was at Boston I had the sad privilege of attending the +funeral of President Felton, the head of Harvard College. A few +months before I had seen him a strong man, apparently in perfect +health and in the pride of life. When I reached Boston, I heard of +his death. He also was an accomplished scholar, and as a Grecian has +left few behind him who were his equals. At his installation as +President, four ex-Presidents of Harvard College assisted. Whether +they were all present at his funeral I do not know, but I do know +that they were all still living. These are Mr. Quincy, who is now +over ninety; Mr. Sparks; Mr. Everett, the well-known orator; and Mr. +Walker. They all reside in Boston or its neighbourhood, and will +probably all assist at the installation of another President.</p> + + +<p><a id="c9"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> +<h4>THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>It is, I presume, universally known that the citizens of the Western +American colonies of Great Britain which revolted, declared +themselves to be free from British dominion by an Act which they +called the Declaration of Independence. This was done on the 4th of +July, 1776, and was signed by delegates from the thirteen colonies, +or States as they then called themselves. These delegates in this +document declare themselves to be the representatives of the United +States of America in general Congress assembled. The opening and +close of this declaration have in them much that is grand and +striking; the greater part of it, however, is given up to +enumerating, in paragraph after paragraph, the sins committed by +George III. against the colonies. Poor George III.! There is no one +now to say a good word for him; but of all those who have spoken ill +of him, this declaration is the loudest in its censure.</p> + +<p>In the following year, on the 15th November, 1777, were drawn up the +Articles of Confederation between the States, by which it was then +intended that a sufficient bond and compact should be made for their +future joint existence and preservation. A reference to this +document, which, together with the Declaration of Independence and +the subsequently framed Constitution of the United States, is given +in the Appendix, will show how slight was the then intended bond of +union between the States. The second article declares that each State +retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The third article +avows that "the said States hereby severally enter into a firm league +of friendship with each other for their common defence, the security +of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding +themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or +attacks made upon, them, or any of them, on account of religion, +sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever." And the third +article, "the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship," +declares that the free citizens of one State shall be free citizens +of another. From this it is, I think, manifest that no idea of one +united nation had at that time been received and adopted by the +citizens of the States. The articles then go on to define the way in +which Congress shall assemble and what shall be its powers. This +Congress was to exercise the authority of a national Government +rather than perform the work of a national Parliament. It was +intended to be executive rather than legislative. It was to consist +of delegates, the very number of which within certain limits was to +be left to the option of the individual States, and to this Congress +was to be confided certain duties and privileges, which could not be +performed or exercised separately by the Governments of the +individual States. One special article, the eleventh, enjoins that +"Canada, acceding to the Confederation, and joining in the measures +of the United States, shall be admitted into and entitled to all the +advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into +the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine States." I +mention this to show how strong was the expectation at that time that +Canada also would revolt from England. Up to this day few Americans +can understand why Canada has declined to join her lot to them.</p> + +<p>But the compact between the different States made by the Articles of +Confederation, and the mode of national procedure therein enjoined, +were found to be inefficient for the wants of a people who to be +great must be united in fact as well as in name. The theory of the +most democratic among the Americans of that day was in favour of +self-government carried to an extreme. Self-government was the Utopia +which they had determined to realize, and they were unwilling to +diminish the reality of the self-government of the individual States +by any centralization of power in one head, or in one Parliament, or +in one set of ministers for the nation. For ten years, from 1777 to +1787, the attempt was made; but then it was found that a stronger +bond of nationality was indispensable, if any national greatness was +to be regarded as desirable. Indeed, all manner of failure had +attended the mode of national action ordained by the Articles of +Confederation. I am not attempting to write a history of the United +States, and will not therefore trouble my readers with historic +details, which are not of value unless put forward with historic +weight. The fact of the failure is however admitted, and the present +written constitution of the United States, which is the splendid +result of that failure, was "Done in Convention by the unanimous +consent of the States +present."<a href="#fn05">*</a><a id="fnb05"></a> Twelve States +were present,—Rhode Island apparently having had no +representative on the occasion,—on the 17th September, +1787, and in the twelfth year of the Independence +of the United States.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn05"></a>*It must +not, however, be supposed that by this "doing in +convention," the constitution became an accepted fact. It simply +amounted to the adoption of a proposal of the constitution. The +constitution itself was formally adopted by the people in conventions +held in their separate State capitals. It was agreed to by the people +in 1788, and came into operation in +1789.<a href="#fnb05"><span class="caption"> [back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>I call the result splendid, seeing that under this constitution so +written a nation has existed for three quarters of a century and has +grown in numbers, power, and wealth till it has made itself the +political equal of the other greatest nations of the earth. And it +cannot be said that it has so grown in spite of the constitution, or +by ignoring the constitution. Hitherto the laws there laid down for +the national guidance have been found adequate for the great purpose +assigned to them, and have done all that which the framers of them +hoped that they might effect. We all know what has been the fate of +the constitutions which were written throughout the French revolution +for the use of France. We all, here in England, have the same +ludicrous conception of Utopian theories of government framed by +philosophical individuals who imagine that they have learned from +books a perfect system of managing nations. To produce such theories +is especially the part of a Frenchman; to disbelieve in them is +especially the part of an Englishman. But in the States a system of +government has been produced, under a written constitution, in which +no Englishman can disbelieve, and which every Frenchman must envy. It +has done its work. The people have been free, well-educated, and +politically great. Those among us who are most inclined at the +present moment to declare that the institutions of the United States +have failed, can at any rate only declare that they have failed in +their finality; that they have shown themselves to be insufficient to +carry on the nation in its advancing strides through all times. They +cannot deny that an amount of success and prosperity, much greater +than the nation even expected for itself, has been achieved under +this constitution and in connection with it. If it be so they cannot +disbelieve in it. Let those who now say that it is insufficient, +consider what their prophecies regarding it would have been had they +been called on to express their opinions concerning it when it was +proposed in 1787. If the future as it has since come forth had then +been foretold for it, would not such a prophecy have been a prophecy +of success? That constitution is now at the period of its hardest +trial, and at this moment one may hardly dare to speak of it with +triumph; but looking at the nation even in its present position, I +think I am justified in saying that its constitution is one in which +no Englishman can disbelieve. When I also say that it is one which +every Frenchman must envy, perhaps I am improperly presuming that +Frenchmen could not look at it with Englishmen's eyes.</p> + +<p>When the constitution came to be written, a man had arisen in the +States who was peculiarly suited for the work in hand; he was one of +those men to whom the world owes much, and of whom the world in +general knows but little. This was Alexander Hamilton, who alone on +the part of the great State of New York signed the constitution of +the United States. The other States sent two, three, four, or more +delegates; New York sent Hamilton alone; but in sending him New York +sent more to the constitution than all the other States together. I +should be hardly saying too much for Hamilton if I were to declare +that all those parts of the constitution emanated from him in which +permanent political strength has abided. And yet his name has not +been spread abroad widely in men's mouths. Of Jefferson, Franklin, +and Madison, we have all heard; our children speak of them and they +are household words in the nursery of history. Of Hamilton however it +may, I believe, be said that he was greater than any of those.</p> + +<p>Without going with minuteness into the early contests of democracy in +the United States, I think I may say that there soon arose two +parties, each probably equally anxious in the cause of freedom, one +of which was conspicuous for its French predilections, and the other +for its English aptitudes. It was the period of the French +revolution,—the time when the French revolution had in it as yet +something of promise, and had not utterly disgraced itself. To many +in America the French theory of democracy not unnaturally endeared +itself, and foremost among these was Thomas Jefferson. He was the +father of those politicians in the States who have since taken the +name of democrats, and in accordance with whose theory it has come to +pass that everything has been referred to the universal suffrage of +the people. James Madison, who succeeded Jefferson as President, was +a pupil in this school, as indeed have been most of the Presidents of +the United States. At the head of the other party, from which through +various denominations have sprung those who now call themselves +republicans, was Alexander Hamilton. I believe I may say that all the +political sympathies of George Washington were with the same school. +Washington, however, was rather a man of feeling and of action, than +of theoretical policy or speculative opinion. When the constitution +was written, Jefferson was in France, having been sent thither as +minister from the United States, and he therefore was debarred from +concerning himself personally in the matter. His views, however, were +represented by Madison, and it is now generally understood that the +Constitution, as it stands, is the joint work of Madison and +Hamilton.<a href="#fn06">*</a><a id="fnb06"></a> The democratic +bias, of which it necessarily contains +much, and without which it could not have obtained the consent of the +people, was furnished by Madison; but the conservative elements, of +which it possesses much more than superficial observers of the +American form of government are wont to believe, came from +Hamilton.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn06"></a>*It should, +perhaps, be explained that the views of Madison were +originally not opposed to those of Hamilton. Madison, however, +gradually adopted the policy of Jefferson,—his policy rather than +his philosophy.<a href="#fnb06"><span class="caption"> [back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>The very preamble of the constitution at once declares that the +people of the different States do hereby join themselves together +with the view of forming themselves into one nation. "We, the people +of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, +establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the +common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings +of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish +this constitution for the United States of America." Here a great +step was made towards centralization,—towards one national +government and the binding together of the States into one nation. +But from that time down to the present, the contest has been going +on, sometimes openly and sometimes only within the minds of men, +between the still alleged sovereignty of the individual States and +the acknowledged sovereignty of the central Congress and central +Government. The disciples of Jefferson,—even though they have not +known themselves to be his disciples,—have been carrying on that +fight for State rights which has ended in secession; and the +disciples of Hamilton,—certainly not knowing themselves to be his +disciples,—have been making that stand for central government, and +for the one acknowledged republic, which is now at work in opposing +secession, and which, even though secession should to some extent be +accomplished, will, we may hope, nevertheless, and not the less on +account of such secession, conquer and put down the spirit of +democracy.</p> + +<p>The political contest of parties which is being waged now, and which +has been waged throughout the history of the United States, has been +pursued on one side in support of that idea of an undivided +nationality of which I have spoken,—of a nationality in which the +interests of a part should be esteemed as the interests of the whole; +and on the other side it has been pursued in opposition to that idea. +I will not here go into the interminable question of slavery,—though +it is on that question that the southern or democratic States have +most loudly declared their own sovereign rights and their aversion to +national interference. Were I to do so I should fail in my present +object of explaining the nature of the constitution of the United +States. But I protest against any argument which shall be used to +show that the constitution has failed because it has allowed slavery +to produce the present division among the States. I myself think that +the Southern or Gulf States will go. I will not pretend to draw the +exact line, or to say how many of them are doomed; but I believe that +South Carolina with Georgia, and perhaps five or six others, will be +extruded from the Union. But their very extrusion will be a political +success, and will, in fact, amount to a virtual acknowledgment in the +body of the Union of the truth of that system for which the +conservative republican party has contended. If the North obtain the +power of settling that question of boundary, the abandonment of those +southern States will be a success, even though the privilege of +retaining them be the very point for which the North is now in arms.</p> + +<p>The first clause of the constitution declares that all the +legislative powers granted by the constitution shall be vested in a +Congress, which shall consist of a Senate and of a House of +Representatives. The House of Representatives is to be rechosen every +two years, and shall be elected by the people, such persons in each +State having votes for the national Congress as have votes for the +legislature of their own States. If therefore South Carolina should +choose—as she has chosen—to declare that the electors of her own +legislature shall possess a property qualification, the electors of +members of Congress from South Carolina must also have that +qualification. In Massachusetts universal suffrage now prevails, +although it is not long since a low property qualification prevailed +even in Massachusetts. It therefore follows that members of the House +of Representatives in Congress need by no means be all chosen on the +same principle. As a fact, universal +suffrage<a href="#fn07">*</a><a id="fnb07"></a> and vote by ballot, +that is by open voting papers, prevail in the States, but they do not +so prevail by virtue of any enactment of the constitution. The laws +of the States, however, require that the voter shall have been a +resident in the State for some period, and generally either deny the +right of voting to negroes, or so hamper that privilege that +practically it amounts to the same thing.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn07"></a>*Perhaps the +better word would have been manhood suffrage; and even +that word should be taken with certain restrictions. Aliens, minors, +convicts, and men who pay no taxes cannot vote. In some States none +can vote unless they can read and write. In some there is a property +qualification. In all there are special restrictions against negroes. +There is in none an absolutely universal suffrage. But I keep the +name as it best expresses to us in England the system of franchise +which has practically come to prevail in the United +States. <a href="#fnb07"><span class="caption">[back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>The Senate of the United States is composed of two senators from each +State. These senators are chosen for six years, and are elected in a +manner which shows the conservative tendency of the constitution with +more signification than perhaps any other rule which it contains. +This branch of Congress, which, as I shall presently endeavour to +show, is by far the more influential of the two, is not in any way +elected by the people. "The Senate of the United States shall be +composed of two senators from each State, <i>chosen by the legislature +thereof</i>, for six years, and each senator shall have one voice." The +Senate sent to Congress is therefore elected by the State +legislatures. Each State legislature has two Houses; and the senators +sent from that State to Congress are either chosen by vote of the two +Houses voting together—which is, I believe, the mode adopted in most +States, or are voted for in the two Houses separately—in which +cases, when different candidates have been nominated, the two Houses +confer by committees and settle the matter between them. The +conservative purpose of the constitution is here sufficiently +evident. The intention has been to take the election of the senators +away from the people, and to confide it to that body in each State +which may be regarded as containing its best trusted citizens. It +removes the senators far away from the democratic element, and +renders them liable to the necessity of no popular canvas. Nor am I +aware that the constitution has failed in keeping the ground which it +intended to hold in this matter. On some points its selected rocks +and chosen standing ground have slipped from beneath its feet, owing +to the weakness of words in defining and making solid the intended +prohibitions against democracy. The wording of the constitution has +been regarded by the people as sacred; but the people has considered +itself justified in opposing the spirit as long as it revered the +letter of the constitution. And this was natural. For the letter of +the constitution can be read by all men; but its spirit can be +understood comparatively but by few. As regards the election of the +senators, I believe that it has been fairly made by the legislatures +of the different States. I have not heard it alleged that members of +the State legislatures have been frequently constrained by the +outside popular voice to send this or that man as senator to +Washington. It was clearly not the intention of those who wrote the +constitution that they should be so constrained. But the Senators +themselves in Washington have submitted to restraint. On subjects in +which the people are directly interested they submit to instructions +from the legislatures which have sent them as to the side on which +they shall vote, and justify themselves in voting against their +convictions by the fact that they have received such instructions. +Such a practice, even with the members of a House which has been +directly returned by popular election, is, I think, false to the +intention of the system. It has clearly been intended that confidence +should be put in the chosen candidate for the term of his duty, and +that the electors are to be bound in the expression of their opinion +by his sagacity and patriotism for that term. A member of a +representative House so chosen, who votes at the bidding of his +constituency in opposition to his convictions, is manifestly false to +his charge, and may be presumed to be thus false in deference to his +own personal interests, and with a view to his own future standing +with his constituents. Pledges before election may be fair, because a +pledge given is after all but the answer to a question asked. A voter +may reasonably desire to know a candidate's opinion on any matter of +political interest before he votes for or against him. The +representative when returned should be free from the necessity of +further pledges. But if this be true with a House elected by popular +suffrage, how much more than true must it be with a chamber collected +together as the Senate of the United States is collected! +Nevertheless it is the fact that many senators, especially those who +have been sent to the House as democrats, do allow the State +legislatures to dictate to them their votes, and that they do hold +themselves absolved from the personal responsibility of their votes +by such dictation. This is one place in which the rock which was +thought to have been firm has slipped away, and the sands of +democracy have made their way through. But with reference to this it +is always in the power of the Senate to recover its own ground, and +re-establish its own dignity; to the people in this matter the words +of the constitution give no authority, and all that is necessary for +the recovery of the old practice is a more conservative tendency +throughout the country generally. That there is such a conservative +tendency no one can doubt; the fear is whether it may not work too +quickly and go too far.</p> + +<p>In speaking of these instructions given to senators at Washington, I +should explain that such instructions are not given by all States, +nor are they obeyed by all senators. Occasionally they are made in +the form of requests, the word "instruct" being purposely laid aside. +Requests of the same kind are also made to representatives, who, as +they are not returned by the State legislatures, are not considered +to be subject to such instructions. The form used is as follows: "We +instruct our senators and request our representatives," &c. &c.</p> + +<p>The senators are elected for six years, but the same Senate does not +sit entire throughout that term. The whole chamber is divided into +three equal portions or classes, and a portion goes out at the end of +every second year; so that a third of the Senate comes in afresh with +every new House of Representatives. The Vice-President of the United +States, who is elected with the President, and who is not a senator +by election from any State, is the ex-officio President of the +Senate. Should the President of the United States vacate his seat by +death or otherwise, the Vice-President becomes President of the +United States; and in such case the Senate elects its own President +pro tempore.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the Senate, I must point out a matter to which the +constitution does not allude, but which is of the gravest moment in +the political fabric of the nation. Each State sends two senators to +Congress. These two are sent altogether independently of the +population which they represent, or of the number of members which +the same State supplies to the Lower House. When the constitution was +framed, Delaware was to send one member to the House of +Representatives, and Pennsylvania eight; nevertheless, each of these +States sent two senators. It would seem strange that a young people, +commencing business as a nation on a basis intended to be democratic, +should consent to a system so directly at variance with the theory of +popular representation. It reminds one of the old days when Yorkshire +returned two members, and Rutlandshire two also. And the discrepancy +has greatly increased as young States have been added to the Union, +while the old States have increased in population. New York, with a +population of about 4,000,000, and with thirty-three members in the +House of Representatives, sends two senators to Congress. The new +State of Oregon, with a population of 50,000 or 60,000, and with one +member in the House of Representatives, sends also two senators to +Congress. But though it would seem that in such a distribution of +legislative power, the young nation was determined to preserve some +of the old fantastic traditions of the mother-country which it had +just repudiated; the fact, I believe, is that this system, apparently +so opposed to all democratic tendencies, was produced and specially +insisted upon by democracy itself. Where would be the State +sovereignty and individual existence of Rhode Island and Delaware, +unless they could maintain, in at least one House of Congress, their +State equality with that of all other States in the Union? In those +early days, when the constitution was being framed, there was nothing +to force the small States into a Union with those whose populations +preponderated. Each State was sovereign in its municipal system, +having preserved the boundaries of the old colony, together with the +liberties and laws given to it under its old colonial charter. A +union might be, and no doubt was, desirable; but it was to be a union +of sovereign States, each retaining equal privileges in that union, +and not a fusion of the different populations into one homogeneous +whole. No State was willing to abandon its own individuality, and +least of all were the small States willing to do so. It was therefore +ordained that the House of Representatives should represent the +people, and that the Senate should represent the States.</p> + +<p>From that day to the present time the arrangement of which I am +speaking has enabled the democratic or southern party to contend at a +great advantage with the republicans of the North. When the +constitution was founded, the seven northern States—I call those +northern which are now free-soil States, and those southern in which +the institution of slavery now prevails—the seven northern States +were held to be entitled by their population to send thirty-five +members to the House of Representatives, and they sent fourteen +members to the Senate. The six southern States were entitled to +thirty members in the Lower House, and to twelve senators. Thus the +proportion was about equal for the North and South. But now,—or +rather in 1860, when secession commenced,—the northern States, owing +to the increase of population in the North, sent one hundred and +fifty representatives to Congress, having nineteen States and +thirty-eight senators; whereas the South, with fifteen States and +thirty senators, was entitled by its population to only ninety +representatives, although by a special rule in its favour, which I +will presently explain, it was in fact allowed a greater number of +representatives in proportion to its population than the North. Had +an equal balance been preserved, the South, with its ninety +representatives in the Lower House, would have but twenty-three +senators, instead of thirty, in the +Upper.<a href="#fn08">*</a><a id="fnb08"></a> But these numbers +indicate to us the recovery of political influence in the North, +rather than the pride of the power of the South; for the South, in +its palmy days, had much more in its favour than I have above +described as its position in 1860. Kansas had then just become a +free-soil State, after a terrible struggle, and shortly previous to +that Oregon and Minnesota, also free States, had been added to the +Union. Up to that date the slave States sent thirty senators to +Congress, and the free States only thirty-two. In addition to this +when Texas was annexed and converted into a State, a clause was +inserted into the Act giving authority for the future subdivision of +that State into four different States as its population should +increase, thereby enabling the South to add senators to its own party +from time to time, as the northern States might increase in number.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn08"></a>*It is worthy +of note that the new northern and western States have +been brought into the Union by natural increase and the spread of +population. But this has not been so with the new southern States. +Louisiana and Florida were purchased, and Texas +was—annexed.<a href="#fnb08"><span class="caption"> +[back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>And here I must explain, in order that the nature of the contest may +be understood, that the senators from the South maintained themselves +ever in a compact body, voting together, true to each other, +disciplined as a party, understanding the necessity of yielding in +small things in order that their general line of policy might be +maintained. But there was no such system, no such observance of +political tactics among the senators of the North. Indeed, they +appear to have had no general line of politics, having been divided +among themselves on various matters. Many had strong southern +tendencies, and many more were willing to obtain official power by +the help of southern votes. There was no great bond of union among +them, as slavery was among the senators from the South. And thus, +from these causes, the power of the Senate and the power of the +Government fell into the hands of the southern party.</p> + +<p>I am aware that in going into these matters here I am departing +somewhat from the subject of which this chapter is intended to treat; +but I do not know that I could explain in any shorter way the manner +in which those rules of the constitution have worked by which the +composition of the Senate is fixed. That State basis, as opposed to a +basis of population in the Upper House of Congress, has been the one +great political weapon, both of offence and defence, in the hands of +the democratic party. And yet I am not prepared to deny that great +wisdom was shown in the framing of the constitution of the Senate. It +was the object of none of the politicians then at work to create a +code of rules for the entire governance of a single nation such as is +England or France. Nor, had any American politician of the time so +desired, would he have had reasonable hope of success. A federal +union of separate sovereign States was the necessity, as it was also +the desire, of all those who were concerned in the American policy of +the day; and I think it may be understood and maintained that no such +federal union would have been just, or could have been accepted by +the smaller States, which did not in some direct way recognize their +equality with the larger States. It is moreover to be observed, that +in this, as in all matters, the claims of the minority were treated +with indulgence. No ordinance of the constitution is made in a +niggardly spirit. It would seem as though they who met together to do +the work had been actuated by no desire for selfish preponderance or +individual influence. No ambition to bind close by words which shall +be exacting as well as exact is apparent. A very broad power of +interpretation is left to those who were to be the future +interpreters of the written document.</p> + +<p>It is declared that "Representation and direct taxes shall be +apportioned among the several States which may be included within +this Union according to their respective numbers," thereby meaning +that representation and taxation in the several States shall be +adjusted according to the population. This clause ordains that +throughout all the States a certain amount of population shall return +a member to the Lower House of Congress,—say one member to 100,000 +persons, as is I believe about the present proportion,—and that +direct taxation shall be levied according to the number of +representatives. If New York return thirty-three members and Kansas +one, on New York shall be levied, for the purposes of the United +States' revenue, thirty-three times as much direct taxation as on +Kansas. This matter of direct taxation was not then, nor has it been +since, matter of much moment. No direct taxation has hitherto been +levied in the United States for national purposes. But the time has +now come when this proviso will be a terrible stumbling-block in the +way.</p> + +<p>But before we go into that matter of taxation, I must explain how the +South was again favoured with reference to its representation. As a +matter of course no slaves, or even negroes—no men of colour—were +to vote in the southern States. Therefore, one would say, that in +counting up the people with reference to the number of the +representatives, the coloured population should be ignored +altogether. But it was claimed on behalf of the South that their +property in slaves should be represented, and in compliance with this +claim, although no slave can vote or in any way demand the services +of a representative, the coloured people are reckoned among the +population. When the numbers of the free persons are counted, to this +number is added "three-fifths of all other persons." Five slaves are +thus supposed to represent three white persons. From the wording, one +would be led to suppose that there was some other category into which +a man might be put besides that of free or slave! But it may be +observed, that on this subject of slavery the framers of the +constitution were tender-mouthed. They never speak of slavery or of a +slave. It is necessary that the subject should be mentioned, and +therefore we hear first of persons other than free, and then of +persons bound to labour!</p> + +<p>Such were the rules laid down for the formation of Congress, and the +letter of those rules has, I think, been strictly observed. I have +not thought it necessary to give all the clauses, but I believe I +have stated those which are essential to a general understanding of +the basis upon which Congress is founded. A reference to the Appendix +will show all those which I have omitted.</p> + +<p>The constitution ordains that members of both the Houses shall be +paid for their time, but it does not decree the amount. "The senators +and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, +to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United +States." In the remarks which I have made as to the present Congress +I have spoken of the amount now allowed. The understanding, I +believe, is that the pay shall be enough for the modest support of a +man who is supposed to have raised himself above the heads of the +crowd. Much may be said in favour of this payment of legislators, but +very much may also be said against it. There was a time when our +members of the House of Commons were entitled to payment for their +services, and when, at any rate, some of them took the money. It may +be that with a new nation such an arrangement was absolutely +necessary. Men whom the people could trust, and who would have been +able to give up their time without payment, would not have probably +been found in a new community. The choice of senators and of +representatives would have been so limited that the legislative power +would have fallen into the hands of a few rich men. Indeed it may be +said that such payment was absolutely necessary in the early days of +the life of the Union. But no one, I think, will deny that the tone +of both Houses would be raised by the gratuitous service of the +legislators. It is well known that politicians find their way into +the Senate and into the Chamber of Representatives solely with a view +to the loaves and fishes. The very word "politician" is foul and +unsavoury throughout the States, and means rather a political +blackleg than a political patriot. It is useless to blink this matter +in speaking of the politics and policy of the United States. The +corruption of the venial politicians of the nation stinks aloud in +the nostrils of all men. It behoves the country to look to this. It +is time now that she should do so. The people of the nation are +educated and clever. The women are bright and beautiful. Her charity +is profuse; her philanthropy is eager and true; her national ambition +is noble and honest,—honest in the cause of civilization. But she +has soiled herself with political corruption, and has disgraced the +cause of republican government by the dirt of those whom she has +placed in her high places. Let her look to it now. She is nobly +ambitious of reputation throughout the earth; she desires to be +called good as well as great; to be regarded not only as powerful, +but also as beneficent. She is creating an army; she is forging +cannon and preparing to build impregnable ships of war. But all these +will fail to satisfy her pride, unless she can cleanse herself from +that corruption by which her political democracy has debased itself. +A politician should be a man worthy of all honour, in that he loves +his country; and not one worthy of all contempt, in that he robs his +country.</p> + +<p>I must not be understood as saying that every senator and +representative who takes his pay is wrong in taking it. Indeed, I +have already expressed an opinion that such payments were at first +necessary, and I by no means now say that the necessity has as yet +disappeared. In the minds of thorough democrats it will be considered +much that the poorest man of the people should be enabled to go into +the legislature, if such poorest man be worthy of that honour. I am +not a thorough democrat, and consider that more would be gained by +obtaining in the legislature that education, demeanour, and freedom +from political temptation which easy circumstances produce. I am not, +however, on this account inclined to quarrel with the democrats,—not +on that account if they can so manage their affairs that their poor +and popular politicians shall be fairly honest men. But I am a +thorough republican, regarding our own English form of government as +the most purely republican that I know, and as such I have a close +and warm sympathy with those trans-Atlantic anti-monarchical +republicans who are endeavouring to prove to the world that they have +at length founded a political Utopia. I for one do not grudge them +all the good they can do, all the honour they can win. But I grieve +over the evil name which now taints them, and which has accompanied +that wider spread of democracy which the last twenty years has +produced. This longing for universal suffrage in all things—in +voting for the President, in voting for judges, in voting for the +representatives, in dictating to senators, has come up since the days +of President Jackson, and with it has come corruption and unclean +hands. Democracy must look to it, or the world at large will declare +her to have failed.</p> + +<p>One would say that at any rate the Senate might be filled with unpaid +servants of the public. Each State might surely find two men who +could afford to attend to the public weal of their country without +claiming a compensation for their time. In England we find no +difficulty in being so served. Those cities among us in which the +democratic element most strongly abounds, can procure representatives +to their mind—even though the honour of filling the position is not +only not remunerative, but is very costly. I cannot but think that +the Senate of the United States would stand higher in the public +estimation of its own country if it were an unpaid body of men.</p> + +<p>It is enjoined that no person holding any office under the United +States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in +office. At first sight such a rule as this appears to be good in its +nature; but a comparison of the practice of the United States' +Government with that of our own makes me think that this embargo on +members of the legislative bodies is a mistake. It prohibits the +President's ministers from a seat in either House, and thereby +relieves them from the weight of that responsibility to which our +ministers are subjected. It is quite true that the United States' +ministers cannot be responsible as are our ministers, seeing that the +President himself is responsible and that the Queen is not so. +Indeed, according to the theory of the American constitution, the +President has no ministers. The constitution speaks only of the +principal officers of the executive departments. "He," the President, +"may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each +of the executive departments." But in practice he has his cabinet, +and the irresponsibility of that cabinet would practically cease if +the members of it were subjected to the questionings of the two +Houses. With us the rule which prohibits servants of the State from +going into Parliament is, like many of our constitutional rules, hard +to be defined, and yet perfectly understood. It may perhaps be said, +with the nearest approach to a correct definition, that permanent +servants of the State may not go into Parliament, and that those may +do so whose services are political, depending for the duration of +their term on the duration of the existing ministry. But even this +would not be exact, seeing that the Master of the Rolls and the +officers of the army and navy can sit in Parliament. The absence of +the President's ministers from Congress certainly occasions much +confusion, or rather prohibits a more thorough political +understanding between the executive and the legislative than now +exists. In speaking of the Government of the United States in the +next chapter, I shall be constrained to allude again to this +subject.<a href="#fn09">*</a><a id="fnb09"></a></p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn09"></a>*It will be +alleged by Americans that the introduction into Congress +of the President's ministers would alter all the existing relations +of the President and of Congress, and would at once produce that +Parliamentary form of Government which England possesses, and which +the States have chosen to avoid. Such a change would elevate +Congress, and depress the President. No doubt this is true. Such +elevation, however, and such depression seem to me to be the two +things needed.<a href="#fnb09"><span class="caption"> +[back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>The duties of the House of Representatives are solely legislative. +Those of the Senate are legislative and executive—as with us those +of the Upper House are legislative and judicial. The House of +Representatives is always open to the public. The Senate is so open +when it is engaged on legislative work; but it is closed to the +public when engaged in executive session. No treaties can be made by +the President, and no appointments to high offices confirmed without +the consent of the Senate; and this consent must be given—as regards +the confirmation of treaties—by two-thirds of the members present. +This law gives to the Senate the power of debating with closed doors +upon the nature of all treaties, and upon the conduct of the +Government as evinced in the nomination of the officers of State. It +also gives to the Senate a considerable control over the foreign +relations of the Government. I believe that this power is often used, +and that by it the influence of the Senate is raised much above that +of the Lower House. This influence is increased again by the +advantage of that superior statecraft and political knowledge which +the six years of the senator gives him over the two years of the +representative. The tried representative, moreover, very frequently +blossoms into a senator; but a senator does not frequently fade into +a representative. Such occasionally is the case, and it is not even +unconstitutional for an ex-President to re-appear in either House. +Mr. Benton, after thirty years' service in the Senate, sat in the +House of Representatives. Mr. Crittenden, who was returned as senator +by Kentucky, I think seven times, now sits in the Lower House; and +John Quincy Adams appeared as a representative from Massachusetts +after he had filled the Presidential chair.</p> + +<p>And, moreover, the Senate of the United States is not debarred from +an interference with money bills, as the House of Lords is debarred +with us. "All bills for raising revenue," says the seventh section of +the first article of the constitution, "shall originate with the +House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with +amendments as on other bills." By this the Senate is enabled to have +an authority in the money matters of the nation almost equal to that +held by the Lower House,—an authority quite sufficient to preserve +to it the full influence of its other powers. With us the House of +Commons is altogether in the ascendant, because it holds and +jealously keeps to itself the exclusive command of the public purse.</p> + +<p>Congress can levy custom duties in the United States, and always has +done so; hitherto the national revenue has been exclusively raised +from custom duties. It cannot levy duties on imports. It can levy +excise duties, and is now doing so; hitherto it has not done so. It +can levy direct taxes, such as an income-tax and a property-tax; it +hitherto has not done so, but now must do so. It must do so, I think +I am justified in saying; but its power of doing this is so hampered +by constitutional enactment, that it would seem that the constitution +as regards this heading must be altered before any scheme can be +arranged by which a moderately just income-tax can be levied and +collected. This difficulty I have already mentioned, but perhaps it +will be well that I should endeavour to make the subject more plain. +It is specially declared, "That all duties, imposts, and excises +shall be uniform throughout the United States." And again, "That no +capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to +the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken." And +again, in the words before quoted, "Representatives and direct taxes +shall be apportioned among the several States which shall be included +in this Union, according to their respective numbers." By these +repeated rules it has been intended to decree that the separate +States shall bear direct taxation according to their population and +the consequent number of their representatives; and this intention +has been made so clear, that no direct taxation can be levied in +opposition to it without an evident breach of the constitution. To +explain the way in which this will work, I will name the two States +of Rhode Island and Iowa as opposed to each other, and the two States +of Massachusetts and Indiana as opposed to each other. Rhode Island +and Massachusetts are wealthy Atlantic States, containing, as regards +enterprise and commercial success, the cream of the population of the +United States. Comparing them in the ratio of population, I believe +that they are richer than any other States. They return between them +thirteen representatives, Rhode Island sending two and Massachusetts +eleven. Iowa and Indiana also send thirteen representatives, Iowa +sending two, and being thus equal to Rhode Island; Indiana sending +eleven and being thus equal to Massachusetts. Iowa and Indiana are +western States; and though I am not prepared to say that they are the +poorest States of the Union, I can assert that they are exactly +opposite in their circumstances to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. +The two Atlantic States of New England are old established, rich, and +commercial. The two western States I have named are full of new +immigrants, are comparatively poor, and are agricultural. +Nevertheless any direct taxation levied on those in the East and on +those in the West must be equal in its weight. Iowa must pay as much +as Rhode Island; Indiana must pay as much as Massachusetts. But Rhode +Island and Massachusetts could pay without the sacrifice of any +comfort to its people, without any sensible suffering, an amount of +direct taxation which would crush the States of Iowa and +Indiana,—which indeed no tax-gatherer could collect out of those +States. Rhode Island and Massachusetts could with their ready money +buy Iowa and Indiana; and yet the income-tax to be collected from the +poor States is to be the same in amount as that collected from the +rich States. Within each individual State the total amount of +income-tax or of other direct taxation to be levied from that State +may be apportioned as the State may think fit; but an income-tax of +two per cent. on Rhode Island would probably produce more than an +income-tax of ten per cent. in Iowa; whereas Rhode Island could pay +an income-tax of ten per cent. easier than could Iowa one of two per +cent.</p> + +<p>It would in fact appear that the constitution as at present framed is +fatal to all direct taxation. Any law for the collection of direct +taxation levied under the constitution would produce internecine +quarrel between the western States and those which border on the +Atlantic. The western States would not submit to the taxation. The +difficulty which one here feels is that which always attends an +attempt at finality in political arrangements. One would be inclined +to say at once that the law should be altered, and that as the money +required is for the purposes of the Union and for State purposes, +such a change should be made as would enable Congress to levy an +income-tax on the general income of the nation. But Congress cannot +go beyond the constitution.</p> + +<p>It is true that the constitution is not final, and that it contains +an express article ordaining the manner in which it may be amended. +And perhaps I may as well explain here the manner in which this can +be done, although by doing so, I am departing from the order in which +the constitution is written. It is not final, and amendments have +been made to it. But the making of such amendments is an operation so +ponderous and troublesome, that the difficulty attached to any such +change envelops the constitution with many of the troubles of +finality. With us there is nothing beyond an act of parliament. An +act of parliament with us cannot be unconstitutional. But no such +power has been confided to Congress, or to Congress and the President +together. No amendment of the constitution can be made without the +sanction of the State legislatures. Congress may propose any +amendments, as to the expediency of which two-thirds of both Houses +shall be agreed; but before such amendments can be accepted they must +be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States, or by +conventions in three-fourths of the States, "as the one or the other +mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress." Or Congress, +instead of proposing the amendments, may, on an application from the +legislatures of two-thirds of the different States, call a convention +for the proposing of them. In which latter case the ratification by +the different States must be made after the same fashion as that +required in the former case. I do not know that I have succeeded in +making clearly intelligible the circumstances under which the +constitution can be amended; but I think I may have succeeded in +explaining that those circumstances are difficult and tedious. In a +matter of taxation why should States agree to an alteration proposed +with the very object of increasing their proportion of the national +burden? But unless such States will agree,—unless Rhode Island, +Massachusetts, and New York will consent to put their own necks into +the yoke,—direct taxation cannot be levied on them in a manner +available for national purposes. I do believe that Rhode Island and +Massachusetts at present possess a patriotism sufficient for such an +act. But the mode of doing the work will create disagreement, or at +any rate, tedious delay and difficulty. How shall the constitution be +constitutionally amended while one-third of the States are in revolt?</p> + +<p>In the eighth section of its first article the Constitution gives a +list of the duties which Congress shall perform,—of things, in +short, which it shall do, or shall have power to do:—To raise taxes; +to regulate commerce and the naturalization of citizens; to coin +money and protect it when coined; to establish postal communication; +to make laws for defence of patents and copyrights; to constitute +national courts of law inferior to the Supreme Court; to punish +piracies; to declare war; to raise, pay for, and govern armies, +navies, and militia; and to exercise exclusive legislation in a +certain district which shall contain the seat of Government of the +United States, and which is therefore to be regarded as belonging to +the nation at large, and not to any particular State. This district +is now called the district of Columbia. It is situated on the Potomac +and contains the city of Washington.</p> + +<p>Then the ninth section of the same article declares what Congress +shall not do. Certain immigration shall not be prohibited; <i>the +privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended</i>, +except under certain circumstances; no ex post facto law shall be +passed; no direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the +census; no tax shall be laid on exports; no money shall be drawn from +the treasury but by legal appropriation; no title of nobility shall +be granted.</p> + +<p>The above are lists or catalogues of the powers which Congress has, +and of the powers which Congress has not; of what Congress may do, +and of what Congress may not do; and having given them thus seriatim, +I may here perhaps be best enabled to say a few words as to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the +United States. It is generally known that this privilege has been +suspended during the existence of the present rebellion very many +times; that this has been done by the executive, and not by Congress; +and that it is maintained by the executive, and by those who defend +the conduct of the now acting executive of the United States, that +the power of suspending the writ has been given by the constitution +to the President, and not to Congress. I confess that I cannot +understand how any man, familiar either with the wording or with the +spirit of the constitution should hold such an argument. To me it +appears manifest that the executive, in suspending the privilege of +the writ without the authority of Congress, has committed a breach of +the constitution. Were the case one referring to our British +constitution, a plain man, knowing little of Parliamentary usage, and +nothing of law lore, would probably feel some hesitation in +expressing any decided opinion on such a subject, seeing that our +constitution is unwritten. But the intention has been that every +citizen of the United States should know and understand the rules +under which he is to live,—and he that runs may read.</p> + +<p>As this matter has been argued by Mr. Horace Binney, a lawyer of +Philadelphia, much trusted, of very great and of deserved eminence +throughout the States, in a pamphlet in which he defends the +suspension of the privilege of the writ by the President, I will take +the position of the question as summed up by him in his last page, +and compare it with that clause in the constitution by which the +suspension of the privilege under certain circumstances is decreed; +and to enable me to do this I will, in the first place, quote the +words of the clause in <span class="nowrap">question:—</span></p> + +<p>"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended +unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may +require it." It is the second clause of that section which states +what Congress shall not do.</p> + +<p>Mr. Binney argues as follows:—"The conclusion of the whole matter is +this: that the constitution itself is the law of the privilege, and +of the exception to it; that the exception is expressed in the +constitution, and that the constitution gives effect to the act of +suspension when the conditions occur; that the conditions consist of +two matters of fact,—one a naked matter of fact, and the other a +matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, that is to say, rebellion and +the public danger, or the requirement of public safety." By these +words Mr. Binney intends to imply that the constitution itself gave +the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and itself prescribes the +taking away of that privilege under certain circumstances. But this +is not so. The constitution does not prescribe the suspension of the +privilege of the writ under any circumstances. It says that it shall +not be suspended except under certain circumstances. Mr. Binney's +argument, if I understand it, then goes on as follows. As the +constitution prescribes the circumstances under which the privilege +of the writ shall be suspended, the one circumstance being the naked +matter-of-fact rebellion, and the other circumstance the public +safety supposed to have been endangered by such rebellion,—which Mr. +Binney calls a matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, the constitution +must be presumed itself to suspend the privilege of the writ. Whether +the President or Congress be the agent of the constitution in this +suspension is not matter of moment. Either can only be an agent, and +as Congress cannot act executively, whereas the President must +ultimately be charged with the executive administration of the order +for that suspension, which has in fact been issued by the +constitution itself, therefore the power of exercising the suspension +of the writ may properly be presumed to be in the hands of the +President, and not to be in the hands of Congress.</p> + +<p>If I follow Mr. Binney's argument, it amounts to so much. But it +seems to me that Mr. Binney is wrong in his premises, and wrong in +his conclusion. The article of the constitution in question does not +define the conditions under which the privilege of the writ shall be +suspended. It simply states that this privilege shall never be +suspended, except under certain conditions. It shall not be suspended +unless when the public safety may require such suspension on account +of rebellion or invasion. Rebellion or invasion is not necessarily to +produce such suspension. There is indeed no naked matter of fact to +guide either President or Congress in the matter, and therefore I say +that Mr. Binney is wrong in his premises. Rebellion or invasion might +occur twenty times over, and might even endanger the public safety, +without justifying the suspension of the privilege of the writ under +the constitution. I say also that Mr. Binney is wrong in his +conclusion. The public safety must require the suspension before the +suspension can be justified, and such requirement must be a matter +for judgment, and for the exercise of discretion. Whether or no there +shall be any suspension is a matter for deliberation,—not one simply +for executive action, as though it were already ordered. There is no +matter-of-fact conclusion from facts. Should invasion or rebellion +occur, and should the public safety, in consequence of such rebellion +or invasion, require the suspension of the privilege of the writ, +then, and only then, may the privilege be suspended. But to whom is +the power, or rather the duty, of exercising this discretion +delegated? Mr. Binney says that "there is no express delegation of +the power in the constitution." I maintain that Mr. Binney is again +wrong, and that the constitution does expressly delegate the power, +not to the President, but to Congress. This is done so clearly, to my +mind, that I cannot understand the misunderstanding which has existed +in the States upon the subject. The first article of the constitution +treats "of the legislature." The second article treats "of the +executive." The third treats "of the judiciary." After that there are +certain "miscellaneous articles," so called. The eighth section of +the first article gives, as I have said before, a list of things +which the legislature or Congress shall do. The ninth section gives a +list of things which the legislature or Congress shall not do. The +second item in this list is the prohibition of any suspension of the +privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, except under certain +circumstances. This prohibition is therefore expressly placed upon +Congress, and this prohibition contains the only authority under +which the privilege can be constitutionally suspended. Then comes the +article on the executive, which defines the powers that the President +shall exercise. In that article there is no word referring to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ. He that runs may read.</p> + +<p>I say, therefore, that Mr. Lincoln's Government has committed a +breach of the constitution in taking upon itself to suspend the +privilege;—a breach against the letter of the constitution. It has +assumed a power which the constitution has not given it,—which, +indeed, the constitution, by placing it in the hands of another body, +has manifestly declined to put into the hands of the executive; and +it has also committed a breach against the spirit of the +constitution. The chief purport of the constitution is to guard the +liberties of the people, and to confide to a deliberative body the +consideration of all circumstances by which those liberties may be +affected. The President shall command the army; but Congress shall +raise and support the army. Congress shall declare war. Congress +shall coin money. Congress, by one of its bodies, shall sanction +treaties. Congress shall establish such law courts as are not +established by the constitution. Under no circumstances is the +President to decree what shall be done. But he is to do those things +which the constitution has decreed or which Congress shall decree. It +is monstrous to suppose that power over the privilege of the writ of +habeas corpus would, among such a people, and under such a +constitution, be given without limit to the chief officer, the only +condition being that there should be some rebellion. Such rebellion +might be in Utah territory; or some trouble in the uttermost bounds +of Texas would suffice. Any invasion, such as an inroad by the +savages of Old Mexico upon New Mexico, would justify an arbitrary +President in robbing all the people of all the States of their +liberties! A squabble on the borders of Canada would put such a power +into the hands of the President for four years; or the presence of an +English frigate in the St. Juan channel might be held to do so. I say +that such a theory is monstrous.</p> + +<p>And the effect of this breach of the constitution at the present day +has been very disastrous. It has taught those who have not been close +observers of the American struggle to believe that, after all, the +Americans are indifferent as to their liberties. Such pranks have +been played before high heaven by men utterly unfitted for the use of +great power, as have scared all the nations. Mr. Lincoln, the +President by whom this unconstitutional act has been done, apparently +delegated his assumed authority to his minister, Mr. Seward. Mr. +Seward has revelled in the privilege of unrestrained arrests, and has +locked men up with reason and without. He has instituted passports +and surveillance; and placed himself at the head of an omnipresent +police system with all the gusto of a Fouché, though luckily without +a Fouché's craft or cunning. The time will probably come when Mr. +Seward must pay for this,—not with his life or liberty, but with his +reputation and political name. But in the mean time his lettres de +cachet have run everywhere through the States. The pranks which he +played were absurd, and the arrests which he made were grievous. +After a while, when it became manifest that Mr. Seward had not found +a way to success, when it was seen that he had inaugurated no great +mode of putting down rebellion, he apparently lost his power in the +cabinet. The arrests ceased, the passports were discontinued, and the +prison-doors were gradually opened. Mr. Seward was deposed, not from +the cabinet, but from the premiership of the cabinet. The suspension +of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was not countermanded, +but the operation of the suspension was allowed to become less and +less onerous; and now, in April, 1862, within a year of the +commencement of the suspension, it has, I think, nearly died out. The +object in hand now is rather that of getting rid of political +prisoners, than of taking others.</p> + +<p>This assumption by the government of an unconstitutional power has, +as I have said, taught many lookers-on to think that the Americans +are indifferent to their liberties. I myself do not believe that such +a conclusion would be just. During the present crisis the strong +feeling of the people—that feeling which for the moment has been +dominant—has been one in favour of the government as against +rebellion. There has been a passionate resolution to support the +nationality of the nation. Men have felt that they must make +individual sacrifices, and that such sacrifices must include a +temporary suspension of some of their constitutional rights. But I +think that this temporary suspension is already regarded with jealous +eyes;—with an increasing jealousy which will have created a reaction +against such policy as that which Mr. Seward has attempted, long +before the close of Mr. Lincoln's Presidency. I know that it is wrong +in a writer to commit himself to prophecies, but I find it impossible +to write upon this subject without doing so. As I must express a +surmise on this subject, I venture to prophesy that the Americans of +the States will soon show that they are not indifferent to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. On that +matter of the illegality of the suspension by the President I feel in +my own mind that there is no doubt.</p> + +<p>The second article of the constitution treats of the executive, and +is very short. It places the whole executive power in the hands of +the President, and explains with more detail the mode in which the +President shall be chosen, than the manner after which the duties +shall be performed. The first section states that the executive shall +be vested in a President, who shall hold his office for four years. +With him shall be chosen a Vice-President. I may here explain that +the Vice-President, as such, has no power either political or +administrative. He is, ex officio, the speaker of the Senate; and +should the President die, or be by other cause rendered unable to act +as President, the Vice-President becomes President either for the +remainder of the Presidential term or for the period of the +President's temporary absence. Twice since the constitution was +written, the President has died and the Vice-President has taken his +place. No President has vacated his position, even for a period, +through any cause other than death.</p> + +<p>Then come the rules under which the President and Vice-President +shall be elected,—with reference to which there has been an +amendment of the constitution subsequent to the fourth presidential +election. This was found to be necessary by the circumstances of the +contest between John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. It was +then found that the complications in the method of election created +by the original clause were all but unendurable, and the constitution +was amended.</p> + +<p>I will not describe in detail the present mode of election, as the +doing so would be tedious and unnecessary. Two facts I wish, however, +to make specially noticeable and clear. The first is, that the +President of the United States is now chosen by universal suffrage; +and the second is, that the constitution expressly intended that the +President should not be chosen by universal suffrage, but by a body +of men who should enjoy the confidence and fairly represent the will +of the people. The framers of the constitution intended so to write +the words, that the people themselves should have no more immediate +concern in the nomination of the President than in that of the +Senate. They intended to provide that the election should be made in +a manner which may be described as thoroughly conservative. Those +words, however, have been inefficient for their purpose. They have +not been violated. But the spirit has been violated, while the words +have been held sacred,—and the Presidential elections are now +conducted on the widest principles of universal suffrage. They are +essentially democratic.</p> + +<p>The arrangement, as written in the constitution, is that each State +shall appoint a body of electors equal in number to the senators and +representatives sent by that State to Congress, and that thus a body +or college of electors shall be formed equal in number to the two +joint Houses of Congress, by which the President shall be elected. No +member of Congress, however, can be appointed an elector. Thus New +York, with thirty-three representatives in the Lower House, would +name thirty-five electors; and Rhode Island, with two members in the +Lower House, would name four electors;—in each case two being added +for the two senators.</p> + +<p>It may perhaps be doubted whether this theory of an election by +electors has ever been truly carried out. It was probably the case +even at the election of the first Presidents after Washington, that +the electors were pledged in some informal way as to the candidate +for whom they should vote; but the very idea of an election by +electors has been abandoned since the Presidency of General Jackson. +According to the theory of the constitution the privilege and the +duty of selecting a best man as President was to be delegated to +certain best men chosen for that purpose. This was the intention of +those who framed the constitution. It may, as I have said, be doubted +whether this theory has ever availed for action; but since the days +of Jackson it has been absolutely abandoned. The intention was +sufficiently conservative. The electors to whom was to be confided +this great trust, were to be chosen in their own States as each State +might think fit. The use of universal suffrage for this purpose was +neither enjoined nor forbidden in the separate States,—was neither +treated as desirable or undesirable by the constitution. Each State +was left to judge how it would elect its own electors. But the +President himself was to be chosen by those electors and not by the +people at large. The intention is sufficiently conservative, but the +intention is not carried out.</p> + +<p>The electors are still chosen by the different States in conformity +with the bidding of the constitution. The constitution is exactly +followed in all its biddings, as far as the wording of it is +concerned; but the whole spirit of the document has been evaded in +the favour of democracy, and universal suffrage in the Presidential +elections has been adopted. The electors are still chosen, it is +true; but they are only chosen as the mouthpiece of the people's +choice, and not as the mind by which that choice shall be made. We +have all heard of Americans voting for a ticket,—for the democratic +ticket, or the republican ticket. All political voting in the States +is now managed by tickets. As regards these Presidential elections, +each party decides on a candidate. Even this primary decision is a +matter of voting among the party itself. When Mr. Lincoln was +nominated as its candidate by the republican party, the names of no +less than thirteen candidates were submitted to the delegates who +were sent to a convention at Chicago, assembled for the purpose of +fixing upon a candidate. At that convention, Mr. Lincoln was chosen +as the republican candidate; and in that convention was in fact +fought the battle which was won in Mr. Lincoln's favour, although +that convention was what we may call a private arrangement, wholly +irrespective of any constitutional enactment. Mr. Lincoln was then +proclaimed as the republican candidate, and all republicans were held +as bound to support him. When the time came for the constitutional +election of the electors, certain names were got together in each +State as representing the republican interest. These names formed the +republican ticket, and any man voting for them voted in fact for +Lincoln. There were three other parties, each represented by a +candidate, and each had its own ticket in the different States. It is +not to be supposed that the supporters of Mr. Lincoln were very +anxious about their ticket in Alabama, or those of Mr. Breckinridge +as to theirs in Massachusetts. In Alabama, a democratic slave-ticket +would of course prevail. In Massachusetts, a republican free-soil +ticket would do so. But it may, I think, be seen that in this way the +electors have in reality ceased to have any weight in the +elections,—have in very truth ceased to have the exercise of any +will whatever. They are mere names, and no more. Stat nominis umbra. +The election of the President is made by universal suffrage, and not +by a college of electors. The words as they are written are still +obeyed; but the constitution in fact has been violated, for the +spirit of it has been changed in its very essence.</p> + +<p>The President must have been born a citizen of the United States. +This is not necessary for the holder of any other office or for a +senator or representative; he must be thirty-four years old at the +time of his election.</p> + +<p>His executive power is almost unbounded. He is much more powerful +than any minister can be with us, and is subject to a much lighter +responsibility. He may be impeached by the House of Representatives +before the Senate, but that impeachment only goes to the removal from +office and permanent disqualification for office. But in these days, +as we all practically understand, responsibility does not mean the +fear of any great punishment, but the necessity of accounting from +day to day for public actions. A leading statesman has but slight +dread of the axe, but is in hourly fear of his opponent's questions. +The President of the United States is subject to no such +questionings; and as he does not even require a majority in either +House for the maintenance of his authority, his responsibility sits +upon him very slightly. Seeing that Mr. Buchanan has escaped any +punishment for maladministration, no President need fear the anger of +the people.</p> + +<p>The President is Commander-in-chief of the army and of the navy. He +can grant pardons,—as regards all offences committed against the +United States. He has no power to pardon an offence committed against +the laws of any State, and as to which the culprit has been tried +before the tribunals of that State. He can make treaties; but such +treaties are not valid till they have been confirmed by two-thirds of +the senators present in executive session. He appoints all +ambassadors and other public officers,—but subject to the +confirmation of the Senate. He can convene either or both Houses of +Congress at irregular times, and under certain circumstances can +adjourn them. His executive power is in fact almost unlimited; and +this power is solely in his own hands, as the constitution knows +nothing of the President's ministers. According to the constitution +these officers are merely the heads of his bureaux. An Englishman, +however, in considering the executive power of the President, and in +making any comparison between that and the executive power of any +officer or officers attached to the Crown in England, should always +bear in mind that the President's power, and even authority, is +confined to the Federal Government, and that he has none with +reference to the individual States. Religion, education, the +administration of the general laws which concern every man and woman, +and the real de facto Government which comes home to every +house;—these things are not in any way subject to the President of +the United States.</p> + +<p>His legislative power is also great. He has a veto upon all acts of +Congress. This veto is by no means a dead letter, as is the veto of +the Crown with us; but it is not absolute. The President, if he +refuses his sanction to a bill sent up to him from Congress, returns +it to that House in which it originated, with his objections in +writing. If, after that, such bill shall again pass through both the +Senate and the House of Representatives, receiving in each House the +approvals of two-thirds of those present, then such bill becomes law +without the President's sanction. Unless this be done the President's +veto stops the bill. This veto has been frequently used, but no bill +has yet been passed in opposition to it.</p> + +<p>The third article of the constitution treats of the judiciary of the +United States, but as I purpose to write a chapter devoted to the law +courts and lawyers of the States, I need not here describe at length +the enactments of the constitution on this head. It is ordained that +all criminal trials, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by +jury.</p> + +<p>There are after this certain miscellaneous articles, some of which +belong to the constitution as it stood at first, and others of which +have been since added as amendments. A citizen of one State is to be +a citizen of every State. Criminals from one State shall not be free +from pursuit in other States. Then comes a very material +enactment:—"No person held to service or labour in one State, under +the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any +law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour; +but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service +or labour may be due." In speaking of a person held to labour the +constitution intends to speak of a slave, and the article amounts to +a fugitive slave law. If a slave run away out of South Carolina and +find his way into Massachusetts, Massachusetts shall deliver him up +when called upon to do so by South Carolina. The words certainly are +clear enough. But Massachusetts strongly objects to the delivery of +such men when so desired. Such men she has delivered up, with many +groanings and much inward perturbation of spirit. But it is +understood, not in Massachusetts only, but in the free-soil States +generally, that fugitive slaves shall not be delivered up by the +ordinary action of the laws. There is a feeling strong as that which +we entertain with reference to the rendition of slaves from Canada. +With such a clause in the constitution as that, it is hardly too much +to say that no free-soil State will consent to constitutional action. +Were it expunged from the constitution, no slave State would consent +to live under it. It is a point as to which the advocates of slavery +and the enemies of slavery cannot be brought to act in union. But on +this head I have already said what little I have to say.</p> + +<p>New States may be admitted by Congress, but the bounds of no old +State shall be altered without the consent of such State. Congress +shall have power to rule and dispose of the territories and property +of the United States. The United States guarantee every State a +republican form of Government; but the constitution does not define +that form of Government. An ordinary citizen of the United States, if +asked, would probably say that it included that description of +franchise which I have called universal suffrage. Such, however, was +not the meaning of those who framed the constitution. The ordinary +citizen would probably also say that it excluded the use of a king, +though he would, I imagine, be able to give no good reason for saying +so. I take a republican government to be that in which the care of +the people is in the hands of the people. They may use an elected +President, an hereditary king, or a chief magistrate called by any +other name. But the magistrate, whatever be his name, must be the +servant of the people and not their lord. He must act for them and at +their bidding,—not they at his. If he do so, he is the chief officer +of a republic;—as is our Queen with us.</p> + +<p>The United States' constitution also guarantees to each State +protection against invasion, and, if necessary, against domestic +violence,—meaning, I presume, internal violence. The words domestic +violence might seem to refer solely to slave insurrections; but such +is not the meaning of the words. The free State of New York would be +entitled to the assistance of the Federal Government in putting down +internal violence, if unable to quell such violence by her own power.</p> + +<p>This constitution, and the laws of the United States made in +pursuance of it, are to be held as the supreme law of the land. The +judges of every State are to be bound thereby, let the laws or +separate constitution of such State say what they will to the +contrary. Senators and others are to be bound by oath to support the +constitution; but no religious test shall be required as a +qualification to any office.</p> + +<p>In the amendments to the constitution, it is enacted that Congress +shall make no law as to the establishment of any religion, or +prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and also that it shall not +abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of petition.—The +Government, however, as is well known, has taken upon itself to +abridge the freedom of the press.—The right of the people to bear +arms shall not be infringed. Then follow various clauses intended for +the security of the people in reference to the administration of the +laws. They shall not be troubled by unreasonable searches. They shall +not be made to answer for great offences except by indictment of a +grand jury. They shall not be put twice in jeopardy for the same +offence. They shall not be compelled to give evidence against +themselves. Private property shall not be taken for public use +without compensation. Accused persons in criminal proceedings shall +be entitled to speedy and public trial. They shall be confronted with +the witnesses against them, and shall have assistance of counsel. +Suits in which the value controverted is above 20 dollars (£4) shall +be tried before juries. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor +cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. In all which enactments we +see, I think, a close resemblance to those which have been +time-honoured among ourselves.</p> + +<p>The remaining amendments apply to the mode in which the President and +Vice-President shall be elected, and of them I have already spoken.</p> + +<p>The constitution is signed by Washington as President,—as President +and Deputy from Virginia. It is signed by deputies from all the other +States, except Rhode Island. Among the signatures is that of +Alexander Hamilton, from New York; of Franklin, heading a crowd in +Pennsylvania, in the capital of which State the convention was held; +and that of James Madison, the future President, from Virginia.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of this chapter I have spoken of the splendid +results attained by those who drew up the constitution; and then, as +though in opposition to the praise thus given to their work, I have +insisted throughout the chapter both on the insufficiency of the +constitution and on the breaches to which it has been subjected. I +have declared my opinion that it is inefficient for some of its +required purposes, and have said that, whether inefficient or +efficient, it has been broken and in some degree abandoned. I +maintain, however, that in this I have not contradicted myself. A +boy, who declares his purpose of learning the Æneid by heart, will be +held as being successful if at the end of the given period he can +repeat eleven books out of the twelve. Nevertheless the reporter, in +summing up the achievement, is bound to declare that that other book +has not been learned. Under this constitution of which I have been +speaking, the American people have achieved much material success and +great political power. As a people they have been happy and +prosperous. Their freedom has been secured to them, and for a period +of seventy-five years they have lived and prospered without +subjection to any form of tyranny. This in itself is much, and +should, I think, be held as a preparation for greater things to +follow. Such, I think, should be our opinion, although the nation is +at the present burdened by so heavy a load of troubles. That any +written constitution should serve its purposes and maintain its +authority in a nation for a dozen years is in itself much for its +framers. Where are now the constitutions which were written for +France? But this constitution has so wound itself into the affections +of the people, has become a mark for such reverence and love, has, +after a trial of three quarters of a century, so recommended itself +to the judgment of men, that the difficulty consists in touching it, +not in keeping it. Eighteen or twenty millions of people who have +lived under it,—in what way do they regard it? Is not that the best +evidence that can be had respecting it? Is it to them an old woman's +story, a useless parchment, a thing of old words at which all must +now smile? Heaven mend them, if they reverence it more, as I fear +they do, than they reverence their Bible. For them, after +seventy-five years of trial, it has almost the weight of inspiration. +In this respect,—with reference to this worship of the work of their +forefathers, they may be in error. But that very error goes far to +prove the excellence of the code. When a man has walked for six +months over stony ways in the same boots, he will be believed when he +says that his boots are good boots. No assertion to the contrary from +any bystander will receive credence, even though it be shown that a +stitch or two has come undone, and that some required purpose has not +effectually been carried out. The boots have carried the man over his +stony roads for six months, and they must be good boots. And so I say +that the constitution must be a good constitution.</p> + +<p>As to that positive breach of the constitution which has, as I +maintain, been committed by the present Government, although I have +been at some trouble to prove it, I must own that I do not think very +much of it. It is to be lamented, but the evil admits, I think, of +easy repair. It has happened at a period of unwonted difficulty, when +the minds of men were intent rather on the support of that +nationality which guarantees their liberties, than on the enjoyment +of those liberties themselves, and the fault may be pardoned if it be +acknowledged. But it is essential that it should be acknowledged. In +such a matter as that there should at any rate be no doubt. Now, in +this very year of the rebellion, it may be well that no clamour +against Government should arise from the people, and thus add to the +difficulties of the nation. But it will be bad, indeed, for the +nation if such a fault shall have been committed by this Government +and shall be allowed to pass unacknowledged, unrebuked,—as though it +were a virtue and no fault. I cannot but think that the time will +soon come in which Mr. Seward's reading of the constitution and Mr. +Lincoln's assumption of illegal power under that reading will receive +a different construction in the States than that put upon it by Mr. +Binney.</p> + +<p>But I have admitted that the constitution itself is not perfect. It +seems to me that it requires to be amended on two separate +points;—especially on two; and I cannot but acknowledge that there +would be great difficulty in making such amendments. That matter of +direct taxation is the first. As to that I shall speak again in +referring to the financial position of the country. I think, however, +that it must be admitted, in any discussion held on the constitution +of the United States, that the theory of taxation as there laid down +will not suffice for the wants of a great nation. If the States are +to maintain their ground as a great national power, they must agree +among themselves to bear the cost of such greatness. While a custom +duty was sufficient for the public wants of the United States, this +fault in the constitution was not felt. But now that standing armies +have been inaugurated, that iron-clad ships are held as desirable, +that a great national debt has been founded, custom duties will +suffice no longer, nor will excise duties suffice. Direct taxation +must be levied, and such taxation cannot be fairly levied without a +change in the constitution. But such a change may be made in direct +accordance with the spirit of the constitution, and the necessity for +such an alteration cannot be held as proving any inefficiency in the +original document for the purposes originally required.</p> + +<p>As regards the other point which seems to me to require amendment, I +must acknowledge that I am about to express simply my own opinion. +Should Americans read what I write, they may probably say that I am +recommending them to adopt the blunders made by the English in their +practice of government. Englishmen, on the other hand, may not +improbably conceive that a system which works well here under a +monarchy, would absolutely fail under a presidency of four years' +duration. Nevertheless I will venture to suggest that the government +of the United States would be improved in all respects, if the +gentlemen forming the President's cabinet were admitted to seats in +Congress. At present they are virtually irresponsible. They are +constitutionally little more than head clerks. This was all very well +while the Government of the United States was as yet a small thing; +but now it is no longer a small thing. The President himself cannot +do all, nor can he be, in truth, responsible for all. A cabinet, such +as is our cabinet, is necessary to him. Such a cabinet does exist, +and the members of it take upon themselves the honours which are +given to our cabinet ministers. But they are exempted from all that +parliamentary contact which, in fact, gives to our cabinet ministers +their adroitness, their responsibility, and their position in the +country. On this subject also I must say another word or two further +on.</p> + +<p>But how am I to excuse the constitution on those points as to which +it has, as I have said, fallen through,—in respect to which it has +shown itself to be inefficient by the weakness of its own words? +Seeing that all the executive power is intrusted to the President, it +is especially necessary that the choice of the President should be +guarded by constitutional enactments;—that the President should be +chosen in such a manner as may seem best to the concentrated wisdom +of the country. The President is placed in his seat for four years. +For that term he is irremovable. He acts without any majority in +either of the legislative Houses. He must state reasons for his +conduct, but he is not responsible for those reasons. His own +judgment is his sole guide. No desire of the people can turn him out; +nor need he fear any clamour from the press. If an officer so high in +power be needed, at any rate the choice of such an officer should be +made with the greatest care. The constitution has decreed how such +care should be exercised, but the constitution has not been able to +maintain its own decree. The constituted electors of the President +have become a mere name; and that officer is chosen by popular +election, in opposition to the intention of those who framed the +constitution. The effect of this may be seen in the characters of the +men so chosen. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, the two Adamses, and +Jackson were the owners of names that have become known in history. +They were men who have left their marks behind them. Those in Europe +who have read of anything, have read of them. Americans, whether as +republicans they admire Washington and the Adamses, or as democrats +hold by Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, do not at any rate blush for +their old Presidents. But who has heard of Polk, of Pierce, and of +Buchanan? What American is proud of them? In the old days the name of +a future President might be surmised. He would probably be a man +honoured in the nation; but who now can make a guess as to the next +President? In one respect a guess may be made with some safety. The +next President will be a man whose name has as yet offended no one by +its prominence. But one requisite is essential for a President; he +must be a man whom none as yet have delighted to honour.</p> + +<p>This has come of universal suffrage; and seeing that it has come in +spite of the constitution, and not by the constitution, it is very +bad. Nor in saying this am I speaking my own conviction so much as +that of all educated Americans with whom I have discussed the +subject. At the present moment universal suffrage is not popular. +Those who are the highest among the people certainly do not love it. +I doubt whether the masses of the people have ever craved it. It has +been introduced into the Presidential elections by men called +politicians—by men who have made it a matter of trade to dabble in +state affairs, and who have gradually learned to see how the +constitutional law, with reference to the Presidential electors, +could be set aside without any positive breach of the +constitution.<a href="#fn10">*</a><a id="fnb10"></a></p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn10"></a>*On this +matter one of the best, and best informed Americans that I +have known told me that he differed from me. "It introduced itself," +said he. "It was the result of social and political forces. Election +of the President by popular choice became a necessity." The meaning +of this is, that in regard to their Presidential elections the United +States drifted into universal suffrage. I do not know that his theory +is one more comfortable for his country than my own. +<a href="#fnb10"><span class="caption">[back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>Whether or no any backward step can now be taken,—whether these +elections can again be put into the hands of men fit to exercise a +choice in such a matter,—may well be doubted. Facilis descensus +Averni. But the recovery of the downward steps is very difficult. On +that subject, however, I hardly venture here to give an opinion. I +only declare what has been done, and express my belief that it has +not been done in conformity with the wishes of the people,—as it +certainly has not been done in conformity with the intention of the +constitution.</p> + +<p>In another matter a departure has been made from the conservative +spirit of the constitution. This departure is equally grave with the +other, but it is one which certainly does admit of correction. I +allude to the present position assumed by many of the senators, and +to the instructions given to them by the State legislatures, as to +the votes which they shall give in the Senate. An obedience on their +part to such instructions is equal in its effects to the introduction +of universal suffrage into the elections. It makes them hang upon the +people, divests them of their personal responsibility, takes away all +those advantages given to them by a six years' certain tenure of +office, and annuls the safety secured by a conservative method of +election. Here again I must declare my opinion that this democratic +practice has crept into the Senate without any expressed wish of the +people. In all such matters the people of the nation has been +strangely undemonstrative. It has been done as part of a system which +has been used for transferring the political power of the nation to a +body of trading politicians who have become known and felt as a mass, +and not known and felt as individuals. I find it difficult to +describe the present political position of the States in this +respect. The millions of the people are eager for the constitution, +are proud of their power as a nation, and are ambitious of national +greatness. But they are not, as I think, especially desirous of +retaining political influences in their own hands. At many of the +elections it is difficult to induce them to vote. They have among +them a half-knowledge that politics is a trade in the hands of the +lawyers, and that they are the capital by which those political +tradesmen carry on their business. These politicians are all lawyers. +Politics and law go together as naturally as the possession of land +and the exercise of magisterial powers do with us. It may be well +that it should be so, as the lawyers are the best educated men of the +country, and need not necessarily be the most dishonest. Political +power has come into their hands, and it is for their purposes and by +their influences that the spread of democracy has been encouraged.</p> + +<p>As regards the Senate, the recovery of their old dignity and former +position is within their own power. No amendment of the constitution +is needed here, nor has the weakness come from any insufficiency of +the constitution. The Senate can assume to itself to-morrow its own +glories, and can, by doing so, become the saviours of the honour and +glory of the nation. It is to the Senate that we must look for that +conservative element which may protect the United States from the +violence of demagogues on one side and from the despotism of military +power on the other. The Senate, and the Senate only, can keep the +President in check. The Senate also has a power over the Lower House +with reference to the disposal of money, which deprives the House of +Representatives of that exclusive authority which belongs to our +House of Commons. It is not simply that the House of Representatives +cannot do what is done by the House of Commons. There is more than +this. To the Senate, in the minds of all Americans, belongs that +superior prestige, that acknowledged possession of the greater power +and fuller scope for action, which is with us as clearly the +possession of the House of Commons. The United States' Senate can be +conservative, and can be so by virtue of the constitution. The love +of the constitution in the hearts of all Americans is so strong that +the exercise of such power by the Senate would strengthen rather than +endanger its position. I could wish that the senators would abandon +their money payments, but I do not imagine that that will be done +exactly in these days.</p> + +<p>I have now endeavoured to describe the strength of the constitution +of the United States, and to explain its weakness. The great question +is at this moment being solved, whether or no that constitution will +still be found equal to its requirements. It has hitherto been the +mainspring in the government of the people. They have trusted with +almost childlike confidence to the wisdom of their founders, and have +said to their rulers,—"There; in those words, you must find the +extent and the limit of your powers. It is written down for you, so +that he who runs may read." That writing down, as it were, at a +single sitting, of a sufficient code of instructions for the +governors of a great nation, had not hitherto in the world's history +been found to answer. In this instance it has, at any rate, answered +better than in any other, probably because the words so written +contained in them less pretence of finality in political wisdom than +other written constitutions have assumed. A young tree must bend, or +the winds will certainly break it. For myself I can honestly express +my hope that no storm may destroy this tree.</p> + + +<p><a id="c10"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> +<h4>THE GOVERNMENT.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>In speaking of the American constitution I have said so much of the +American form of government that but little more is left to me to say +under that heading. Nevertheless, I should hardly go through the work +which I have laid out for myself if I did not endeavour to explain +more continuously, and perhaps more graphically, than I found myself +able to do in the last chapter, the system on which public affairs +are managed in the United States.</p> + +<p>And here I must beg my readers again to bear in mind how moderate is +the amount of governing which has fallen to the lot of the government +of the United States; how moderate, as compared with the amount which +has to be done by the Queen's officers of state for Great Britain, or +by the Emperor, with such assistance as he may please to accept from +his officers of state, for France. That this is so must be attributed +to more than one cause; but the chief cause is undoubtedly to be +found in the very nature of a federal government. The States are +individually sovereign, and govern themselves as to all internal +matters. All the judges in England are appointed by the Crown; but in +the United States only a small proportion of the judges are nominated +by the President. The greater number are servants of the different +States. The execution of the ordinary laws for the protection of men +and property does not fall on the government of the United States, +but on the executives of the individual States,—unless in some +special matters, which will be defined in the next chapter. Trade, +education, roads, religion, the passing of new measures for the +internal or domestic comfort of the people,—all these things are +more or less matters of care to our government. In the States they +are matters of care to the governments of each individual State, but +are not so to the central government at Washington.</p> + +<p>But there are other causes which operate in the same direction, and +which have hitherto enabled the Presidents of the United States, with +their ministers, to maintain their positions without much knowledge +of statecraft, or the necessity for that education in state matters +which is so essential to our public men. In the first place, the +United States have hitherto kept their hands out of foreign politics. +If they have not done so altogether, they have so greatly abstained +from meddling in them that none of that thorough knowledge of the +affairs of other nations has been necessary to them which is so +essential with us, and which seems to be regarded as the one thing +needed in the cabinets of other European nations. This has been a +great blessing to the United States, but it has not been an unmixed +blessing. It has been a blessing because the absence of such care has +saved the country from trouble and from expense. But such a state of +things was too good to last; and the blessing has not been unmixed, +seeing that now, when that absence of concern in foreign matters has +been no longer possible, the knowledge necessary for taking a +dignified part in foreign discussions has been found wanting. Mr. +Seward is now the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the States, and it +is hardly too much to say that he has made himself a laughing-stock +among the diplomatists of Europe, by the mixture of his ignorance and +his arrogance. His reports to his own ministers during the single +year of his office, as published by himself apparently with great +satisfaction, are a monument not so much of his incapacity as of his +want of training for such work. We all know his long state papers on +the "Trent" affair. What are we to think of a statesman who +acknowledges the action of his country's servant to have been wrong, +and in the same breath declares that he would have held by that +wrong, had the material welfare of his country been thereby improved? +The United States have now created a great army and a great debt. +They will soon also have created a great navy. Affairs of other +nations will press upon them, and they will press against the affairs +of other nations. In this way statecraft will become necessary to +them; and by degrees their ministers will become habile, graceful, +adroit;—and perhaps crafty, as are the ministers of other nations.</p> + +<p>And, moreover, the United States have had no outlying colonies or +dependencies, such as an India and Canada are to us, as Cuba is and +Mexico was to Spain, and as were the provinces of the Roman empire. +Territories she has had, but by the peculiar beneficence of her +political arrangements, these territories have assumed the guise of +sovereign States, and been admitted into federal partnership on equal +terms, with a rapidity which has hardly left to the central +Government the reality of any dominion of its own. We are inclined to +suppose that these new States have been allowed to assume their equal +privileges and State rights because they have been contiguous to the +old States—as though it were merely an extension of frontier. But +this has not been so. California and Oregon have been very much +further from Washington than the Canadas are from London. Indeed they +are still further, and I hardly know whether they can be brought much +nearer than Canada is to us, even with the assistance of railways. +But nevertheless California and Oregon were admitted as States, the +former as quickly and the latter much more quickly than its +population would seem to justify Congress in doing, according to the +received ratio of population. A preference in this way has been +always given by the United States to a young population over one that +was older. Oregon with its 60,000 inhabitants has one representative. +New York with 4,000,000 inhabitants has thirty-three. But in order to +be equal with Oregon, New York should have sixty-six. In this way the +outlying populations have been encouraged to take upon themselves +their own governance, and the governing power of the President and +his cabinet has been kept within moderate limits.</p> + +<p>But not the less is the position of the President very dominant in +the eyes of us Englishmen by reason of the authority with which he is +endowed. It is not that the scope of his power is great, but that he +is so nearly irresponsible in the exercise of that power. We know +that he can be impeached by the representatives and expelled from his +office by the verdict of the Senate; but this, in fact, does not +amount to much. Responsibility of this nature is doubtless very +necessary, and prevents ebullitions of tyranny such as those in which +a Sultan or an Emperor may indulge; but it is not that responsibility +which especially recommends itself to the minds of free men. So much +of responsibility they take as a matter of course, as they do the air +which they breathe. It would be nothing to us to know that Lord +Palmerston could be impeached for robbing the Treasury, or Lord +Russell punished for selling us to Austria. It is well that such laws +should exist, but we do not in the least suspect those noble lords of +such treachery. We are anxious to know, not in what way they may be +impeached and beheaded for great crimes, but by what method they may +be kept constantly straight in small matters. That they are true and +honest is a matter of course. But they must be obedient also, +discreet, capable, and above all things of one mind with the public. +Let them be that; or if not they, then with as little delay as may +be, some others in their place. That with us is the meaning of +ministerial responsibility. To that responsibility all the cabinet is +subject. But in the Government of the United States there is no such +responsibility. The President is placed at the head of the executive +for four years, and while he there remains no man can question him. +It is not that the scope of his power is great. Our own Prime +Minister is doubtless more powerful,—has a wider authority. But it +is that within the scope of his power the President is free from all +check. There are no reins, constitutional or unconstitutional, by +which he can be restrained. He can absolutely repudiate a majority of +both Houses, and refuse the passage of any act of Congress even +though supported by those majorities. He can retain the services of +ministers distasteful to the whole country. He can place his own +myrmidons at the head of the army and navy,—or can himself take the +command immediately on his own shoulders. All this he can do, and +there is no one that can question him.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary that I should point out the fundamental +difference between our King or Queen, and the President of the United +States. Our Sovereign, we all know, is not responsible. Such is the +nature of our constitution. But there is not on that account any +analogy between the irresponsibility of the Queen and that of the +President. The Queen can do no wrong; but therefore, in all matters +of policy and governance, she must be ruled by advice. For that +advice her ministers are responsible; and no act of policy or +governance can be done in England as to which responsibility does not +immediately settle on the shoulders appointed to bear it. But this is +not so in the States. The President is nominally responsible. But +from that every-day working responsibility, which is to us so +invaluable, the President is in fact free.</p> + +<p>I will give an instance of this. Now, at this very moment of my +writing, news has reached us that President Lincoln has relieved +General Maclellan from the command of the whole army, that he has +given separate commands to two other generals,—to General Halleck, +namely, and alas! to General Fremont, and that he has altogether +altered the whole organization of the military command as it +previously existed. This he did not only during war, but with +reference to a special battle, for the special fighting of which he, +as ex-officio Commander-in-Chief of the forces, had given orders. I +do not hereby intend to criticise this act of the President's, or to +point out that that has been done which had better have been left +undone. The President, in a strategetical point of view, may have +been,—very probably has been, quite right. I, at any rate, cannot +say that he has been wrong. But then neither can anybody else say so +with any power of making himself heard. Of this action of the +President's, so terribly great in its importance to the nation, no +one has the power of expressing any opinion to which the President is +bound to listen. For four years he has this sway, and at the end of +four years he becomes so powerless that it is not then worth the +while of any demagogue in a fourth-rate town to occupy his voice with +that President's name. The anger of the country as to the things done +both by Pierce and Buchanan is very bitter. But who wastes a thought +upon either of these men? A past President in the United States is of +less consideration than a past Mayor in an English borough. Whatever +evil he may have done during his office, when out of office he is not +worth the powder which would be expended in an attack.</p> + +<p>But the President has his ministers as our Queen has hers. In one +sense he has such ministers. He has high state servants who under him +take the control of the various departments, and exercise among them +a certain degree of patronage and executive power. But they are the +President's ministers, and not the ministers of the people. Till +lately there has been no chief minister among them, nor am I prepared +to say that there is any such chief at present. According to the +existing theory of the government these gentlemen have simply been +the confidential servants of the commonwealth under the President, +and have been attached each to his own department without concerted +political alliance among themselves, without any acknowledged chief +below the President, and without any combined responsibility even to +the President. If one minister was in fault—let us say the +Postmaster-General,—he alone was in fault, and it did not fall to +the lot of any other minister either to defend him, or to declare +that his conduct was indefensible. Each owed his duty and his defence +to the President alone; and each might be removed alone, without +explanation given by the President to the others. I imagine that the +late practice of the President's cabinet has in some degree departed +from this theory; but if so, the departure has sprung from individual +ambition rather than from any preconcerted plan. Some one place in +the cabinet has seemed to give to some one man an opportunity of +making himself pre-eminent, and of this opportunity advantage has +been taken. I am not now intending to allude to any individual, but +am endeavouring to indicate the way in which a ministerial cabinet, +after the fashion of our British cabinet, is struggling to get itself +created. No doubt the position of Foreign Secretary has for some time +past been considered as the most influential under the President. +This has been so much the case that many have not hesitated to call +the Secretary of State the chief minister. At the present moment, +May, 1862, the gentleman who is at the head of the war department +has, I think, in his own hands greater power than any of his +colleagues.</p> + +<p>It will probably come to pass before long that one special minister +will be the avowed leader of the cabinet, and that he will be +recognized as the chief servant of the State under the President. Our +own cabinet, which now-a-days seems with us to be an institution as +fixed as Parliament and as necessary as the throne, has grown by +degrees into its present shape, and is not, in truth, nearly so old +as many of us suppose it to be. It shaped itself, I imagine, into its +present form, and even into its present joint responsibility, during +the reign of George III. It must be remembered that even with us +there is no such thing as a constitutional Prime Minister, and that +our Prime Minister is not placed above the other ministers in any +manner that is palpable to the senses. He is paid no more than the +others; he has no superior title; he does not take the highest rank +among them; he never talks of his subordinates, but always of his +colleagues; he has a title of his own, that of First Lord of the +Treasury, but it implies no headship in the cabinet. That he is the +head of all political power in the nation, the Atlas who has to bear +the globe, the god in whose hands rest the thunderbolts and the +showers, all men do know. No man's position is more assured to him. +But the bounds of that position are written in no book, are defined +by no law, have settled themselves not in accordance with the +recorded wisdom of any great men, but as expediency and the fitness +of political things in Great Britain have seemed from time to time to +require. This drifting of great matters into their proper places is +not as closely in accordance with the idiosyncrasies of the American +people as it is with our own. They would prefer to define by words, +as the French do, what shall be the exact position of every public +servant connected with their Government; or rather of every public +servant with whom the people shall be held as having any concern. But +nevertheless, I think it will come to pass that a cabinet will +gradually form itself at Washington as it has done at London, and +that of that cabinet there will be some recognized and ostensible +chief.</p> + +<p>But a Prime Minister in the United States can never take the place +there which is taken here by our Premier. Over our Premier there is +no one politically superior. The highest political responsibility of +the nation rests on him. In the States this must always rest on the +President, and any minister, whatever may be his name or assumed +position, can only be responsible through the President. And it is +here especially that the working of the United States system of +Government seems to me deficient,—appears as though it wanted +something to make it perfect and round at all points. Our ministers +retire from their offices, as do the Presidents; and indeed the +ministerial term of office with us, though of course not fixed, is in +truth much shorter than the Presidential term of four years. But our +ministers do not, in fact, ever go out. At one time they take one +position, with pay, patronage, and power; and at another time another +position, without these good things; but in either position they are +acting as public men, and are, in truth, responsible for what they +say and do. But the President, on whom it is presumed that the whole +of the responsibility of the United States Government rests, goes out +at a certain day, and of him no more is heard. There is no future +before him to urge him on to constancy; no hope of other things +beyond, of greater honours and a wider fame, to keep him wakeful in +his country's cause. He has already enrolled his name on the list of +his country's rulers, and received what reward his country can give +him. Conscience, duty, patriotism may make him true to his place. +True to his place, in a certain degree, they will make him. But +ambition and hope of things still to come are the moving motives in +the minds of most men. Few men can allow their energies to expand to +their fullest extent in the cold atmosphere of duty alone. The +President of the States must feel that he has reached the top of the +ladder, and that he soon will have done with life. As he goes out he +is a dead man. And what can be expected from one who is counting the +last lingering hours of his existence? "It will not be in my time," +Mr. Buchanan is reported to have said, when a friend spoke to him +with warning voice of the coming rebellion. "It will not be in my +time." In the old days, before democracy had prevailed in upsetting +that system of Presidential election which the constitution had +intended to fix as permanent, the Presidents were generally +re-elected for a second term. Of the seven first Presidents five were +sent back to the White House for a second period of four years. But +this has never been done since the days of General Jackson; nor will +it be done, unless a stronger conservative reaction takes place than +the country even as yet seems to promise. As things have lately +ordered themselves, it may almost be said that no man in the Union +would be so improbable a candidate for the Presidency as the outgoing +President. And it has been only natural that it should be so. Looking +at the men themselves who have lately been chosen, the fault has not +consisted in their non-reelection, but in their original selection. +There has been no desire for great men; no search after a man of such +a nature, that when tried the people should be anxious to keep him. +"It will not be in my time," says the expiring President. And so, +without dismay, he sees the empire of his country slide away from +him.</p> + +<p>A President, with the possibility of re-election before him, would be +as a minister who goes out, knowing that he may possibly come in +again before the session is over,—and perhaps believing that the +chances of his doing so are in his favour. Under the existing +political phase of things in the United States, no President has any +such prospect;—but the ministers of the President have that chance. +It is no uncommon thing at present for a minister under one President +to reappear as a minister under another; but a statesman has no +assurance that he will do so because he has shown ministerial +capacity. We know intimately the names of all our possible +ministers,—too intimately as some of us think,—and would be taken +much by surprise if a gentleman without an official reputation were +placed at the head of a high office. If something of this feeling +prevailed as to the President's cabinet, if there were some assurance +that competent statesmen would be appointed as Secretaries of State, +a certain amount of national responsibility would by degrees attach +itself to them, and the President's shoulders would, to that amount, +be lightened. As it is, the President pretends to bear a burden +which, if really borne, would indicate the possession of Herculean +shoulders. But, in fact, the burden at present is borne by no one. +The government of the United States is not in truth responsible +either to the people or to Congress.</p> + +<p>But these ministers, if it be desired that they shall have weight in +the country, should sit in Congress either as senators or as +representatives. That they cannot so sit without an amendment of the +constitution I have explained in the previous chapter; and any such +amendment cannot be very readily made. Without such seats they cannot +really share the responsibility of the President, or be in any degree +amenable to public opinion for the advice which they give in their +public functions. It will be said that the constitution has expressly +intended that they should not be responsible, and such, no doubt, has +been the case. But the constitution, good as it is, cannot be taken +as perfect. The government has become greater than seems to have been +contemplated when that code was drawn up. It has spread itself as it +were over a wider surface, and has extended to matters which it was +not then necessary to touch. That theory of governing by the means of +little men was very well while the government itself was small. A +President and his clerks may have sufficed when there were from +thirteen to eighteen States; while there were no territories, or none +at least that required government; while the population was still +below five millions; while a standing army was an evil not known and +not feared; while foreign politics was a troublesome embroglio in +which it was quite unnecessary that the United States should take a +part. Now there are thirty-four States. The territories populated by +American citizens stretch from the States on the Atlantic to those on +the Pacific. There is a population of thirty million souls. At the +present moment the United States are employing more soldiers than any +other nation, and have acknowledged the necessity of maintaining a +large army even when the present troubles shall be over. In addition +to this the United States have occasion for the use of statecraft +with all the great kingdoms of Europe. That theory of ruling by +little men will not do much longer. It will be well that they should +bring forth their big men and put them in the place of rulers.</p> + +<p>The President has at present seven ministers. They are the Secretary +of State, who is supposed to have the direction of Foreign Affairs; +the Secretary of the Treasury, who answers to our Chancellor of the +Exchequer; the Secretaries of the Army and of the Navy; the Minister +of the Interior; the Attorney-General; and the Postmaster-General. If +these officers were allowed to hold seats in one House or in the +other,—or rather if the President were enjoined to place in these +offices men who were known as members of Congress, not only would the +position of the President's ministers be enhanced and their weight +increased, but the position also of Congress would be enhanced and +the weight of Congress would be increased. I may, perhaps, best +exemplify this by suggesting what would be the effect on our +Parliament by withdrawing from it the men who at the present +moment,—or at any moment,—form the Queen's cabinet. I will not say +that by adding to Congress the men who usually form the President's +cabinet, a weight would be given equal to that which the withdrawal +of the British cabinet would take from the British Parliament. I +cannot pay that compliment to the President's choice of servants. But +the relationship between Congress and the President's ministers would +gradually come to resemble that which exists between Parliament and +the Queen's ministers. The Secretaries of State and of the Treasury +would after a while obtain that honour of leading the Houses which is +exercised by our high political officers, and the dignity added to +the positions would make the places worthy of the acceptance of great +men. It is hardly so at present. The career of one of the President's +ministers is not a very high career as things now stand; nor is the +man supposed to have achieved much who has achieved that position. I +think it would be otherwise if the ministers were the leaders of the +legislative Houses. To Congress itself would be given the power of +questioning and ultimately of controlling these ministers. The power +of the President would no doubt be diminished as that of Congress +would be increased. But an alteration in that direction is in itself +desirable. It is the fault of the present system of government in the +United States that the President has too much of power and weight, +while the Congress of the nation lacks power and weight. As matters +now stand, Congress has not that dignity of position which it should +hold; and it is without it because it is not endowed with that +control over the officers of the government which our Parliament is +enabled to exercise.</p> + +<p>The want of this close connection with Congress and the President's +ministers has been so much felt, that it has been found necessary to +create a medium of communication. This has been done by a system +which has now become a recognized part of the machinery of the +government, but which is, I believe, founded on no regularly +organized authority. At any rate no provision is made for it in the +constitution; nor, as far as I am aware, has it been established by +any special enactment or written rule. Nevertheless, I believe I am +justified in saying that it has become a recognized link in the +system of government adopted by the United States. In each House +standing committees are named, to which are delegated the special +consideration of certain affairs of state. There are, for instance, +committees of foreign affairs, of finance, the judiciary committee, +and others of a similar nature. To these committees are referred all +questions which come before the House bearing on the special subject +to which each is devoted. Questions of taxation are referred to the +finance committee before they are discussed in the House; and the +House, when it goes into such discussion, has before it the report of +the committee. In this way very much of the work of the legislature +is done by branches of each House, and by selected men whose time and +intellects are devoted to special subjects. It is easy to see that +much time and useless debate may be thus saved, and I am disposed to +believe that this system of committees has worked efficiently and +beneficially. The mode of selection of the members has been so +contrived as to give to each political party that amount of +preponderance in each committee which such party holds in the House. +If the democrats have in the Senate a majority, it would be within +their power to vote none but democrats into the committee on finance; +but this would be manifestly unjust to the republican party, and the +injustice would itself frustrate the object of the party in power; +therefore the democrats simply vote to themselves a majority in each +committee, keeping to themselves as great a preponderance in the +committee as they have in the whole House, and arranging also that +the chairman of the committee shall belong to their own party. By +these committees the chief legislative measures of the country are +originated and inaugurated,—as they are with us by the ministers of +the Crown, and the chairman of each committee is supposed to have a +certain amicable relation with that minister who presides over the +office with which his committee is connected. Mr. Sumner is at +present chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, and he is +presumed to be in connection with Mr. Seward, who, as Secretary of +State, has the management of the foreign relations of the Government.</p> + +<p>But it seems to me that this supposed connection between the +committees and the ministers is only a makeshift, showing by its +existence the absolute necessity of close communication between the +executive and the legislative, but showing also by its imperfections +the great want of some better method of communication. In the first +place the chairman of the committee is in no way bound to hold any +communication with the minister. He is simply a senator, and as such +has no ministerial duties, and can have none. He holds no appointment +under the President, and has no palpable connection with the +executive. And then it is quite as likely that he may be opposed in +politics to the minister as that he may agree with him. If the two be +opposed to each other on general politics, it may be presumed that +they cannot act together in union on one special subject. Nor, +whether they act in union or do not so act, can either have any +authority over the other. The minister is not responsible to +Congress, nor is the chairman of the committee in any way bound to +support the minister. It is presumed that the chairman must know the +minister's secrets, but the chairman may be bound by party +considerations to use those secrets against the minister.</p> + +<p>The system of committees appears to me to be good as regards the work +of legislation. It seems well adapted to effect economy of time and +the application of special men to special services. But I am driven +to think that that connection between the chairmen of the committees +and the ministers, which I have attempted to describe, is an +arrangement very imperfect in itself, but plainly indicating the +necessity of some such close relation between the executive and the +legislature of the United States as does exist in the political +system of Great Britain. With us the Queen's minister has a greater +weight in Parliament than the President's minister could hold in +Congress, because the Queen is bound to employ a minister in whom the +Parliament has confidence. As soon as such confidence ceases, the +minister ceases to be minister. As the Crown has no politics of its +own, it is simply necessary that the minister of the day should hold +the politics of the people as testified by their representatives. The +machinery of the President's Government cannot be made to work after +this fashion. The President himself is a political officer, and the +country is bound to bear with his politics for four years, whatever +those politics may be. The ministry which he selects on coming to his +seat will probably represent a majority in Congress, seeing that the +same suffrages which have elected the President will also have +elected the Congress. But there exists no necessity on the part of +the President to employ ministers who shall carry with them the +support of Congress. If, however, the ministers sat in Congress,—if +it were required of each minister that he should have a seat either +in one House or in the other,—the President would, I think, find +himself constrained to change a ministry in which Congress should +decline to confide. It might not be so at first, but there would be a +tendency in that direction.</p> + +<p>The governing powers do not rest exclusively with the President, or +with the President and his ministers; they are shared in a certain +degree with the Senate, which sits from time to time in executive +Session, laying aside at such periods its legislative character. It +is this executive authority which lends so great a dignity to the +Senate, gives it the privilege of preponderating over the other +House, and makes it the political safeguard of the nation. The +questions of government as to which the Senate is empowered to +interfere are soon told. All treaties made by the President must be +sanctioned by the Senate; and all appointments made by the President +must be confirmed by the Senate. The list is short, and one is +disposed to think, when first hearing it, that the thing itself does +not amount to much. But it does amount to very much; it enables the +Senate to fetter the President, if the Senate should be so inclined, +both as regards foreign politics and home politics. A Secretary for +Foreign Affairs at Washington may write what despatches he pleases +without reference to the Senate; but the Senate interferes before +those despatches can have resulted in any fact which may be +detrimental to the nation. It is not only that the Senate is +responsible for such treaties as are made, but that the President is +deterred from the making of treaties for which the Senate would +decline to make itself responsible. Even though no treaty should ever +be refused its sanction by the Senate, the protecting power of the +Senate in that matter would not on that account have been less +necessary or less efficacious. Though the bars with which we protect +our house may never have been tried by a thief, we do not therefore +believe that our house would have been safe if such bars had been +known to be wanting. And then, as to that matter of state +appointments, is it not the fact that all governing powers consist in +the selection of the agents by whom the action of Government shall be +carried on? It must come to this, I imagine, when the argument is +pushed home. The power of the most powerful man depends only on the +extent of his authority over his agents. According to the +constitution of the United States, the President can select no agent +either at home or abroad, for purposes either of peace or war, or to +the employment of whom the Senate does not agree with him. Such a +rule as this should save the nation from the use of disreputable +agents as public servants. It might, perhaps, have done more towards +such salvation than it has as yet effected;—and it may well be hoped +that it will do more in future.</p> + +<p>Such are the executive powers of the Senate; and it is, I think, +remarkable that the Senate has always used these powers with extreme +moderation. It has never shown a factious inclination to hinder +Government by unnecessary interference, or a disposition to clip the +President's wings by putting itself altogether at variance with him. +I am not quite sure whether some fault may not have lain on the other +side; whether the Senate may not have been somewhat slack in +exercising the protective privileges given to it by the constitution. +And here I cannot but remark how great is the deference paid to all +governors and edicts of Government throughout the United States. One +would have been disposed to think that such a feeling would be +stronger in an old country such as Great Britain than in a young +country such as the States. But I think that it is not so. There is +less disposition to question the action of government either at +Washington or at New York, than there is in London. Men in America +seem to be content when they have voted in their governors, and to +feel that for them all political action is over until the time shall +come for voting for others. And this feeling, which seems to prevail +among the people, prevails also in both Houses of Congress. Bitter +denunciations against the President's policy or the President's +ministers are seldom heard. Speeches are not often made with the +object of impeding the action of Government. That so small and so +grave a body as the Senate should abstain from factious opposition to +the Government when employed on executive functions was perhaps to be +expected. It is of course well that it should be so. I confess, +however, that it has appeared to me that the Senate has not used the +power placed in its hands as freely as the constitution has intended. +But I look at the matter as an Englishman, and as an Englishman I can +endure no government action which is not immediately subject to +Parliamentary control.</p> + +<p>Such are the governing powers of the United States. I think it will +be seen that they are much more limited in their scope of action than +with us; but within that scope of action much more independent and +self-sufficient. And, in addition to this, those who exercise power +in the United States are not only free from immediate responsibility, +but are not made subject to the hope or fear of future judgment. +Success will bring no award, and failure no punishment. I am not +aware that any political delinquency has ever yet brought down +retribution on the head of the offender in the United States, or that +any great deed has been held as entitling the doer of it to his +country's gratitude. Titles of nobility they have none; pensions they +never give; and political disgrace is unknown. The line of politics +would seem to be cold and unalluring. It is cold;—and would be +unalluring, were it not that as a profession it is profitable. In +much of this I expect that a change will gradually take place. The +theory has been that public affairs should be in the hands of little +men. The theory was intelligible while the public affairs were small; +but they are small no longer, and that theory, I fancy, will have to +alter itself. Great men are needed for the government, and in order +to produce great men a career of greatness must be opened to them. I +can see no reason why the career and the men should not be +forthcoming.</p> + + +<p><a id="c11"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> +<h4>THE LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS<br />OF THE UNITED STATES.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>I do not propose to make any attempt to explain in detail the +practices and rules of the American Courts of Law. No one but a +lawyer should trust himself with such a task, and no lawyer would be +enabled to do so in the few pages which I shall here devote to the +subject. My present object is to explain, as far as I may be able to +do so, the existing political position of the country. As this must +depend more or less upon the power vested in the hands of the judges, +and upon the tenure by which those judges hold their offices, I shall +endeavour to describe the circumstances of the position in which the +American judges are placed; the mode in which they are appointed; the +difference which exists between the national judges and the State +judges; and the extent to which they are or are not held in high +esteem by the general public whom they serve.</p> + +<p>It will, I think, be acknowledged that this last matter is one of +almost paramount importance to the welfare of a country. At home in +England we do not realize the importance to us in a political as well +as social view of the dignity and purity of our judges, because we +take from them all that dignity and purity can give as a matter of +course. The honesty of our bench is to us almost as the honesty of +heaven. No one dreams that it can be questioned or become +questionable, and therefore there are but few who are thankful for +its blessings. Few Englishmen care to know much about their own +courts of law, or are even aware that the judges are the protectors +of their liberties and property. There are the men, honoured on all +sides, trusted by every one, removed above temptation, holding +positions which are coveted by all lawyers. That it is so is enough +for us; and as the good thence derived comes to us so easily, we +forget to remember that we might possibly be without it. The law +courts of the States have much in their simplicity and the general +intelligence of their arrangements to recommend them. In all ordinary +causes justice is done with economy, with expedition, and I believe +with precision. But they strike an Englishman at once as being +deficient in splendour and dignity, as wanting that reverence which +we think should be paid to words falling from the bench, and as being +in danger as to that purity, without which a judge becomes a curse +among a people, a chief of thieves, and an arch-minister of the Evil +One. I say as being in danger;—not that I mean to hint that such +want of purity has been shown, or that I wish it to be believed that +judges with itching palms do sit upon the American bench; but because +the present political tendency of the State arrangements threatens to +produce such danger. We in England trust implicitly in our +judges,—not because they are Englishmen, but because they are +Englishmen carefully selected for their high positions. We should +soon distrust them if they were elected by universal suffrage from +all the barristers and attorneys practising in the different courts; +and so elected only for a period of years, as is the case with +reference to many of the State judges in America. Such a mode of +appointment would, in our estimation, at once rob them of their +prestige. And our distrust would not be diminished if the pay +accorded to the work were so small that no lawyer in good practice +could afford to accept the situation. When we look at a judge in +court, venerable beneath his wig and adorned with his ermine, we do +not admit to ourselves that that high officer is honest because he is +placed above temptation by the magnitude of his salary. We do not +suspect that he, as an individual, would accept bribes and favour +suitors if he were in want of money. But, still, we know as a fact +that an honest man, like any other good article, must be paid for at +a high price. Judges and bishops expect those rewards which all men +win who rise to the highest steps on the ladder of their profession. +And the better they are paid, within measure, the better they will be +as judges and bishops. Now, the judges in America are not well paid, +and the best lawyers cannot afford to sit upon the bench.</p> + +<p>With us the practice of the law and the judicature of our law courts +are divided. We have Chancery barristers and Common Law barristers; +and we have Chancery Courts and Courts of Common Law. In the States +there is no such division. It prevails neither in the national or +federal courts of the United States, nor in the courts of any of the +separate States. The code of laws used by the Americans is taken +almost entirely from our English laws,—or rather, I should say, the +federal code used by the nation is so taken, and also the various +codes of the different States,—as each State takes whatever laws it +may think fit to adopt. Even the precedents of our courts are held as +precedents in the American courts, unless they chance to jar against +other decisions given specially in their own courts with reference to +cases of their own. In this respect the founders of the American law +proceedings have shown a conservation bias and a predilection for +English written and traditional law, which are much at variance with +that general democratic passion for change by which we generally +presume the Americans to have been actuated at their revolution. But +though they have kept our laws, and still respect our reading of +those laws, they have greatly altered and simplified our practice. +Whether a double set of courts for Law and Equity are or are not +expedient, either in the one country or in the other, I do not +pretend to know. It is, however, the fact that there is no such +division in the States.</p> + +<p>Moreover there is no division in the legal profession. With us we +have barristers and attorneys. In the States the same man is both +barrister and attorney; and, which is perhaps in effect more +startling, every lawyer is presumed to undertake law cases of every +description. The same man makes your will, sells your property, +brings an action for you of trespass against your neighbour, defends +you when you are accused of murder, recovers for you +two-and-sixpence, and pleads for you in an argument of three days' +length when you claim to be the sole heir to your grandfather's +enormous property. I need not describe how terribly distinct with us +is the difference between an attorney and a barrister, or how much +further than the poles asunder is the future Lord Chancellor, +pleading before the Lords Justices at Lincoln's Inn, from the +gentleman who at the Old Bailey is endeavouring to secure the +personal liberty of the ruffian who a week or two since walked off +with all your silver spoons. In the States no such differences are +known. A lawyer there is a lawyer, and is supposed to do for any +client any work that a lawyer may be called on to perform. But though +this is the theory, and as regards any difference between attorney +and barrister is altogether the fact, the assumed practice is not, +and cannot be maintained as regards the various branches of a +lawyer's work. When the population was smaller, and the law cases +were less complicated, the theory and the practice were no doubt +alike. As great cities have grown up, and properties large in amount +have come under litigation, certain lawyers have found it expedient +and practicable to devote themselves to special branches of their +profession. But this, even up to the present time, has not been done +openly as it were, or with any declaration made by a man as to his +own branch of his calling. I believe that no such declaration on his +part would be in accordance with the rules of the profession. He +takes a partner, however, and thus attains his object;—or more than +one partner, and then the business of the house is divided among them +according to their individual specialities. One will plead in court, +another will give chamber-counsel, and a third will take that lower +business which must be done, but which first-rate men hardly like to +do.</p> + +<p>It will easily be perceived that law in this way will be made cheaper +to the litigant. Whether or no that may be an unadulterated +advantage, I have my doubts. I fancy that the united professional +incomes of all the lawyers in the States would exceed in amount those +made in England. In America every man of note seems to be a lawyer, +and I am told that any lawyer who will work may make a sure income. +If it be so, it would seem that Americans per head pay as much or +more for their law as men do in England. It may be answered that they +get more law for their money. That may be possible, and even yet they +may not be gainers. I have been inclined to think that there is an +unnecessarily slow and expensive ceremonial among us in the +employment of barristers through a third party; it has seemed that +the man of learning, on whose efforts the litigant really depends, is +divided off from his client and employer by an unfair barrier, used +only to enhance his own dignity and give an unnecessary grandeur to +his position. I still think that the fault with us lies in this +direction. But I feel that I am less inclined to demand an immediate +alteration in our practice than I was before I had seen any of the +American courts of law.</p> + +<p>It should be generally understood that lawyers are the leading men in +the States, and that the governance of the country has been almost +entirely in their hands ever since the political life of the nation +became full and strong. All public business of importance falls +naturally into their hands, as with us it falls into the hands of men +of settled wealth and landed property. Indeed, the fact on which I +insist is much more clear and defined in the States than it is with +us. In England the lawyers also obtain no inconsiderable share of +political and municipal power. The latter is perhaps more in the +hands of merchants and men in trade than of any other class; and even +the highest seats of political greatness are more open with us to the +world at large than they seem to be in the States to any that are not +lawyers. Since the days of Washington every President of the United +States has, I think, been a lawyer, excepting General Taylor. Other +Presidents have been generals, but then they have also been lawyers. +General Jackson was a successful lawyer. Almost all the leading +politicians of the present day are lawyers. Seward, Cameron, Welles, +Stanton, Chase, Sumner, Crittenden, Harris, Fessenden, are all +lawyers. Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Cass were lawyers. Hamilton and +Jay were lawyers. Any man with an ambition to enter upon public life +becomes a lawyer as a matter of course. It seems as though a study +and practice of the law were necessary ingredients in a man's +preparation for political life. I have no doubt that a very large +proportion of both Houses of legislature would be found to consist of +lawyers. I do not remember that I know of the circumstance of more +than one senator who is not a lawyer. Lawyers form the ruling class +in America as the landowners do with us. With us that ruling class is +the wealthiest class; but this is not so in the States. It might be +wished that it were so.</p> + +<p>The great and ever-present difference between the national or federal +affairs of the United States government, and the affairs of the +government of each individual State should be borne in mind at all +times by those who desire to understand the political position of the +States. Till this be realized no one can have any correct idea of the +bearings of politics in that country. As a matter of course we in +England have been inclined to regard the Government and Congress of +Washington as paramount throughout the States, in the same way that +the Government of Downing Street and the Parliament of Westminster +are paramount through the British isles. Such a mistake is natural; +but not the less would it be a fatal bar to any correct understanding +of the constitution of the United States. The national and State +governments are independent of each other, and so also are the +national and State tribunals. Each of these separate tribunals has +its own judicature, its own judges, its own courts, and its own +functions. Nor can the supreme tribunal at Washington exercise any +authority over the proceedings of the Courts in the different States, +or influence the decisions of their judges. For not only are the +national judges and the State judges independent of each other; but +the laws in accordance with which they are bound to act, may be +essentially different. The two tribunals, those of the nation and of +the State, are independent and final in their several spheres. On a +matter of State jurisprudence no appeal lies from the supreme +tribunal of New York or Massachusetts to the supreme tribunal of the +nation at Washington.</p> + +<p>The national tribunals are of two classes. First, there is the +Supreme Court specially ordained by the constitution. And then there +are such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time see fit to +establish. Congress has no power to abolish the Supreme Court, or to +erect another tribunal superior to it. This court sits at Washington, +and is a final court of appeal from the inferior national courts of +the federal empire. A system of inferior courts, inaugurated by +Congress, has existed for about sixty years. Each State for purposes +of national jurisprudence is constituted as a district; some few +large States, such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, being +divided into two districts. Each district has one district court +presided over by one judge. National causes in general, both civil +and criminal, are commenced in these district courts, and those +involving only small amounts are ended there. Above these district +courts are the national circuit courts, the districts or States +having been grouped into circuits as the counties are grouped with +us. To each of these circuits is assigned one of the judges of the +Supreme Court of Washington, who is the ex-officio judge of that +circuit, and who therefore travels as do our Common Law judges. In +each district he sits with the judge of that district, and they two +together form the circuit court. Appeals from the district court lie +to the circuit court in cases over a certain amount, and also in +certain criminal cases. It follows therefore that appeals lie from +one judge to the same judge when sitting with another,—an +arrangement which would seem to be fraught with some inconvenience. +Certain causes, both civil and criminal, are commenced in the circuit +courts. From the circuit courts the appeal lies to the Supreme Court +at Washington; but such appeal beyond the circuit court is not +allowed in cases which are of small magnitude or which do not involve +principles of importance. If there be a division of opinion in the +circuit court the case goes to the Supreme Court;—from whence it +might be inferred that all cases brought from the district court to +the circuit court would be sent on to the Supreme Court, unless the +circuit judge agreed with the district judge; for the district judge +having given his judgment in the inferior court, would probably +adhere to it in the superior court. No appeal lies to the Supreme +Court at Washington in criminal cases.</p> + +<p>All questions that concern more than one State, or that are litigated +between citizens of different States, or which are international in +their bearing, come before the national judges. All cases in which +foreigners are concerned, or the rights of foreigners, are brought or +may be brought into the national courts. So also are all causes +affecting the Union itself, or which are governed by the laws of +Congress and not by the laws of any individual State. All questions +of Admiralty law and maritime jurisdiction, and cases affecting +ambassadors or consuls, are there tried. Matters relating to the +Post-office, to the Customs, the collection of national taxes, to +patents, to the army and navy, and to the mint, are tried in the +national courts. The theory is that the national tribunals shall +expound and administer the national laws and treaties, protect +national offices and national rights; and that foreigners and +citizens of other States shall not be required to submit to the +decisions of the State tribunals;—in fact, that national tribunals +shall take cognizance of all matters as to which the general +government of the nation is responsible. In most of such cases the +national tribunals have exclusive jurisdiction. In others it is +optional with the plaintiff to select his tribunal. It is then +optional with the defendant, if brought into a State court, to remain +there or to remove his cause into the national tribunal. The +principle is, that either at the beginning, or ultimately, such +questions shall or may be decided by the national tribunals. If in +any suit properly cognizable in a State court the decision should +turn on a clause in the constitution, or on a law of the United +States, or on the act of a national offence, or on the validity of a +national act, an appeal lies to the Supreme Court of the United +States and to its officers. The object has been to give to the +national tribunals of the nation full cognizance of its own laws, +treaties, and congressional acts.</p> + +<p>The judges of all the national tribunals, of whatever grade or rank, +hold their offices for life, and are removable only on impeachment. +They are not even removable on an address of Congress; thus holding +on a firmer tenure even than our own judges, who may, I believe, be +moved on an address by Parliament. The judges in America are not +entitled to any pension or retiring allowances; and as there is not, +as regards the judges of the national courts, any proviso that they +shall cease to sit after a certain age, they are, in fact, immoveable +whatever may be their infirmities. Their position in this respect is +not good, seeing that their salaries will hardly admit of their +making adequate provision for the evening of life. The salary of the +Chief Justice of the United States is only £1300 per annum. All +judges of the national courts of whatever rank are appointed by the +President, but their appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. +This proviso, however, gives to the Senate practically but little +power, and is rarely used in opposition to the will of the President. +If the President name one candidate, who on political grounds is +distasteful to a majority of the Senate, it is not probable that a +second nomination made by him will be more satisfactory. This seems +now to be understood, and the nomination of the cabinet ministers and +of the judges, as made by the President, are seldom set aside or +interfered with by the Senate, unless on grounds of purely personal +objection.</p> + +<p>The position of the national judges as to their appointments and mode +of tenure is very different from that of the State judges, to whom in +a few lines I shall more specially allude. This should, I think, be +specially noticed by Englishmen when criticising the doings of the +American courts. I have observed statements made to the effect that +decisions given by American judges as to international or maritime +affairs affecting English interests could not be trusted, because the +judges so giving them would have been elected by popular vote, and +would be dependent on the popular voice for reappointment. This is +not so. Judges are appointed by popular vote in very many of the +States. But all matters affecting shipping, and all questions +touching foreigners are tried in the national courts before judges +who have been appointed for life. I should not myself have had any +fear with reference to the ultimate decision in the affair of Slidell +and Mason had the "Trent" been carried into New York. I would, +however, by no means say so much had the cause been one for trial +before the tribunals of the State of New York.</p> + +<p>I have been told that we in England have occasionally fallen into the +error of attributing to the Supreme Court at Washington a quasi +political power which it does not possess. This court can give no +opinion to any department of the Government, nor can it decide upon +or influence any subject that has not come before it as a regularly +litigated case in law. Though especially founded by the constitution, +it has no peculiar power under the constitution, and stands in no +peculiar relation either to that or to Acts of Congress. It has no +other power to decide on the constitutional legality of an act of +Congress or an act of a State legislature or of a public officer than +every court, State and national, high and low, possesses and is bound +to exercise. It is simply the national court of last appeal.</p> + +<p>In the different States such tribunals have been established as each +State by its constitution and legislation has seen fit to adopt. The +States are entirely free on this point. The usual course is to have +one Supreme Court, sometimes called by that name, sometimes the Court +of Appeals, and sometimes the Court of Errors. Then they have such +especial courts as their convenience may dictate. The State +jurisprudence includes all causes not expressly or by necessary +implication secured to the national courts. The tribunals of the +States have exclusive control over domestic relations, religion, +education, the tenure and descent of land, the inheritance of +property, police regulations, municipal economy, and all matters of +internal trade. In this category of course come the relations of +husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, owner and +slave, guardian and ward, tradesman and apprentice. So also do all +police and criminal regulations not external in their +character,—highways, railroads, canals, schools, colleges, the +relief of paupers, and those thousand other affairs of the world by +which men are daily surrounded in their own homes and their own +districts. As to such subjects Congress can make no law, and over +them Congress and the national tribunals have no jurisdiction. +Congress cannot say that a man shall be hung for murder in New York; +nor if a man be condemned to be hung in New York can the President +pardon him. The legislature of New York must say whether or no +hanging shall be the punishment adjudged to murder in that State; and +the Governor of the State of New York must pronounce the man's +pardon,—if it be that he is to be pardoned. But Congress must decide +whether or no a man shall be hung for murder committed on the high +seas, or in the national forts or arsenals; and in such a case it is +for the President to give or to refuse the pardon.</p> + +<p>The judges of the States are appointed as the constitution or the +laws of each State may direct in that matter. The appointments, I +think, in all the old States were formerly vested in the Governor. In +some States such is still the case. In some, if I am not mistaken, +the nomination is now made, directly, by the legislature. But in most +of the States the power of appointing has been claimed by the people, +and the judges are voted in by popular election, just as the +President of the Union and the Governors of the different States are +voted in. There has for some years been a growing tendency in this +direction, and the people in most of the States have claimed the +power;—or rather the power has been given to the people by +politicians who have wished to get into their hands in this way the +patronage of the courts. But now, at the present moment, there is +arising a strong feeling of the inexpediency of appointing judges in +such a manner. An antidemocratic bias is taking possession of men's +minds, causing a reaction against that tendency to universal suffrage +in everything which prevailed before the war began. As to this matter +of the mode of appointing judges, I have heard but one opinion +expressed; and I am inclined to think that a change will be made in +one State after another, as the constitutions of the different States +are revised. Such revisions take place generally at periods of about +twenty-five years' duration. If, therefore, it be acknowledged that +the system be bad, the error can be soon corrected.</p> + +<p>Nor is this mode of appointment the only evil that has been adopted +in the State judicatures. The judges in most of the States are not +appointed for life, nor even during good behaviour. They enter their +places for a certain term of years, varying from fifteen down, I +believe, to seven. I do not know whether any are appointed for a term +of less than seven years. When they go out they have no pensions; and +as a lawyer who has been on the bench for seven years can hardly +recall his practice, and find himself at once in receipt of his old +professional income, it may easily be imagined how great will be the +judge's anxiety to retain his position on the bench. This he can do +only by the universal suffrages of the people, by political +popularity, and a general standing of that nature which enables a man +to come forth as the favourite candidate of the lower orders. This +may or may not be well when the place sought for is one of political +power,—when the duties required are political in all their bearings. +But no one can think it well when the place sought for is a judge's +seat on the bench;—when the duties required are solely judicial. +Whatever hitherto may have been the conduct of the judges in the +courts of the different States, whether or no impurity has yet crept +in, and the sanctity of justice has yet been outraged, no one can +doubt the tendency of such an arrangement. At present even a few +visits to the courts constituted in this manner will convince an +observer that the judges on the bench are rather inferior than +superior to the lawyers who practise before them. The manner of +address, the tone of voice, the lack of dignity in the judge, and the +assumption by the lawyer before him of a higher authority than his, +all tell this tale. And then the judges in these courts are not paid +at a rate which will secure the services of the best men. They vary +in the different States, running from about £600 to about £1000 per +annum. But a successful lawyer practising in the courts in which +these judges sit, not unfrequently earns £3000 a year. A professional +income of £2000 a year is not considered very high. When the +different conditions of the bench are considered, when it is +remembered that the judge may lose his place after a short term of +years, and that during that short term of years he receives a payment +much less than that earned by his successful professional brethren, +it can hardly be expected that first-rate judges should be found. The +result is seen daily in society. You meet Judge This and Judge That, +not knowing whether they are ex-judges or in-judges; but you soon +learn that your friends do not hold any very high social position on +account of their forensic dignity.</p> + +<p>It is, perhaps, but just to add that in Massachusetts, which I cannot +but regard as in many respects the noblest of the States, the judges +are appointed by the Governor, and are appointed for life.</p> + + +<p><a id="c12"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> +<h4>THE FINANCIAL POSITION.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>The Americans are proud of much that they have done in this war, and +indeed much has been done which may justify pride; but of nothing are +they so proud as of the noble dimensions and quick growth of their +Government debt. That Mr. Secretary Chase, the American Chancellor of +the Exchequer, participates in this feeling I will not venture to +say; but if he do not, he is well nigh the only man in the States who +does not do so. The amount of expenditure has been a subject of +almost national pride, and the two million of dollars a day which has +been roughly put down as the average cost of the war, has always been +mentioned by northern men in a tone of triumph. This feeling is, I +think, intelligible; and although we cannot allude to it without a +certain amount of inward sarcasm,—a little gentle laughing in the +sleeve, at the nature of this national joy, I am not prepared to say +that it is altogether ridiculous. If the country be found able and +willing to pay the bill, this triumph in the amount of the cost will +hereafter be regarded as having been anything but ridiculous. In +private life an individual will occasionally be known to lavish his +whole fortune on the accomplishment of an object which he conceives +to be necessary to his honour. If the object be in itself good, and +if the money be really paid, we do not laugh at such a man for the +sacrifices which he makes.</p> + +<p>For myself, I think that the object of the northern States in this +war has been good. I think that they could not have avoided the war +without dishonour, and that it was incumbent on them to make +themselves the arbiters of the future position of the South, whether +that future position shall or shall not be one of secession. This +they could only do by fighting. Had they acceded to secession without +a civil war, they would have been regarded throughout Europe as +having shown themselves inferior to the South, and would for many +years to come have lost that prestige which their spirit and energy +had undoubtedly won for them; and in their own country such +submission on their part would have practically given to the South +the power of drawing the line of division between the two new +countries. That line, so drawn, would have given Virginia, Maryland, +Kentucky, and Missouri to the southern Republic. The great effect of +the war to the North will be, that the northern men will draw the +line of secession, if any such line be drawn. I still think that such +line will ultimately be drawn, and that the southern States will be +allowed to secede. But if it be so, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri will not be found among these seceding States; and the line +may not improbably be driven south of North Carolina and Tennessee. +If this can be so, the object of the war will, I think, hereafter be +admitted to have been good. Whatever may be the cost in money of +joining the States which I have named to a free-soil northern people, +instead of allowing them to be buried in that dismal swamp, which a +confederacy of southern slave States will produce, that cost can +hardly be too much. At the present moment there exists in England a +strong sympathy with the South, produced partly by the unreasonable +vituperation with which the North treated our Government at the +beginning of the war, and by the capture of Mason and Slidell; partly +also by that feeling of good-will which a looker-on at a combat +always has for the weaker side. But, although this sympathy does +undoubtedly exist, I do not imagine that many Englishmen are of +opinion that a confederacy of southern slave States will ever offer +to the general civilization of the world very many attractions. It +cannot be thought that the South will equal the North in riches, in +energy, in education, or general well-being. Such has not been our +experience of any slave country; such has not been our experience of +any tropical country; and such especially has not been our experience +of the southern States of the North American Union. I am no +abolitionist; but to me it seems impossible that any Englishman +should really advocate the cause of slavery against the cause of free +soil. There are the slaves, and I know that they cannot be +abolished,—neither they nor their chains; but, for myself, I will +not willingly join my lot with theirs. I do not wish to have dealings +with the African negro either as a free man or as a slave, if I can +avoid them, believing that his employment by me in either capacity +would lead to my own +degradation.<a href="#fn11">*</a><a id="fnb11"></a> Such, +I think, are the feelings of +Englishmen generally on this matter. And if such be the case, will it +not be acknowledged that the northern men have done well to fight for +a line which shall add five or six States to that Union which will in +truth be a union of free men, rather than to that Confederacy which, +even if successful, must owe its success to slavery?</p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><a id="fn11"></a>*In saying +this I fear that I shall be misunderstood, let me use what +foot-note or other mode of protestation I may to guard myself. In +thus speaking of the African negro, I do not venture to despise the +work of God's hands. That He has made the negro, for His own good +purposes, as He has the Esquimaux, I am aware. And I am aware that it +is my duty, as it is the duty of us all, to see that no injury be +done to him, and, if possible, to assist him in his condition. When I +declare that I desire no dealings with the negro, I speak of him in +the position in which I now find him, either as a free servant or a +slave. In either position he impedes the civilization and the +progress of the white man. +<a href="#fnb11"><span class="caption">[back]</span></a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>In considering this matter it must be remembered that the five or six +States of which we are speaking are at present slave States, but +that, with the exception of Virginia,—of part only of +Virginia,—they are not wedded to slavery. But even in Virginia, +great as has been the gain which has accrued to that unhappy State +from the breeding of slaves for the southern market,—even in +Virginia slavery would soon die out if she were divided from the +South, and joined to the North. In those other States, in Maryland, +in Kentucky, and in Missouri there is no desire to perpetuate the +institution. They have been slave States, and as such have resented +the rabid abolition of certain northern orators. Had it not been for +those orators, and their oratory, the soil of Kentucky would now have +been free. Those five or six States are now slave States; but a line +of secession drawn south of them will be the line which cuts off +slavery from the North. If those States belong to the North when +secession shall be accomplished, they will belong to it as free +States; but if they belong to the South, they will belong to the +South as slave States. If they belong to the North, they will become +rich as the North is, and will share in the education of the North. +If they belong to the South they will become poor as the South is, +and will share in the ignorance of the South. If we presume that +secession will be accomplished,—and I for one am of that +opinion,—has it not been well that a war should be waged with such +an object as this? If those five or six States can be gained, +stretching east and west from the Atlantic to the centre of the +continent, hundreds of miles beyond the Mississippi, and north and +south over four degrees of latitude,—if that extent of continent can +be added to the free soil of the northern territory, will not the +contest that has done this have been worth any money that can have +been spent on it?</p> + +<p>So much as to the object to be gained by the money spent on the war! +And I think that in estimating the nature of the financial position +which the war has produced, it was necessary that we should consider +the value of the object which has been in dispute. The object I +maintain has been good. Then comes the question whether or no the +bill will be fairly paid;—whether they who have spent the money will +set about that disagreeable task of settling the account with a true +purpose and an honest energy. And this question splits itself into +two parts. Will the Americans honestly wish to pay the bill; and if +they do so wish, will they have the power to pay it? Again that last +question must be once more divided. Will they have the power to pay, +as regards the actual possession of the means, and if possessing +them, will they have the power of access to those means?</p> + +<p>The nation has obtained for itself an evil name for repudiation. We +all know that Pennsylvania behaved badly about her money affairs, +although she did at last pay her debts. We all know that Mississippi +has behaved very badly about her money affairs, and has never paid +her debts, nor does she intend to pay them. And, which is worse than +this, for it applies to the nation generally and not to individual +States, we all know that it was made a matter of boast in the States +that in the event of a war with England the enormous amount of +property held by Englishmen in the States should be confiscated. That +boast was especially made in the mercantile city of New York; and +when the matter was discussed it seemed as though no American +realized the iniquity of such a threat. It was not apparently +understood that such a confiscation on account of a war would be an +act of national robbery justified simply by the fact that the power +of committing it would be in the hands of the robbers. Confiscation +of so large an amount of wealth would be a smart thing, and men did +not seem to perceive that any disgrace would attach to it in the eyes +of the world at large. I am very anxious not to speak harsh words of +the Americans; but when questions arise as to pecuniary arrangements +I find myself forced to acknowledge that great precaution is at any +rate necessary.</p> + +<p>But, nevertheless, I am not sure that we shall be fair if we allow +ourselves to argue as to the national purpose in this matter from +such individual instances of dishonesty as those which I have +mentioned. I do not think it is to be presumed that the United States +as a nation will repudiate its debts because two separate States may +have been guilty of repudiation. Nor am I disposed to judge of the +honesty of the people generally from the dishonest threatenings of +New York, made at a moment in which a war with England was considered +imminent. I do believe that the nation, as a nation, will be as ready +to pay for the war as it has been ready to carry on the war. That +"ignorant impatience of taxation," to which it is supposed that we +Britons are very subject, has not been a complaint rife among the +Americans generally. We, in England, are inclined to believe that +hitherto they have known nothing of the merits and demerits of +taxation, and have felt none of its annoyances, because their entire +national expenditure has been defrayed by light Custom duties; but +the levies made in the separate States for State purposes, or chiefly +for municipal purposes, have been very heavy. They are, however, +collected easily, and, as far as I am aware, without any display of +ignorant impatience. Indeed, an American is rarely impatient of any +ordained law. Whether he be told to do this, or to pay for that, or +to abstain from the other, he does do and pay and abstain without +grumbling, provided that he has had a hand in voting for those who +made the law and for those who carry out the law. The people +generally have, I think, recognized the fact that they will have to +put their necks beneath the yoke, as the peoples of other nations +have put theirs, and support the weight of a great national debt. +When the time comes for the struggle,—for the first uphill heaving +against the terrible load which they will henceforth have to drag +with them in their career, I think it will be found that they are not +ill-inclined to put their shoulders to the work.</p> + +<p>Then as to their power of paying the bill! We are told that the +wealth of a nation consists in its labour, and that that nation is +the most wealthy which can turn out of hand the greatest amount of +work. If this be so the American States must form a very wealthy +nation, and as such be able to support a very heavy burden. No one, I +presume, doubts that that nation which works the most, or works +rather to the best effect, is the richest. On this account England is +richer than other countries, and is able to bear, almost without the +sign of an effort, a burden which would crush any other land. But of +this wealth the States own almost as much as Great Britain owns. The +population of the northern States is industrious, ambitious of +wealth, and capable of work as is our population. It possesses, or is +possessed by, that restless longing for labour which creates wealth +almost unconsciously. Whether this man be rich or be a bankrupt, +whether the bankers of that city fail or make their millions, the +creative energies of the American people will not become dull. +Idleness is impossible to them, and therefore poverty is impossible. +Industry and intellect together will always produce wealth; and +neither industry nor intellect is ever wanting to an American. They +are the two gifts with which the fairy has endowed him. When she +shall have added honesty as a third, the tax-gatherer can desire no +better country in which to exercise his calling.</p> + +<p>I cannot myself think that all the millions that are being spent +would weigh upon the country with much oppression, if the weight were +once properly placed upon the muscles that will have to bear it. The +difficulty will be in the placing of the weight. It has, I know, been +argued that the circumstances under which our national debt has +extended itself to its present magnificent dimensions cannot be +quoted as parallel to those of the present American debt, because we, +while we were creating the debt, were taxing ourselves very heavily, +whereas the Americans have gone a-head with the creation of their +debt before they have levied a shilling on themselves towards the +payment of those expenses for which the debt has been encountered. +But this argument, even if it were true in its gist, goes no way +towards proving that the Americans will be unable to pay. The +population of the present free-soil States is above eighteen +millions; that of the States which will probably belong to the Union +if secession be accomplished is about twenty-two millions. At a time +when our debt had amounted to six hundred millions sterling, we had +no population such as that to bear the burden. It may be said that we +had more amassed wealth than they have. But I take it that the +amassed wealth of any country can go but a very little way in +defraying the wants or in paying the debts of a people. We again come +back to the old maxim, that the labour of a country is its wealth; +and that a country will be rich or poor in accordance with the +intellectual industry of its people.</p> + +<p>But the argument drawn from that comparison between our own conduct +when we were creating our debt, and the conduct of the Americans +while they have been creating their debt,—during the twelve months +from April 1, 1861, to March 31, 1862, let us say,—is hardly a fair +argument. We, at any rate, knew how to tax ourselves,—if only the +taxes might be forthcoming. We were already well used to the work; +and a minister with a willing House of Commons had all his material +ready to his hand. It has not been so in the United States. The +difficulty has not been with the people who should pay the taxes, but +with the minister and the Congress which did not know how to levy +them. Certainly not as yet have those who are now criticising the +doings on the other side of the water, a right to say that the +American people are unwilling to make personal sacrifices for the +carrying out of this war. No sign has as yet been shown of an +unwillingness on the part of the people to be taxed. But wherever a +sign could be given, it has been given on the other side. The +separate States have taxed themselves very heavily for the support of +the families of the absent soldiers. The extra allowances made to +maimed men, amounting generally to twenty-four shillings a month, +have been paid by the States themselves, and have been paid almost +with too much alacrity.</p> + +<p>I am of opinion that the Americans will show no unwillingness to pay +the amount of taxation which must be exacted from them; and I also +think that as regards their actual means they will have the power to +pay it. But as regards their power of obtaining access to those +means, I must confess that I see many difficulties in their way. In +the first place they have no financier,—no man who by natural +aptitude and by long continued contact with great questions of +finance, has enabled himself to handle the money affairs of a nation +with a master's hand. In saying this I do not intend to impute any +blame to Mr. Chase, the present Secretary at the Treasury. Of his +ability to do the work properly, had he received the proper training, +I am not able to judge. It is not that Mr. Chase is incapable. He may +be capable or incapable. But it is that he has not had the education +of a national financier, and that he has no one at his elbow to help +him who has had that advantage.</p> + +<p>And here we are again brought to that general absence of state craft +which has been the result of the American system of government. I am +not aware that our Chancellors of the Exchequer have in late years +always been great masters of finance; but they have at any rate been +among money men and money matters, and have had financiers at their +elbows if they have not deserved the name themselves. The very fact +that a Chancellor of the Exchequer sits in the House of Commons and +is forced in that House to answer all questions on the subject of +finance, renders it impossible that he should be ignorant of the +rudiments of the science. If you put a white cap on a man's head and +place him in a kitchen, he will soon learn to be a cook. But he will +never be made a cook by standing in the dining-room and seeing the +dishes as they are brought up. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is our +cook; and the House of Commons, not the Treasury chambers, is his +kitchen. Let the Secretary of the United States Treasury sit in the +House of Representatives. He would learn more there by contest with +opposing members than he can do by any amount of study in his own +chamber.</p> + +<p>But the House of Representatives itself has not as yet learned its +own lesson with reference to taxation. When I say that the United +States are in want of a financier, I do not mean that the deficiency +rests entirely with Mr. Chase. This necessity for taxation, and for +taxation at so tremendous a rate, has come suddenly, and has found +the representatives of the people unprepared for such work. To us, as +I conceive, the science of taxation, in which we certainly ought to +be great, has come gradually. We have learned by slow lessons what +taxes will be productive, under what circumstances they will be most +productive, and at what point they will be made unproductive by their +own weight. We have learned what taxes may be levied so as to afford +funds themselves, without injuring the proceeds of other taxes, and +we know what taxes should be eschewed as being specially oppressive +to the general industry and injurious to the well-being of the +nation. This has come of much practice, and even we, with all our +experience, have even got something to learn. But the public men in +the States who are now devoting themselves to this matter of taxing +the people have, as yet, no such experience. That they have +inclination enough for the work is, I think, sufficiently +demonstrated by the national tax bill, the wording of which is now +before me, and which will have been passed into law before this +volume can be published. It contains a list of every taxable article +on the earth or under the earth. A more sweeping catalogue of +taxation was probably never put forth. The Americans, it has been +said by some of us, have shown no disposition to tax themselves for +this war; but before the war has as yet been well twelve months in +operation, a bill has come out with a list of taxation so oppressive, +that it must, as regards many of its items, act against itself and +cut its own throat. It will produce terrible fraud in its evasion, +and create an army of excise officers who will be as locusts over the +face of the country. Taxes are to be laid on articles which I should +have said that universal consent had declared to be unfit for +taxation. Salt, soap, candles, oil, and other burning fluids, gas, +pins, paper, ink, and leather, are to be taxed. It was at first +proposed that wheat-flour should be taxed, but that item has, I +believe, been struck out of the bill in its passage through the +House. All articles manufactured of cotton, wool, silk, worsted, +flax, hemp, jute, india-rubber, gutta percha, wood (?), glass, +pottery wares, leather, paper, iron, steel, lead, tin, copper, zinc, +brass, gold and silver, horn, ivory, bone, bristles, wholly or in +part, or of other materials, are to be taxed;—provided always that +books, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, and reviews shall not be +regarded as manufactures. It will be said that the amount of taxation +to be levied on the immense number of manufactured articles which +must be included in this list will be light,—the tax itself being +only 3 per cent. ad valorem. But with reference to every article, +there will be the necessity of collecting this 3 per cent.! As +regards each article that is manufactured, some government official +must interfere to appraise its value and to levy the tax. Who shall +declare the value of a barrel of wooden nutmegs; or how shall the +Excise-officer get his tax from every cobbler's stall in the country? +And then tradesmen are to pay licences for their trades,—a +confectioner £2, a tallow-chandler £2, a horsedealer £2. Every man +whose business it is to sell horses shall be a horsedealer. True. But +who shall say whether or no it be a man's business to sell horses? An +apothecary £2, a photographer £2, a pedlar £4, £3, £2, or £1, +according to his mode of travelling. But if the gross receipts of any +of the confectioners, tallow-chandlers, horsedealers, apothecaries, +photographers, pedlars, or the like do not exceed £200 a year, then +such tradesmen shall not be required to pay for any licence at all. +Surely such a proviso can only have been inserted with the express +view of creating fraud and ill blood! But the greatest audacity has, +I think, been shown in the levying of personal taxes,—such taxes as +have been held to be peculiarly disagreeable among us, and have +specially brought down upon us the contempt of lightly-taxed people, +who, like the Americans, have known nothing of domestic interference. +Carriages are to be taxed,—as they are with us. Pianos also are to +be taxed, and plate. It is not signified by this clause that such +articles shall pay a tax, once for all, while in the maker's hands, +which tax would no doubt fall on the future owner of such piano or +plate; in such case the owner would pay, but would pay without any +personal contact with the tax-gatherer. But every owner of a piano or +of plate is to pay annually according to the value of the articles he +owns. But perhaps the most audacious of all the proposed taxes is +that on watches. Every owner of a watch is to pay 4<i>s.</i> a year for a +gold watch and 2<i>s.</i> a year for a silver watch! The American +tax-gatherers will not like to be cheated. They will be very keen in +searching for watches. But who can say whether they or the carriers +of watches will have the best of it in such a hunt. The tax-gatherers +will be as hounds ever at work on a cold scent. They will now be hot +and angry, and then dull and disheartened. But the carriers of +watches who do not choose to pay will generally, one may predict, be +able to make their points good.</p> + +<p>With such a tax bill,—which I believe came into action on the 1st of +May, 1862,—the Americans are not fairly open to the charge of being +unwilling to tax themselves. They have avoided none of the irritating +annoyances of taxation, as also they have not avoided, or attempted +to lighten for themselves, the dead weight of the burden. The dead +weight they are right to endure without flinching; but their mode of +laying it on their own backs justifies me, I think, in saying that +they do not yet know how to obtain access to their own means. But +this bill applies simply to matters of excise. As I have said before, +Congress, which has hitherto supported the government by custom +duties, has also the power of levying excise duties, and now, in its +first session since the commencement of the war, has begun to use +that power without much hesitation or bashfulness. As regards their +taxes levied at the Custom House, the government of the United States +has always been inclined to high duties, with the view of protecting +the internal trade and manufactures of the country. The amount +required for national expenses was easily obtained, and these duties +were not regulated, as I think, so much with a view to the amount +which might be collected, as to that of the effect which the tax +might have in fostering native industry. That, if I understand it, +was the meaning of Mr. Morrill's bill, which was passed immediately +on the secession of the southern members of Congress, and which +instantly enhanced the price of all foreign manufactured goods in the +States. But now the desire for protection, simply as protection, has +been swallowed up in the acknowledged necessity for revenue; and the +only object to be recognized in the arrangement of the custom duties +is the collection of the greatest number of dollars. This is fair +enough. If the country can at such a crisis raise a better revenue by +claiming a shilling a pound on coffee than it can by claiming +sixpence, the shilling may be wisely claimed, even though many may +thus be prohibited from the use of coffee. But then comes the great +question, What duty will really give the greatest product? At what +rate shall we tax coffee so as to get at the people's money? If it be +so taxed that people won't use it, the tax cuts its own throat. There +is some point at which the tax will be most productive; and also +there is a point up to which the tax will not operate to the serious +injury of the trade. Without the knowledge which should indicate +these points, a Chancellor of the Exchequer, with his myrmidons, +would be groping in the dark. As far as we can yet see, there is not +much of such knowledge either in the Treasury Chambers or the House +of Representatives at Washington.</p> + +<p>But the greatest difficulty which the States will feel in obtaining +access to their own means of taxation, is that which is created by +the constitution itself, and to which I alluded when speaking of the +taxing powers which the constitution had given to Congress, and those +which it had denied to Congress. As to custom duties and excise +duties, Congress can do what it pleases, as can the House of Commons. +But Congress cannot levy direct taxation according to its own +judgment. In those matters of customs and excise, Congress and the +Secretary of the Treasury will probably make many blunders; but +having the power they will blunder through, and the money will be +collected. But direct taxation, in an available shape, is beyond the +power of Congress under the existing rule of the constitution. No +income-tax, for instance, can be laid on the general incomes of the +United States, that shall be universal throughout the States. An +income-tax can be levied, but it must be levied in proportion to the +representation. It is as though our Chancellor of the Exchequer, in +collecting an income-tax, were obliged to demand the same amount of +contribution from the town of Chester as from the town of Liverpool, +because both Chester and Liverpool return two Members to Parliament. +In fitting his tax to the capacity of Chester, he would be forced to +allow Liverpool to escape unscathed. No skill in money matters on the +part of the Treasury Secretary, and no aptness for finance on the +part of the Committee on Ways and Means, can avail here. The +constitution must apparently be altered before any serviceable resort +can be had to direct taxation. And yet, at such an emergency as that +now existing, direct taxation would probably give more ready +assistance than can be afforded either by the Customs or the Excise.</p> + +<p>It has been stated to me that this difficulty in the way of direct +taxation can be overcome without any change in the constitution. +Congress could only levy from Rhode Island the same amount of +income-tax that it might levy from Iowa; but it will be competent to +the legislature of Rhode Island itself to levy what income-tax it may +please on itself; and to devote the proceeds to national or federal +purposes. Rhode Island may do so; and so may Massachusetts, New York, +Connecticut, and the other rich Atlantic States. They may tax +themselves according to their riches, while Iowa, Illinois, +Wisconsin, and such-like States are taxing themselves according to +their poverty. I cannot myself think that it would be well to trust +to the generosity of the separate States for the finances needed by +the national Government. We should not willingly trust to Yorkshire +or Sussex to give us their contributions to the national income, +especially if Yorkshire and Sussex had small Houses of Commons of +their own, in which that question of giving might be debated. It may +be very well for Rhode Island or New York to be patriotic! But what +shall be done with any State that declines to evince such patriotism? +The legislatures of the different States may be invited to impose a +tax of 5 per cent. on all incomes in each State; but what will be +done if Pennsylvania, for instance, should decline, or Illinois +should hesitate? What if the legislature of Massachusetts should +offer 6 per cent., or that of New Jersey decide that 4 per cent. was +sufficient? For a while the arrangement might possibly be made to +answer the desired purpose. During the first ebullition of high +feeling, the different States concerned might possibly vote the +amount of taxes required for federal purposes. I fear it would not be +so, but we may allow that the chance is on the card. But it is not +conceivable that such an arrangement should be continued when, after +a year or two, men came to talk over the war with calmer feelings and +a more critical judgment. The State legislatures would become +inquisitive, opinionative, and probably factious. They would be +unwilling to act in so great a matter under the dictation of the +federal Congress; and by degrees one, and then another, would decline +to give its aid to the central government. However broadly the +acknowledgment may have been made, that the levying of direct taxes +was necessary for the nation, each State would be tempted to argue +that a wrong mode and a wrong rate of levying had been adopted, and +words would be forthcoming instead of money. A resort to such a mode +of taxation would be a bad security for government Stock.</p> + +<p>All matters of taxation, moreover, should be free from any taint of +generosity. A man who should attempt to lessen the burdens of his +country by gifts of money to its Exchequer would be laying his +country under an obligation, for which his country would not thank +him. The gifts here would be from States, and not from individuals; +but the principle would be the same. I cannot imagine that the United +States' Government would be willing to owe its revenue to the good +will of different States, or its want of revenue to their caprice. If +under such an arrangement the western States were to decline to vote +the quota of income-tax or property-tax to which the eastern States +had agreed,—and in all probability they would decline,—they would +in fact be seceding. They would thus secede from the burdens of their +general country; but in such event no one could accuse such States of +unconstitutional secession.</p> + +<p>It is not easy to ascertain with precision what is the present amount +of debt due by the United States; nor probably has any tolerably +accurate guess been yet given of the amount to which it may be +extended during the present war. A statement made in the House of +Representatives, by Mr. Spaulding, a member of the Committee of Ways +and Means, on the 29th of January last, may perhaps be taken as +giving as trustworthy information as any that can be obtained. I have +changed Mr. Spaulding's figures from dollars into pounds, that they +may be more readily understood by English +readers.<br /> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="5"> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + There was + </td> + <td> + Due up to July 1,1861 + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £18,173,566 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + " + </td> + <td> + Added in July and August + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 5,379,357 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + " + </td> + <td> + Borrowed in August + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 10,000,000 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + " + </td> + <td> + Borrowed in October + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 10,000,000 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + " + </td> + <td> + Borrowed in November + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 10,000,000 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + " + </td> + <td> + <span class="nowrap">Amount of Treasury Demand </span><br /> + <span class="ind2">Notes issued</span> + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + <span class="u"> 7,800,000</span> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + + </td> + <td> + + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £61,352,923<br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>This was the amount of the debt due up to January 15th, 1862. Mr. +Spaulding then calculates that the sum required to carry on the +Government up to July 1st, 1862, will be £68,647,077. And that a +further sum of £110,000,000 will be wanted on or before the 1st of +July, 1863. Thus the debt at that latter date would stand as +<span class="nowrap">follows:—</span><br /> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="5"> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="nowrap">Amount of Debt up to January, 1862 </span> + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £61,352,923 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Added by July 1st, 1862 + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + 68,647,077 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Again added by July 1st, 1863 + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + <span class="u"> 110,000,000</span> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + + </td> + <td class="dollar"> + £240,000,000<br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>The first of these items may no doubt be taken as accurate. The +second has probably been founded on facts which leave little doubt as +to its substantial truth. The third, which professes to give the +proposed expense of the war for the forthcoming year, viz. from 1st +July, 1862, to 30th June, 1863, must necessarily have been obtained +by a very loose estimate. No one can say what may be the condition of +the country during the next year,—whether the war may then be raging +throughout the southern States, or whether the war may not have +ceased altogether. The North knows little or nothing of the capacity +of the South. How little it knows may be surmised from the fact that +the whole southern army of Virginia retreated from their position at +Manassas before the northern generals knew that they were moving; and +that when they were gone no word whatever was left of their numbers. +I do not believe that the northern Government is even yet able to +make any probable conjecture as to the number of troops which the +southern confederacy is maintaining, and if this be so, they can +certainly make no trustworthy estimates as to their own expenses for +the ensuing year.</p> + +<p>Two hundred and forty millions is, however, the sum named by a +gentleman presumed to be conversant with the matter, as the amount of +debt which may be expected by midsummer, 1863; and if the war be +continued till then, it will probably be found that he has not +exceeded the mark. It is right, however, to state that Mr. Chase in +his estimate does not rate the figures so high. He has given it as +his opinion that the debt will be about one hundred and four millions +in July, 1862, and one hundred and eighty millions in July, 1863. As +to the first amount, with reference to which a tolerably accurate +calculation may probably be made, I am inclined to prefer the +estimate as given by the member of the committee; and as to the +other, which hardly, as I think, admits of any calculation, his +calculation is at any rate as good as that made in the Treasury.</p> + +<p>But it is the immediate want of funds, and not the prospective debt +of the country, which is now doing the damage. In this opinion Mr. +Chase will probably agree with me; but readers on this side of the +water will receive what I say with a smile. Such a state of affairs +is certainly one that has not uncommonly been reached by financiers; +it has also often been experienced by gentlemen in the management of +their private affairs. It has been common in Ireland, and in London +has created the wealth of the pawnbrokers. In the States at the +present time the government is very much in this condition. The +prospective wealth of the country is almost unbounded, but there is +great difficulty in persuading any pawnbroker to advance money on the +pledge. In February last Mr. Chase was driven to obtain the sanction +of the legislature for paying the national creditors by bills drawn +at twelve months' date, and bearing 6 per cent. interest. It is the +old story of the tailor who calls with his little account, and draws +on his insolvent debtor at ninety days. If the insolvent debtor be +not utterly gone as regards solvency he will take up the bill when +due, even though he may not be able to pay a simple debt. But then, +if he be utterly insolvent, he can do neither the one nor the other! +The Secretary of the Treasury, when he asked for permission to accept +these bills,—or to issue these certificates, as he calls +them,—acknowledged to pressing debts of over five millions sterling +which he could not pay; and to further debts of eight millions which +he could not pay, but which he termed floating;—debts, if I +understand him, which were not as yet quite pressing. Now I imagine +that to be a lamentable condition for any Chancellor of an +Exchequer,—especially as a confession is at the same time made that +no advantageous borrowing is to be done under the existing +circumstances. When a Chancellor of the Exchequer confesses that he +cannot borrow on advantageous terms, the terms within his reach must +be very bad indeed. This position is indeed a sad one, and at any +rate justifies me in stating that the immediate want of funds is +severely felt.</p> + +<p>But the very arguments which have been used to prove that the country +will be ultimately crushed by the debt, are those which I should use +to prove that it will not be crushed. A comparison has more than once +been made between the manner in which our debt was made, and that in +which the debt of the United States is now being created; and the +great point raised in our favour is, that while we were borrowing +money we were also taxing ourselves, and that we raised as much by +taxes as we did by loans. But it is too early in the day to deny to +the Americans the credit which we thus take to ourselves. We were a +tax-paying nation when we commenced those wars which made our great +loans necessary, and only went on in that practice which was habitual +to us. I do not think that the Americans could have taxed themselves +with greater alacrity than they have shown. Let us wait, at any rate, +till they shall have had time for the operation, before we blame them +for not making it. It is then argued that we in England did not +borrow nearly so fast as they have borrowed in the States. That is +true. But it must be remembered that the dimensions and proportions +of wars now are infinitely greater than they were when we began to +borrow. Does any one imagine that we would not have borrowed faster, +if by faster borrowing we could have closed the war more speedily? +Things go faster now than they did then. Borrowing for the sake of a +war may be a bad thing to do,—as also it may be a good thing; but if +it be done at all, it should be so done as to bring the war to the +end with what greatest despatch may be possible.</p> + +<p>The only fair comparison, as it seems to me, which can be drawn +between the two countries with reference to their debts, and the +condition of each under its debt, should be made to depend on the +amount of the debt and probable ability of the country to bear that +burden. The amount of the debt must be calculated by the interest +payable on it, rather than by the figures representing the actual sum +due. If we debit the United States Government with seven per cent. on +all the money borrowed by them, and presume that amount to have +reached in July, 1863, the sum named by Mr. Spaulding, they will then +have loaded themselves with an annual charge of £16,800,000 sterling. +It will have been an immense achievement to have accomplished in so +short a time, but it will by no means equal the annual sum with which +we are charged. And, moreover, the comparison will have been made in +a manner that is hardly fair to the Americans. We pay our creditors +three per cent. now that we have arranged our affairs, and have +settled down into the respectable position of an old gentleman whose +estates, though deeply mortgaged, are not over-mortgaged. But we did +not get our money at three per cent. while our wars were on hand, and +there yet existed some doubt as to the manner in which they might be +terminated.</p> + +<p>This attempt, however, at guessing what may be the probable amount of +the debt at the close of the war is absolutely futile. No one can as +yet conjecture when the war may be over, or what collateral expenses +may attend its close. It may be the case that the government in +fixing some boundary between the future United States and the future +southern Confederacy, will be called on to advance a very large sum +of money as compensation for slaves who shall have been liberated in +the border States, or have been swept down south into the cotton +regions with the retreating hordes of the southern army. The total of +the bill cannot be reckoned up while the work is still unfinished. +But, after all, that question as to the amount of the bill is not to +us the question of the greatest interest. Whether the debt shall +amount to two, or three, or even to four hundred millions +sterling,—whether it remain fixed at its present modest dimensions, +or swell itself out to the magnificent proportions of our British +debt,—will the resources of the country enable it to bear such a +burden? Will it be found that the Americans share with us that +elastic power of endurance which has enabled us to bear a weight that +would have ruined any other people of the same number? Have they the +thews and muscles, the energy and endurance, the power of carrying +which we possess? They have got our blood in their veins, and have +these qualities gone with the blood? It is of little avail either to +us or to the truth that we can show some difference between our +position and their position which may seem to be in our favour. They, +doubtless, could show other points of difference on the other side. +With us, in the early years of this century, it was a contest for +life and death, in which we could not stop to count the cost,—in +which we believed that we were fighting for all that we cared to call +our own, and in which we were resolved that we would not be beaten, +as long as we had a man to fight and a guinea to spend. Fighting in +this mind we won. Had we fought in any other mind, I think I may say +that we should not have won. To the Americans of the northern States +this also is a contest for life and death. I will not here stay to +argue whether this need have been so. I think they are right; but +this at least must be accorded to them—that having gone into this +matter of civil war, it behoves them to finish it with credit to +themselves. There are many Englishmen who think that we were wrong to +undertake the French war; but there is, I take it, no Englishman who +thinks that we ought to have allowed ourselves to be beaten when we +had undertaken it. To the Americans it is now a contest of life and +death. They also cannot stop to count the cost. They also will go on +as long as they have a dollar to spend or a man to fight.</p> + +<p>It appears that we were paying fourteen millions a year interest on +our national debt in the year 1796. I take this statement from an +article in "The Times," in which the question of the finances of the +United States is handled. But our population in 1796 was only sixteen +millions. I estimate the population of the northern section of the +United States, as the States will be after the war, at twenty-two +millions. In the article alluded to these northern Americans are now +stated to be twenty millions. If then we, in 1796, could pay fourteen +millions a year with a population of sixteen millions, the United +States, with a population of twenty or twenty-two millions, will be +able to pay the sixteen or seventeen millions sterling of interest +which will become due from them,—if their circumstances of payment +are as good as were ours. They can do that and more than that if they +have the same means per man as we had. And as the means per man +resolves itself at last into the labour per man, it may be said that +they can pay what we could pay, if they can and will work as hard as +we could and did work. That which did not crush us will not crush +them, if their future energy be equal to our past energy.</p> + +<p>And on this question of energy I think that there is no need for +doubt. Taking man for man and million for million, the Americans are +equal to the English in intellect and industry. They create wealth at +any rate as fast as we have done. They develop their resources, and +open out the currents of trade, with an energy equal to our own. They +are always at work, improving, utilizing, and creating. Austria, as I +take it, is succumbing to monetary difficulties, not because she has +been extravagant, but because she has been slow at progress;—because +it has been the work of her rulers to repress rather than encourage +the energies of her people; because she does not improve, utilize, +and create. England has mastered her monetary difficulties because +the genius of her government and her people has been exactly opposite +to the genius of Austria. And the States of America will master their +money difficulties, because they are born of England, and are not +born of Austria. What! Shall our eldest child become bankrupt in its +first trade difficulty; be utterly ruined by its first little +commercial embarrassment? The child bears much too strong a +resemblance to its parent for me to think so.</p> + + +<p><a id="c13"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> +<h4>THE POST-OFFICE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>Any Englishman or Frenchman residing in the American States cannot +fail to be struck with the inferiority of the Post-office +arrangements in that country to those by which they are accommodated +in their own country. I have not been a resident in the States, and +as a traveller might probably have passed the subject without special +remark, were it not that the service of the Post-office has been my +own profession for many years. I could therefore hardly fail to +observe things which to another man would have been of no material +moment. At first I was inclined to lean heavily in my judgment upon +the deficiencies of a department which must be of primary importance +to a commercial nation. It seemed that among a people so intelligent, +and so quick in all enterprises of trade, a well arranged Post-office +would have been held to be absolutely necessary, and that all +difficulties would have been made to succumb in their efforts to put +that establishment, if no other, upon a proper footing. But as I +looked into the matter, and in becoming acquainted with the +circumstances of the Post-office learned the extent of the +difficulties absolutely existing, I began to think that a very great +deal had been done, and that the fault, as to that which had been +left undone, rested, not with the Post-office officials, but was +attributable partly to political causes altogether outside the +Post-office, and partly,—perhaps chiefly,—to the nature of the +country itself.</p> + +<p>It is, I think, undoubtedly true that the amount of accommodation +given by the Post-office of the States is small,—as compared with +that afforded in some other countries, and that that accommodation is +lessened by delays and uncertainty. The point which first struck me +was the inconvenient hours at which mails were brought in and +despatched. Here, in England, it is the object of our Post-office to +carry the bulk of our letters at night; to deliver them as early as +possible in the morning, and to collect them and take them away for +despatch as late as may be in the day;—so that the merchant may +receive his letters before the beginning of his day's business, and +despatch them after its close. The bulk of our letters is handled in +this manner, and the advantage of such an arrangement is manifest. +But it seemed that in the States no such practice prevailed. Letters +arrived at any hour in the day miscellaneously, and were despatched +at any hour, and I found that the postmaster at one town could never +tell me with certainty when letters would arrive at another. If the +towns were distant, I would be told that the conveyance might take +about two or three days; if they were near, that my letter would get +to hand "some time to-morrow." I ascertained, moreover, by painful +experience that the whole of a mail would not always go forward by +the first despatch. As regarded myself this had reference chiefly to +English letters and newspapers.—"Only a part of the mail has come," +the clerk would tell me. With us the owners of that part which did +not "come," would consider themselves greatly aggrieved and make loud +complaint. But, in the States, complaints made against official +departments are held to be of little moment.</p> + +<p>Letters also in the States are subject to great delays by +irregularities on railways. One train does not hit the town of its +destination before another train, to which it is nominally fitted, +has been started on its journey. The mail trains are not bound to +wait; and thus, in the large cities, far distant from New York, great +irregularity prevails. It is, I think, owing to this,—at any rate +partly to this,—that the system of telegraphing has become so +prevalent. It is natural that this should be so between towns which +are in the due course of post perhaps forty-eight hours asunder; but +the uncertainty of the post increases the habit, to the profit, of +course, of the companies which own the wires,—but to the manifest +loss of the Post-office.</p> + +<p>But the deficiency which struck me most forcibly in the American +Post-office, was the absence of any recognized official delivery of +letters. The United States Post-office does not assume to itself the +duty of taking letters to the houses of those for whom they are +intended, but holds itself as having completed the work for which the +original postage has been paid, when it has brought them to the +window of the Post-office of the town to which they are addressed. It +is true that in most large towns,—though by no means in all,—a +separate arrangement is made by which a delivery is afforded to those +who are willing to pay a further sum for that further service; but +the recognized official mode of delivery is from the office window. +The merchants and persons in trade have boxes at the windows, for +which they pay. Other old-established inhabitants in towns, and +persons in receipt of a considerable correspondence, receive their +letters by the subsidiary carriers and pay for them separately. But +the poorer classes of the community, those persons among which it is +of such paramount importance to increase the blessing of letter +writing, obtain their letters from the Post-office windows.</p> + +<p>In each of these cases the practice acts to the prejudice of the +department. In order to escape the tax on delivery, which varies from +two cents to one cent a letter, all men in trade, and many who are +not in trade, hold office boxes; consequently immense space is +required. The space given at Chicago, both to the public without and +to the officials within, for such delivery, is more than four times +that required at Liverpool for the same purpose. But Liverpool is +three times the size of Chicago. The corps of clerks required for the +window delivery is very great, and the whole affair is cumbrous in +the extreme. The letters at most offices are given out through little +windows, to which the inquirer is obliged to stoop. There he finds +himself opposite to a pane of glass with a little hole; and when the +clerk within shakes his head at him, he rarely believes but what his +letters are there if he could only reach them. But in the second +case, the tax on the delivery, which is intended simply to pay the +wages of the men who take them out, is paid with a bad grace; it robs +the letter of its charm, and forces it to present itself in the guise +of a burden. It makes that disagreeable which for its own sake the +Post-office should strive in every way to make agreeable. This +practice, moreover, operates as a direct prevention to a class of +correspondence, which furnishes in England a large proportion of the +revenue of the Post-office. Mercantile houses in our large cities +send out thousands of trade circulars, paying postage on them; but +such circulars would not be received, either in England or elsewhere, +if a demand for postage were made on their delivery. Who does not +receive these circulars in our country by the dozen, consigning them +generally to the waste-paper basket, after a most cursory inspection? +As regards the sender, the transaction seems to us often to be very +vain; but the Post-office gets its penny. So also would the American +Post-office get its three cents.</p> + +<p>But the main objection in my eyes to the American Post-office system +is this,—that it is not brought nearer to the poorer classes. +Everybody writes or can write in America, and therefore the +correspondence of their millions should be, million for million, at +any rate equal to ours. But it is not so: and this, I think, comes +from the fact that communication by Post-office is not made easy to +the people generally. Such communication is not found to be easy by a +man who has to attend at a Post-office window on the chance of +receiving a letter. When no arrangement more comfortable than that is +provided, the Post-office will be used for the necessities of +letter-writing, but will not be esteemed as a luxury. And thus not +only do the people lose a comfort which they might enjoy, but the +Post-office also loses that revenue which it might make.</p> + +<p>I have said that the correspondence circulating in the United States +is less than that of the United Kingdom. In making any comparison +between them I am obliged to arrive at facts, or rather at the +probabilities of facts, in a somewhat circuitous mode, as the +Americans have kept no account of the number of letters which pass +through their post-offices in a year. We can, however, make an +estimate which, if incorrect, shall not at any rate be incorrect +against them. The gross postal revenue of the United States, for the +year ended 30th June, 1861, was in round figures £1,700,000. This was +the amount actually earned, exclusive of a sum of £140,000 paid to +the Post-office by the government for the carriage of what is called +in that country free mail matter; otherwise, books, letters, and +parcels franked by members of Congress. The gross postal revenue of +the United Kingdom was in the last year, in round figures, +£3,358,000, exclusive of a sum of £179,000 claimed as earned for +carrying official postage, and also exclusive of £127,866, that being +the amount of money order commission which in this country is +considered a part of the Post-office revenue. In the United States +there is at present no money order office. In the United Kingdom the +sum of £3,358,000 was earned by the conveyance and delivery +of<br /> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="5"> + <tr> + <td class="dollar"> + 593 + </td> + <td> + millions of letters, + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="dollar"> + 73 + </td> + <td> + millions of newspapers, + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="dollar"> + 12 + </td> + <td> + millions of books. + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>What number of each was conveyed through the post in the United +States we have no means of knowing; but presuming the average rate of +postage on each letter in the States to be the same as it is in +England, and presuming also that letters, newspapers, and books +circulated in the same proportion there as they do with us, the sum +above named of £1,700,000 will have been earned by carrying about 300 +millions of letters. But the average rate of postage in the States +is, in fact, higher than it is in England. The ordinary single rate +of postage there is three cents or three half-pence, whereas with us +it is a penny; and if three half-pence might be taken as the average +rate in the United States, the number of letters would be reduced +from 300 to 200 millions a year. There is however a class of letters +which in the States are passed through the Post-office at the rate of +one halfpenny a letter, whereas there is no rate of postage with us +less than a penny. Taking these halfpenny letters into consideration, +I am disposed to regard the average rate of American postage at about +five farthings, which would give the number of letters at 250 +millions. We shall at any rate be safe in saying that the number is +considerably less than 300 millions, and that it does not amount to +half the number circulated with us. But the difference between our +population and their population is not great. The population of the +States during the year in question was about 27 millions, exclusive +of slaves, and that of the British isles was about 29 millions. No +doubt, in the year named, the correspondence of the States had been +somewhat disturbed by the rebellion; but that disturbance, up to the +end of June, 1861, had been very trifling. The division of the +southern from the northern States, as far as the Post-office was +concerned, did not take place till the end of May, 1861; and +therefore but one month in the year was affected by the actual +secession of the South. The gross postal revenue of the States which +have seceded was, for the year prior to secession, twelve hundred +thousand five hundred dollars, and for that one month of June it +would therefore have been a little over one hundred thousand dollars, +or £20,000. That sum may therefore be presumed to have been +abstracted by secession from the gross annual revenue of the +Post-office. Trade, also, was no doubt injured by the disturbance in +the country, and the circulation of letters was, as a matter of +course, to some degree affected by this injury; but it seems that the +gross revenue of 1861 was less than that of 1860 by only one +thirty-sixth. I think, therefore, that we may say, making all +allowance that can be fairly made, that the number of letters +circulating in the United Kingdom is more than double that which +circulates, or ever has circulated, in the United States.</p> + +<p>That this is so, I attribute not to any difference in the people of +the two countries,—not to an aptitude for letter writing among us +which is wanting with the Americans,—but to the greater convenience +and wider accommodation of our own Post-office. As I have before +stated, and will presently endeavour to show, this wider +accommodation is not altogether the result of better management on +our part. Our circumstances as regards the Post-office have had in +them less of difficulties than theirs. But it has arisen in great +part from better management; and in nothing is their deficiency so +conspicuous as in the absence of a free delivery for their letters.</p> + +<p>In order that the advantages of the Post-office should reach all +persons, the delivery of letters should extend not only to towns, but +to the country also. In France all letters are delivered free. +However remote may be the position of a house or cottage, it is not +too remote for the postman. With us all letters are not delivered; +but the exceptions refer to distant solitary houses and to localities +which are almost without correspondence. But in the United States +there is no free delivery, and there is no delivery at all except in +the large cities. In small towns, in villages, even in the suburbs of +the largest cities, no such accommodation is given. Whatever may be +the distance, people expecting letters must send for them to the +Post-office;—and they who do not expect them, leave their letters +uncalled for. Brother Jonathan goes out to fish in these especial +waters with a very large net. The little fish, which are profitable, +slip through; but the big fish, which are by no means profitable, are +caught,—often at an expense greater than their value.</p> + +<p>There are other smaller sins upon which I could put my finger,—and +would do so were I writing an official report upon the subject of the +American Post-office. In lieu of doing so, I will endeavour to +explain how much the States' office has done in this matter of +affording Post-office accommodation,—and how great have been the +difficulties in the way of Post-office reformers in that country.</p> + +<p>In the first place, when we compare ourselves to them, we must +remember that we live in a tea-cup, and they in a washing-tub. As +compared with them we inhabit towns which are close to each other. +Our distances, as compared with theirs, are nothing. From London to +Liverpool the line of railway traverses about two hundred miles, but +the mail train which conveys the bags for Liverpool, carries the +correspondence of probably four or five millions of persons. The mail +train from New York to Buffalo passes over about four hundred miles, +and on its route serves not one million. A comparison of this kind +might be made with the same effect between any of our great internal +mail routes and any of theirs. Consequently, the expense of +conveyance to them is, per letter, very much greater than with us, +and the American Post-office is as a matter of necessity driven to an +economy in the use of railways for the Post-office service, which we +are not called on to practise. From New York to Chicago is nearly +1000 miles. From New York to St. Louis is over 1600. I need not say +that in England we know nothing of such distances, and that therefore +our task has been comparatively easy. Nevertheless the States have +followed in our track, and have taken advantage of Sir Rowland Hill's +wise audacity in the reduction of postage with greater quickness than +any other nation but our own. Through all the States letters pass for +three cents over a distance less than 3000 miles. For distances above +3000 miles the rate is ten cents or five-pence. This increased rate +has special reference to the mails for California, which are carried +daily across the whole continent at a cost to the States Government +of two hundred thousand pounds a year.</p> + +<p>With us the chief mail trains are legally under the management of the +Postmaster-General. He fixes the hours at which they shall start and +arrive, being of course bound by certain stipulations as to pace. He +can demand trains to run over any line at any hour, and can in this +way secure the punctuality of mail transportation. Of course such +interference on the part of a government official in the working of a +railway is attended with a very heavy expense to the Government. +Though the British Post-office can demand the use of trains at any +hour, and as regards those trains can make the despatch of mails +paramount to all other matters, the British Post-office cannot fix +the price to be paid for such work. This is generally done by +arbitration, and of course for such services the payment is very +high. No such practice prevails in the States. The Government has no +power of using the mail lines as they are used by our Post-office, +nor could the expense of such a practice be borne or nearly borne by +the proceeds of letters in the States. Consequently the Post-office +is put on a par with ordinary customers, and such trains are used for +mail matter as the directors of each line may see fit to use for +other matter. Hence it occurs that no offence against the Post-office +is committed when the connection between different mail trains is +broken. The Post-office takes the best it can get, paying as other +customers pay, and grumbling as other customers grumble when the +service rendered falls short of that which has been promised.</p> + +<p>It may, I think, easily be seen that any system such as ours, carried +across so large a country, would go on increasing in cost at an +enormous ratio. The greater the distance, the greater is the +difficulty in securing the proper fitting of fast-running trains. And +moreover, it must be remembered that the American lines have been got +up on a very different footing from ours, at an expense per mile of +probably less than a fifth of that laid out on our railways. Single +lines of rail are common, even between great towns with large +traffic. At the present moment—May, 1862—the only railway running +into Washington, that namely from Baltimore, is a single line over +the greater distance. The whole thing is necessarily worked at a +cheaper rate than with us; not because the people are poorer, but +because the distances are greater. As this is the case throughout the +whole railway system of the country, it cannot be expected that such +despatch and punctuality should be achieved in America as are +achieved here, in England, or in France. As population and wealth +increase, it will come. In the mean time that which has been already +done over the extent of the vast North American continent is very +wonderful. I think, therefore, that complaint should not be made +against the Washington Post-office, either on account of the +inconvenience of the hours, or on the head of occasional +irregularity. So much has been done in reducing the rate to three +cents, and in giving a daily mail throughout the States, that the +department should be praised for energy, and not blamed for apathy.</p> + +<p>In the year ended 30th June, 1861, the gross revenue of the +Post-office of the States was, as I have stated, £1,700,000. In the +same year its expenditure was in round figures £2,720,000. +Consequently there was an actual loss, to be made up out of general +taxation, amounting to £1,020,000. In the accounts of the American +officers this is lessened by £140,000, that sum having been +arbitrarily fixed by the Government as the amount earned by the +Post-office in carrying free mail matter. We have a similar system in +computing the value of the service rendered by our Post-office to the +Government in carrying government despatches; but with us the amount +named as the compensation depends on the actual weight carried. If +the matter so carried be carried solely on the Government service, as +is I believe the case with us, any such claim on behalf of the +Post-office is apparently unnecessary. The Crown works for the Crown, +as the right hand works for the left. The Post-office pays no rates +or taxes, contributes nothing to the poor, runs its mails on turnpike +roads free of toll, and gives receipts on unstamped paper. With us no +payment is in truth made, though the Post-office in its accounts +presumes itself to have received the money. But in the States the sum +named is handed over by the State Treasury to the Post-office +Treasury. Any such statement of credit does not in effect alter the +real fact, that over a million sterling is required as a subsidy by +the American Post-office, in order that it may be enabled to pay its +way. In estimating the expenditure of the office the department at +Washington debits itself with the sums paid for the ocean transit of +its mails, amounting to something over £150,000. We also now do the +same, with the much greater sum paid by us for such service, which +now amounts to £949,228, or nearly a million sterling. Till lately +this was not paid out of the Post-office moneys, and the Post-office +revenue was not debited with the amount.</p> + +<p>Our gross Post-office revenue is, as I have said, £3,358,250. As +before explained, this is exclusive of the amount earned by the money +order department, which, though managed by the authorities of the +Post-office, cannot be called a part of the Post-office; and +exclusive also of the official postage, which is, in fact, never +received. The expenditure of our British Post-office, inclusive of +the sum paid for the ocean mail service, is £3,064,527. We therefore +make a net profit of £293,723 out of the Post-office, as compared +with a loss of £1,020,000, on the part of the United States.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the greatest difficulty with which the American +Post-office is burdened, is that "free mail matter" to which I have +alluded, for carrying which, the Post-office claims to earn £140,000, +and for the carriage of which, it might as fairly claim to earn +£1,350,000, or half the amount of its total expenditure, for I was +informed by a gentleman whose knowledge on the subject could not be +doubted, that the free mail matter so carried, equalled in bulk and +weight all that other matter which was not carried free. To such an +extent has the privilege of franking been carried in the States! All +members of both Houses frank what they please,—for in effect the +privilege is stretched to that extent. All Presidents of the Union, +past and present, can frank, as, also, all Vice-Presidents, past and +present; and there is a special act, enabling the widow of President +Polk to frank! Why it is that widows of other Presidents do not +agitate on the matter, I cannot understand. And all the Secretaries +of State can frank; and ever so many other public officers. There is +no limit in number to the letters so franked, and the nuisance has +extended itself to so huge a size, that members of Congress in giving +franks, cannot write the franks themselves. It is illegal for them to +depute to others the privilege of signing their names for this +purpose, but it is known at the Post-office that it is done. But even +this is not the worst of it. Members of the House of Representatives +have the power of sending through the post all those huge books +which, with them as with us, grow out of Parliamentary debates and +workings of Committees. This, under certain stipulations, is the case +also in England; but in England, luckily, no one values them. In +America, however, it is not so. A voter considers himself to be +noticed if he gets a book. He likes to have the book bound, and the +bigger the book may be, the more the compliment is relished. Hence it +comes to pass that an enormous quantity of useless matter is printed +and bound, only that it may be sent down to constituents and make a +show on the parlour shelves of constituents' wives. The Post-office +groans and becomes insolvent, and the country pays for the paper, the +printing, and the binding. While the public expenses of the nation +were very small, there was, perhaps, no reason why voters should not +thus be indulged; but now the matter is different, and it would be +well that the conveyance by post of these Congressional libraries +should be brought to an end. I was also assured that members very +frequently obtain permission for the printing of a speech which has +never been delivered,—and which never will be delivered,—in order +that copies may be circulated among their constituents. There is in +such an arrangement an ingenuity which is peculiarly American in its +nature. Everybody concerned is no doubt cheated by the system. The +constituents are cheated; the public, which pays, is cheated; and the +Post-office is cheated. But the House is spared the hearing of the +speech, and the result on the whole is perhaps beneficial.</p> + +<p>We also, within the memory of many of us, had a franking privilege, +which was peculiarly objectionable inasmuch as it operated towards +giving a free transmission of their letters by post to the rich, +while no such privilege was within reach of the poor. But with us it +never stretched itself to such an extent as it has now achieved in +the States. The number of letters for members was limited. The whole +address was written by the franking member himself, and not much was +sent in this way that was bulky. I am disposed to think that all +government and Congressional jobs in the States bear the same +proportion to government and Parliamentary jobs which have been in +vogue among us. There has been an unblushing audacity in the public +dishonesty,—what I may perhaps call the State dishonesty,—at +Washington, which I think was hardly ever equalled in London. +Bribery, I know, was disgracefully current in the days of Walpole, of +Newcastle, and even of Castlereagh;—so current, that no Englishman +has a right to hold up his own past government as a model of purity. +But the corruption with us did blush and endeavour to hide itself. It +was disgraceful to be bribed, if not so to offer bribes. But at +Washington corruption has been so common that I can hardly understand +how any honest man can have held up his head in the vicinity of the +Capitol, or of the State office.</p> + +<p>But the country has, I think, become tired of this. Hitherto it has +been too busy about its more important concerns, in extending +commerce, in making railways, in providing education for its youth, +to think very much of what was being done at Washington. While the +taxes were light and property was secure, while increasing population +gave daily increasing strength to the nation, the people as a body +were content with that theory of being governed by their little men. +They gave a bad name to politicians, and allowed politics, as they +say, "to slide." But all this will be altered now. The tremendous +expenditure of the last twelve months has allowed dishonesty of so +vast a grasp to make its ravages in the public pockets, that the evil +will work its own cure. Taxes will be very high, and the people will +recognize the necessity of having honest men to look after them. The +nation can no longer afford to be indifferent about its Government, +and will require to know where its money goes, and why it goes. This +franking privilege is already doomed, if not already dead. When I was +in Washington a Bill was passed through the Lower House by which it +would be abolished altogether. When I left America its fate in the +Senate was still doubtful, and I was told by many that that Bill +would not be allowed to become law without sundry alterations. But, +nevertheless, I regard the franking privilege as doomed, and offer to +the Washington Post-office officials my best congratulations on their +coming deliverance.</p> + +<p>The Post-office in the States is also burdened by another terrible +political evil, which in itself is so heavy, that one would at first +sight declare it to be enough to prevent anything like efficiency. +The whole of its staff is removeable every fourth year,—that is to +say, on the election of every new President. And a very large +proportion of its staff is thus removed periodically to make way for +those for whom a new President is bound to provide, by reason of +their services in sending him to the White House. They have served +him and he thus repays them by this use of his patronage in their +favour. At four hundred and thirty-four Post-offices in the +States,—those being the offices to which the highest salaries are +attached,—the President has this power, and exercises it as a matter +of course. He has the same power with reference, I believe, to all +the appointments held in the Post-office at Washington. This practice +applies by no means to the Post-office only. All the government +clerks,—clerks employed by the central government at +Washington,—are subject to the same rule. And the rule has also been +adopted in the various States with reference to State offices.</p> + +<p>To a stranger this practice seems so manifestly absurd, that he can +hardly conceive it possible that a government service should be +conducted on such terms. He cannot, in the first place, believe that +men of sufficient standing before the world could be found to accept +office under such circumstances; and is led to surmise that men of +insufficient standing must be employed, and that there are other +allurements to the office beyond the very moderate salaries which are +allowed. He cannot, moreover, understand how the duties can be +conducted, seeing that men must be called on to resign their places +as soon as they have learned to make themselves useful. And, finally, +he is lost in amazement as he contemplates this barefaced +prostitution of the public employ to the vilest purposes of political +manœuvring. With us also patronage has been used for political +purposes, and to some small extent is still so used. We have not yet +sufficiently recognized the fact, that in selecting a public servant +nothing should be regarded but the advantage of the service in which +he is to be employed. But we never, in the lowest times of our +political corruption, ventured to throw over the question of service +altogether, and to declare publicly, that the one and only result to +be obtained by Government employment was political support. In the +States political corruption has become so much a matter of course, +that no American seems to be struck with the fact that the whole +system is a system of robbery.</p> + +<p>From sheer necessity some of the old hands are kept on when these +changes are made. Were this not done the work would come absolutely +to a dead lock. But it may be imagined how difficult it must be for +men to carry through any improvements in a great department, when +they have entered an office under such a system, and are liable to be +expelled under the same. It is greatly to the praise of those who +have been allowed to grow old in the service that so much has been +done. No men, however, are more apt at such work than Americans, or +more able to exert themselves at their posts. They are not idle. +Independently of any question of remuneration, they are not +indifferent to the well-being of the work they have in hand. They are +good public servants, unless corruption come in their way.</p> + +<p>While speaking on the subject of patronage, I cannot but allude to +two appointments which had been made by political interest, and with +the circumstances of which I became acquainted. In both instances a +good place had been given to a gentleman by the incoming +President,—not in return for political support, but from motives of +private friendship,—either his own friendship or that of some mutual +friend. In both instances I heard the selection spoken of with the +warmest praise, as though a noble act had been done in the nomination +of a private friend instead of a political partisan. And yet in each +case a man was appointed who knew nothing of his work; who, from age +and circumstances, was not likely to become acquainted with his work; +who, by his appointment, kept out of the place those who did +understand the work, and had earned a right to promotion by so +understanding it. Two worthy gentlemen,—for they were both +worthy,—were pensioned on the government for a term of years under a +false pretence. That this should have been done is not perhaps +remarkable; but it did seem remarkable to me that everybody regarded +such appointments as a good deed—as a deed so exceptionably good as +to be worthy of great praise. I do not allude to these selections on +account of the political vice shown by the Presidents in making them, +but on account of the political virtue;—in order that the nature of +political virtue in the States may be understood. It had never +occurred to any one to whom I spoke on the subject, that a President +in bestowing such places was bound to look for efficient work in +return for the public money which was to be paid.</p> + +<p>Before I end this chapter I must insert a few details respecting the +Post-office of the States, which, though they may not be specially +interesting to the general reader, will give some idea of the extent +of the department. The total number of post-offices in the States on +30th June, 1861, was 28,586. With us the number in England, Scotland, +and Ireland, at the same period was about 11,400. The population +served may be regarded as nearly the same. Our lowest salary is £3 +per annum. In the States the remuneration is often much lower. It +consists of a commission on the letters, and is sometimes less than +ten shillings a year. The difficulty of obtaining persons to hold +these offices, and the amount of work which must thereby be thrown on +what is called the "appointment branch," may be judged by the fact +that 9235 of these offices were filled up by new nominations during +the last year. When the patronage is of such a nature it is difficult +to say which give most trouble, the places which nobody wishes to +have, or those which everybody wishes to have.</p> + +<p>The total amount of postage on European letters, <i>i.e.</i>, letters +passing between the States and Europe, in the last year as to which +accounts were kept between Washington and the European post-offices, +was £275,000. Of this over £150,000 was on letters for the United +Kingdom; and £130,000 was on letters carried by the Cunard packets.</p> + +<p>According to the accounts kept by the Washington office, the letters +passing from the States to Europe and from Europe to the States are +very nearly equal in number, about 101 going to Europe for every 100 +received from Europe. But the number of newspapers sent from the +States is more than double the number received in the States from +Europe.</p> + +<p>On 30th June, 1861, mails were carried through the then loyal States +of the Union over 140,400 miles daily. Up to 31st May preceding, at +which time the Government mails were running all through the United +States, 96,000 miles were covered in those States which had then +virtually seceded, and which in the following month were taken out +from the Post-office accounts,—making a total of 236,400 miles +daily. Of this mileage something less than one third is effected by +railways, at an average cost of about sixpence a mile. Our total +mileage per day is 151,000 miles, of which 43,823 are done by +railway, at a cost of about sevenpence-halfpenny per mile.</p> + +<p>As far as I could learn the servants of the Post-office are less +liberally paid in the States than with us,—excepting as regards two +classes. The first of these is that class which is paid by weekly +wages,—such as letter-carriers and porters. Their remuneration is of +course ruled by the rate of ordinary wages in the country; and as +ordinary wages are higher in the States than with us, such men are +paid accordingly. The other class is that of postmasters at +second-rate towns. They receive the same compensation as those at the +largest towns;—unless indeed there be other compensation than those +written in the books at Washington. A postmaster is paid a certain +commission on letters, till it amounts to £400 per annum: all above +that going back to the Government. So also out of the fees paid for +boxes at the window he receives any amount forthcoming, not exceeding +£400 a year; making in all a maximum of £800. The postmaster of New +York can get no more. But any moderately large town will give as +much, and in this way an amount of patronage is provided which in a +political view is really valuable.</p> + +<p>But with all this the people have made their way, because they have +been intelligent, industrious, and in earnest. And as the people have +made their way, so has the Post-office. The number of its offices, +the mileage it covers, its extraordinary cheapness, the rapidity with +which it has been developed, are all proofs of great things done; and +it is by no means standing still even in these evil days of war. +Improvements are even now on foot, copied in a great measure from +ourselves. Hitherto the American office has not taken upon itself the +task of returning to their writers undelivered and undeliverable +letters. This it is now going to do. It is, as I have said, shaking +off from itself that terrible incubus the franking privilege. And the +expediency of introducing a money-order office into the States, +connected with the Post-office as it is with us, is even now under +consideration. Such an accommodation is much needed in the country; +but I doubt whether the present moment, looking at the fiscal state +of the country, is well adapted for establishing it.</p> + +<p>I was much struck by the great extravagance in small things +manifested by the Post-office through the States, and have reason to +believe that the same remark would be equally true with regard to +other public establishments. They use needless forms without +end,—making millions of entries which no one is ever expected to +regard. Their expenditure in stationery might, I think, be reduced by +one half, and the labour might be saved which is now wasted in the +abuse of that useless stationery. Their mail-bags are made in a +costly manner, and are often large beyond all proportion or +necessity. I could greatly lengthen this list if I were addressing +myself solely to Post-office people; but as I am not doing so, I will +close these semi-official remarks with an assurance to my colleagues +in Post-office work on the other side of the water that I greatly +respect what they have done, and trust that before long they may have +renewed opportunities for the prosecution of their good work.</p> + + +<p><a id="c14"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> +<h4>AMERICAN HOTELS.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>I find it impossible to resist the subject of inns. As I have gone on +with my journey, I have gone on with my book, and have spoken here +and there of American hotels as I have encountered them. But in the +States the hotels are so large an institution, having so much closer +and wider a bearing on social life than they do in any other country, +that I feel myself bound to treat them in a separate chapter as a +great national feature in themselves. They are quite as much thought +of in the nation as the legislature, or judicature, or literature of +the country; and any falling off in them, or any improvement in the +accommodation given, would strike the community as forcibly as a +change in the constitution, or an alteration in the franchise.</p> + +<p>Moreover I consider myself as qualified to write a chapter on +hotels;—not only on the hotels of America but on hotels generally. I +have myself been much too frequently a sojourner at hotels. I think I +know what an hotel should be, and what it should not be; and am +almost inclined to believe, in my pride, that I could myself fill the +position of a landlord with some chance of social success, though +probably with none of satisfactory pecuniary results.</p> + +<p>Of all hotels known to me, I am inclined to think that the Swiss are +the best. The things wanted at an hotel are, I fancy, mainly as +follows:—a clean bedroom with a good and clean bed,—and with it +also plenty of water. Good food, well dressed and served at +convenient hours, which hours should on occasions be allowed to +stretch themselves. Wines that shall be drinkable. Quick attendance. +Bills that shall not be absolutely extortionate, smiling faces, and +an absence of foul smells. There are many who desire more than +this;—who expect exquisite cookery, choice wines, subservient +domestics, distinguished consideration, and the strictest economy. +But they are uneducated travellers who are going through the +apprenticeship of their hotel lives;—who may probably never become +free of the travellers' guild, or learn to distinguish that which +they may fairly hope to attain from that which they can never +accomplish.</p> + +<p>Taking them as a whole I think that the Swiss hotels are the best. +They are perhaps a little close in the matter of cold water, but even +as to this, they generally give way to pressure. The pressure, +however, must not be violent, but gentle rather, and well continued. +Their bedrooms are excellent. Their cookery is good, and to the +outward senses is cleanly. The people are civil. The whole work of +the house is carried on upon fixed rules which tend to the comfort of +the establishment. They are not cheap, and not always quite honest. +But the exorbitance or dishonesty of their charges rarely exceeds a +certain reasonable scale, and hardly ever demands the bitter misery +of a remonstrance.</p> + +<p>The inns of the Tyrol are, I think, the cheapest I have known, +affording the traveller what he requires for half the price, or less +than half, that demanded in Switzerland. But the other half is taken +out in stench and nastiness. As tourists scatter themselves more +profusely, the prices of the Tyrol will no doubt rise. Let us hope +that increased prices will bring with them besoms, scrubbing-brushes, +and other much needed articles of cleanliness.</p> + +<p>The inns of the north of Italy are very good, and indeed, the Italian +inns throughout, as far as I know them, are much better than the name +they bear. The Italians are a civil, kindly people, and do for you, +at any rate, the best they can. Perhaps the unwary traveller may be +cheated. Ignorant of the language, he may be called on to pay more +than the man who speaks it, and who can bargain in the Italian +fashion as to price. It has often been my lot, I doubt not, to be so +cheated. But then I have been cheated with a grace that has been +worth all the money. The ordinary prices of Italian inns are by no +means high.</p> + +<p>I have seldom thoroughly liked the inns of Germany which I have +known. They are not clean, and water is very scarce. Smiles too are +generally wanting, and I have usually fancied myself to be regarded +as a piece of goods out of which so much profit was to be made.</p> + +<p>The dearest hotels I know are the French;—and certainly not the +best. In the provinces they are by no means so cleanly as those of +Italy. Their wines are generally abominable, and their cookery often +disgusting. In Paris grand dinners may no doubt be had, and luxuries +of every description,—except the luxury of comfort. Cotton-velvet +sofas and ormolu clocks stand in the place of convenient furniture, +and logs of wood, at a franc a log, fail to impart to you the heat +which the freezing cold of a Paris winter demands. They used to make +good coffee in Paris, but even that is a thing of the past. I fancy +that they import their brandy from England, and manufacture their own +cigars. French wines you may get good at a Paris hotel; but you would +drink them as good and much cheaper if you bought them in London and +took them with you.</p> + +<p>The worst hotels I know are in the Havana. Of course I do not speak +here of chance mountain huts, or small far-off roadside hostels in +which the traveller may find himself from time to time. All such are +to be counted apart, and must be judged on their merits, by the +circumstances which surround them. But with reference to places of +wide resort, nothing can beat the hotels of the Havana in filth, +discomfort, habits of abomination, and absence of everything which +the traveller desires. All the world does not go to the Havana, and +the subject is not, therefore, one of general interest. But in +speaking of hotels at large, so much I find myself bound to say.</p> + +<p>In all the countries to which I have alluded the guests of the house +are expected to sit down together at one table. Conversation is at +any rate possible, and there is the show if not the reality of +society.</p> + +<p>And now one word as to English inns. I do not think that we +Englishmen have any great right to be proud of them. The worst about +them is that they deteriorate from year to year instead of becoming +better. We used to hear much of the comfort of the old English +wayside inn, but the old English wayside inn has gone. The railway +hotel has taken its place, and the railway hotel is too frequently +gloomy, desolate, comfortless, and almost suicidal. In England too, +since the old days are gone, there are wanting the landlord's bow, +and the kindly smile of his stout wife. Who now knows the landlord of +an inn, or cares to inquire whether or no there be a landlady? The +old welcome is wanting, and the cheery warm air which used to atone +for the bad port and tough beef has passed away;—while the port is +still bad and the beef too often tough.</p> + +<p>In England, and only in England, as I believe, is maintained in hotel +life the theory of solitary existence. The sojourner at an English +inn,—unless he be a commercial traveller, and, as such, a member of +a universal, peripatetic tradesman's club,—lives alone. He has his +breakfast alone, his dinner alone, his pint of wine alone, and his +cup of tea alone. It is not considered practicable that two strangers +should sit at the same table, or cut from the same dish. Consequently +his dinner is cooked for him separately, and the hotel keeper can +hardly afford to give him a good dinner. He has two modes of life +from which to choose. He either lives in a public room,—called a +coffee-room,—and there occupies during his comfortless meal a +separate small table too frequently removed from fire and light, +though generally exposed to draughts; or else he indulges in the +luxury of a private sitting-room, and endeavours to find solace on an +old horse-hair sofa, at the cost of seven shillings a day. His +bedroom is not so arranged that he can use it as a sitting-room. +Under either phase of life he can rarely find himself comfortable, +and therefore he lives as little at an hotel as the circumstances of +his business or of his pleasure will allow. I do not think that any +of the requisites of a good inn are habitually to be found in +perfection at our Kings' Heads and White Horses, though the +falling-off is not so lamentably distressing as it sometimes is in +other countries. The bedrooms are dingy rather than dirty. Extra +payment to servants will generally produce a tub of cold water. The +food is never good, but it is usually eatable, and you may have it +when you please. The wines are almost always bad, but the traveller +can fall back upon beer. The attendance is good, provided always that +the payment for it is liberal. The cost is generally too high, and +unfortunately grows larger and larger from year to year. Smiling +faces are out of the question unless specially paid for; and as to +that matter of foul smells there is often room for improvement. An +English inn to a solitary traveller without employment is an +embodiment of dreary desolation. The excuse to be made for this is +that English men and women do not live much at inns in their own +country.</p> + +<p>The American inn differs from all those of which I have made mention, +and is altogether an institution apart, and a thing of itself. Hotels +in America are very much larger and more numerous than in other +countries. They are to be found in all towns, and I may almost say in +all villages. In England and on the Continent we find them on the +recognized routes of travel and in towns of commercial or social +importance. On unfrequented roads and in villages there is usually +some small house of public entertainment in which the unexpected +traveller may obtain food and shelter, and in which the expected boon +companions of the neighbourhood smoke their nightly pipes, and drink +their nightly tipple. But in the States of America the first sign of +an incipient settlement is an hotel five stories high, with an +office, a bar, a cloak-room, three gentlemen's parlours, two ladies' +parlours, a ladies' entrance, and two hundred bedrooms.</p> + +<p>These, of course, are all built with a view to profit, and it may be +presumed that in each case the originators of the speculation enter +into some calculation as to their expected guests. Whence are to come +the sleepers in those two hundred bedrooms, and who is to pay for the +gaudy sofas and numerous lounging chairs of the ladies' parlours? In +all other countries the expectation would extend itself simply to +travellers;—to travellers or to strangers sojourning in the land. +But this is by no means the case as to these speculations in America. +When the new hotel rises up in the wilderness, it is presumed that +people will come there with the express object of inhabiting it. The +hotel itself will create a population,—as the railways do. With us +railways run to the towns; but in the States the towns run to the +railways. It is the same thing with the hotels.</p> + +<p>Housekeeping is not popular with young married people in America, and +there are various reasons why this should be so. Men there are not +fixed in their employment as they are with us. If a young Benedict +cannot get along as a lawyer at Salem, perhaps he may thrive as a +shoemaker at Thermopylæ. Jefferson B. Johnson fails in the lumber +line at Eleutheria, but hearing of an opening for a Baptist preacher +at Big Mud Creek moves himself off with his wife and three children +at a week's notice. Aminadab Wiggs takes an engagement as a clerk at +a steam-boat office on the Pongowonga river, but he goes to his +employment with an inward conviction that six months will see him +earning his bread elsewhere. Under such circumstances even a large +wardrobe is a nuisance, and a collection of furniture would be as +appropriate as a drove of elephants. Then, again, young men and women +marry without any means already collected on which to commence their +life. They are content to look forward and to hope that such means +will come. In so doing they are guilty of no imprudence. It is the +way of the country; and, if the man be useful for anything, +employment will certainly come to him. But he must live on the fruits +of that employment, and can only pay his way from week to week and +from day to day. And as a third reason I think I may allege that the +mode of life found in these hotels is liked by the people who +frequent them. It is to their taste. They are happy, or at any rate +contented, at these hotels, and do not wish for household cares. As +to the two first reasons which I have given I can agree as to the +necessity of the case, and quite concur as to the expediency of +marriage under such circumstances. But as to that matter of taste, I +cannot concur at all. Anything more forlorn than a young married +woman at an American hotel, it is impossible to conceive.</p> + +<p>Such are the guests expected for those two hundred bedrooms. The +chance travellers are but chance additions to these, and are not +generally the main stay of the house. As a matter of course the +accommodation for travellers which these hotels afford increases and +creates travelling. Men come because they know they will be fed and +bedded at a moderate cost, and in an easy way, suited to their +tastes. With us, and throughout Europe, inquiry is made before an +unaccustomed journey is commenced, on that serious question of +wayside food and shelter. But in the States no such question is +needed. A big hotel is a matter of course, and therefore men travel. +Everybody travels in the States. The railways and the hotels have +between them so churned up the people that an untravelled man or +woman is a rare animal. We are apt to suppose that travellers make +roads, and that guests create hotels; but the cause and effect run +exactly in the other way. I am almost disposed to think that we +should become cannibals if gentlemen's legs and ladies' arms were +hung up for sale in purveyors' shops.</p> + +<p>After this fashion and with these intentions hotels are built. Size +and an imposing exterior are the first requisitions. Everything about +them must be on a large scale. A commanding exterior, and a certain +interior dignity of demeanour is more essential than comfort or +civility. Whatever an hotel may be it must not be "mean." In the +American vernacular the word "mean" is very significant. A mean white +in the South is a man who owns no slaves. Men are often mean, but +actions are seldom so called. A man feels mean when the bluster is +taken out of him. A mean hotel, conducted in a quiet unostentatious +manner, in which the only endeavour made had reference to the comfort +of a few guests, would find no favour in the States. These hotels are +not called by the name of any sign, as with us in our provinces. +There are no "Presidents' Heads" or "General Scotts." Nor by the name +of the landlord, or of some former landlord, as with us in London, +and in many cities of the Continent. Nor are they called from some +country or city which may have been presumed at some time to have had +special patronage for the establishment. In the nomenclature of +American hotels the speciality of American hero-worship is shown, as +in the nomenclature of their children. Every inn is a house, and +these houses are generally named after some hero, little known +probably in the world at large, but highly estimated in that locality +at the moment of the christening.</p> + +<p>They are always built on a plan which to a European seems to be most +unnecessarily extravagant in space. It is not unfrequently the case +that the greater portion of the ground-floor is occupied by rooms and +halls which make no return to the house whatever. The visitor enters +a great hall by the front door, and almost invariably finds it full +of men who are idling about, sitting round on stationary seats, +talking in a listless manner, and getting through their time as +though the place were a public lounging room. And so it is. The +chances are that not half the crowd are guests at the hotel. I will +now follow the visitor as he makes his way up to the office. Every +hotel has an office. To call this place the bar, as I have done too +frequently, is a lamentable error. The bar is held in a separate room +appropriated solely to drinking. To the office, which is in fact a +long open counter, the guest walks up, and there inscribes his name +in a book. This inscription was to me a moment of misery which I +could never go through with equanimity. As the name is written, and +as the request for accommodation is made, half a dozen loungers look +over your name and listen to what you say. They listen attentively, +and spell your name carefully, but the great man behind the bar does +not seem to listen or to heed you. Your destiny is never imparted to +you on the instant. If your wife or any other woman be with you, (the +word "lady" is made so absolutely distasteful in American hotels that +I cannot bring myself to use it in writing of them) she has been +carried off to a lady's waiting room, and there remains in august +wretchedness till the great man at the bar shall have decided on her +fate. I have never been quite able to fathom the mystery of these +delays. I think they must have originated in the necessity of waiting +to see what might be the influx of travellers at the moment, and then +have become exaggerated and brought to their present normal state by +the gratified feeling of almost divine power with which for the time +it invests that despotic arbiter. I have found it always the same, +though arriving with no crowd, by a conveyance of my own, when no +other expectant guests were following me. The great man has listened +to my request in silence, with an imperturbable face, and has usually +continued his conversation with some loafing friend, who at the time +is probably scrutinizing my name in the book. I have often suffered +in patience; but patience is not specially the badge of my tribe, and +I have sometimes spoken out rather freely. If I may presume to give +advice to my travelling countrymen how to act under such +circumstances I should recommend to them freedom of speech rather +than patience. The great man when freely addressed generally opens +his eyes, and selects the key of your room without further delay. I +am inclined to think that the selection will not be made in any way +to your detriment by reason of that freedom of speech. The lady in +the ballad who spoke out her own mind to Lord Bateman was sent to her +home honourably in a coach and three. Had she held her tongue we are +justified in presuming that she would have been returned on a pillion +behind a servant.</p> + +<p>I have been greatly annoyed by that silence on the part of the hotel +clerk. I have repeatedly asked for room, and received no syllable in +return. I have persisted in my request, and the clerk has nodded his +head at me. Until a traveller is known, these gentlemen are +singularly sparing of speech,—especially in the West. The same +economy of words runs down from the great man at the office all +through the servants of the establishment. It arises, I believe, +entirely from that want of courtesy which democratic institutions +create. The man whom you address has to make a battle against the +state of subservience, presumed to be indicated by his position, and +he does so by declaring his indifference to the person on whose wants +he is paid to attend. I have been honoured on one or two occasions by +the subsequent intimacy of these great men at the hotel offices, and +have then found them ready enough at conversation.</p> + +<p>That necessity of making your request for rooms before a public +audience is not in itself agreeable, and sometimes entails a +conversation which might be more comfortably made in private. "What +do you mean by a dressing-room, and why do you want one?" Now that is +a question which an Englishman feels awkward at answering before +five-and-twenty Americans, with open mouths and eager eyes; but it +has to be answered. When I left England, I was assured that I should +not find any need for a separate sitting-room, seeing that +drawing-rooms more or less sumptuous were prepared for the +accommodation of "ladies." At first we attempted to follow the advice +given to us, but we broke down. A man and his wife travelling from +town to town, and making no sojourn on his way, may eat and sleep at +an hotel without a private parlour. But an Englishwoman cannot live +in comfort for a week, or even, in comfort, for a day, at any of +these houses, without a sitting-room for herself. The ladies' +drawing-room is a desolate wilderness. The American women themselves +do not use it. It is generally empty, or occupied by some forlorn +spinster, eliciting harsh sounds from the wretched piano which it +contains.</p> + +<p>The price at these hotels throughout the Union is nearly always the +same, viz., two and a half dollars a day, for which a bedroom is +given, and as many meals as the guest can contrive to eat. This is +the price for chance guests. The cost to monthly boarders is, I +believe, not more than the half of this. Ten shillings a day, +therefore, covers everything that is absolutely necessary, servants +included. And this must be said in praise of these inns: that the +traveller can compute his expenses accurately, and can absolutely +bring them within that daily sum of ten shillings. This includes a +great deal of eating, a great deal of attendance, the use of +reading-rooms and smoking-rooms—which, however, always seem to be +open to the public as well as to the guests,—and a bedroom with +accommodation which is at any rate as good as the average +accommodation of hotels in Europe. In the large Eastern towns baths +are attached to many of the rooms. I always carry my own, and have +never failed in getting water. It must be acknowledged that the price +is very low. It is so low that I believe it affords, as a rule, no +profit whatsoever. The profit is made upon extra charges, and they +are higher than in any other country that I have visited. They are so +high that I consider travelling in America, for an Englishman with +his wife or family, to be more expensive than travelling in any part +of Europe. First in the list of extras comes that matter of the +sitting-room, and by that for a man and his wife the whole first +expense is at once doubled. The ordinary charge is five dollars, or +one pound a day! A guest intending to stay for two or three weeks at +an hotel, or perhaps for one week, may, by agreement, have this +charge reduced. At one inn I stayed a fortnight, and having made no +such agreement was charged the full sum. I felt myself stirred up to +complain, and did in that case remonstrate. I was asked how much I +wished to have returned,—for the bill had been paid,—and the sum I +suggested was at once handed to me. But even with such reduction the +price is very high, and at once makes the American hotel expensive. +Wine also at these houses is very costly, and very bad. The usual +price is two dollars, or eight shillings, a bottle. The people of the +country rarely drink wine at dinner in the hotels. When they do so, +they drink champagne; but their normal drinking is done separately, +at the bar, chiefly before dinner, and at a cheap rate. "A drink," +let it be what it may, invariably costs a dime, or fivepence. But if +you must have a glass of sherry with your dinner, it costs two +dollars; for sherry does not grow into pint bottles in the States. +But the guest who remains for two days can have his wine kept for +him. Washing also is an expensive luxury. The price of this is +invariable, being always fourpence for everything washed. A cambric +handkerchief or muslin dress all come out at the same price. For +those who are cunning in the matter this may do very well; but for +men and women whose cuffs and collars are numerous it becomes +expensive. The craft of those who are cunning is shown, I think, in +little internal washings, by which the cambric handkerchiefs are kept +out of the list, while the muslin dresses are placed upon it. I am +led to this surmise by the energetic measures taken by the hotel +keepers to prevent such domestic washings, and by the denunciations +which in every hotel are pasted up in every room against the +practice. I could not at first understand why I was always warned +against washing my own clothes in my own bedroom, and told that no +foreign laundress could on any account be admitted into the house. +The injunctions given on this head are almost frantic in their +energy, and therefore I conceive that hotel keepers find themselves +exposed to much suffering in the matter. At these hotels they wash +with great rapidity, sending you back your clothes in four or five +hours if you desire it.</p> + +<p>Another very stringent order is placed before the face of all +visitors at American hotels, desiring them on no account to leave +valuable property in their rooms. I presume that there must have been +some difficulty in this matter in bygone years, for in every State a +law has been passed declaring that hotel keepers shall not be held +responsible for money or jewels stolen out of rooms in their houses, +provided that they are furnished with safes for keeping such money, +and give due caution to their guests on the subject. The due caution +is always given, but I have seldom myself taken any notice of it. I +have always left my portmanteau open, and have kept my money usually +in a travelling desk in my room. But I never to my knowledge lost +anything. The world, I think, gives itself credit for more thieves +than it possesses. As to the female servants at American inns, they +are generally all that is disagreeable. They are uncivil, impudent, +dirty, slow,—provoking to a degree. But I believe that they keep +their hands from picking and stealing.</p> + +<p>I never yet made a single comfortable meal at an American hotel, or +rose from my breakfast or dinner with that feeling of satisfaction +which should, I think, be felt at such moments in a civilized land in +which cookery prevails as an art. I have had enough, and have been +healthy and am thankful. But that thankfulness is altogether a matter +apart, and does not bear upon the question. If need be I can eat food +that is disagreeable to my palate, and make no complaint. But I hold +it to be compatible with the principles of an advanced Christianity +to prefer food that is palatable. I never could get any of that kind +at an American hotel. All meal-times at such houses were to me +periods of disagreeable duty; and at this moment, as I write these +lines at the hotel in which I am still staying, I pine for an English +leg of mutton. But I do not wish it to be supposed that the fault of +which I complain,—for it is a grievous fault,—is incidental to +America as a nation. I have stayed in private houses, and have daily +sat down to dinners quite as good as any my own kitchen could afford +me. Their dinner parties are generally well done, and as a people +they are by no means indifferent to the nature of their comestibles. +It is of the hotels that I speak, and of them I again say that eating +in them is a disagreeable task,—a painful labour. It is as a +schoolboy's lesson, or the six hours' confinement of a clerk at his +desk.</p> + +<p>The mode of eating is as follows. Certain feeding hours are named, +which generally include nearly all the day. Breakfast from six till +ten. Dinner from one till five. Tea from six till nine. Supper from +nine till twelve. When the guest presents himself at any of these +hours he is marshalled to a seat, and a bill is put into his hand +containing the names of all the eatables then offered for his choice. +The list is incredibly and most unnecessarily long. Then it is that +you will see care written on the face of the American hotel liver, as +he studies the programme of the coming performance. With men this +passes off unnoticed, but with young girls the appearance of the +thing is not attractive. The anxious study, the elaborate reading of +the daily book, and then the choice proclaimed with clear +articulation. "Boiled mutton and caper sauce, roast duck, hashed +venison, mashed potatoes, poached eggs and spinach, stewed tomatoes. +Yes; and waiter,—some squash." There is no false delicacy in the +voice by which this order is given, no desire for a gentle whisper. +The dinner is ordered with the firm determination of an American +heroine, and in some five minutes' time all the little dishes appear +at once, and the lady is surrounded by her banquet.</p> + +<p>How I did learn to hate those little dishes and their greasy +contents! At a London eating-house things are often not very nice, +but your meat is put on a plate and comes before you in an edible +shape. At these hotels it is brought to you in horrid little oval +dishes, and swims in grease. Gravy is not an institution at American +hotels, but grease has taken its place. It is palpable, undisguised +grease, floating in rivers,—not grease caused by accidental bad +cookery, but grease on purpose. A beef-steak is not a beef-steak +unless a quarter of a pound of butter be added to it. Those horrid +little dishes! If one thinks of it how could they have been made to +contain Christian food? Every article in that long list is liable to +the call of any number of guests for four hours. Under such +circumstances how can food be made eatable? Your roast mutton is +brought to you raw;—if you object to that you are supplied with meat +that has been four times brought before the public. At hotels on the +continent of Europe different dinners are cooked at different hours, +but here the same dinner is kept always going. The house breakfast is +maintained on a similar footing. Huge boilers of tea and coffee are +stewed down and kept hot. To me those meals were odious. It is of +course open to any one to have separate dinners and separate +breakfasts in his own room; but by this little is gained and much is +lost. He or she who is so exclusive pays twice over for such +meals,—as they are charged as extras on the bill; and, after all, +receives the advantage of no exclusive cooking. Particles from the +public dinners are brought to the private room, and the same odious +little dishes make their appearance.</p> + +<p>But the most striking peculiarity of the American hotels is in their +public rooms. Of the ladies' drawing-room I have spoken. There are +two and sometimes three in one hotel, and they are generally +furnished at any rate expensively. It seems to me that the space and +the furniture are almost thrown away. At watering places, and +sea-side summer hotels they are, I presume, used; but at ordinary +hotels they are empty deserts. The intention is good, for they are +established with the view of giving to ladies at hotels the comforts +of ordinary domestic life; but they fail in their effect. Ladies will +not make themselves happy in any room, or with ever so much gilded +furniture, unless some means of happiness be provided for them. Into +these rooms no book is ever brought, no needle-work is introduced; +from them no clatter of many tongues is ever heard. On a marble table +in the middle of the room always stands a large pitcher of iced +water, and from this a cold, damp, uninviting air is spread through +the atmosphere of the ladies' drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Below, on the ground floor, there is, in the first place, the huge +entrance hall, at the back of which, behind a bar, the great man of +the place keeps the keys and holds his court. There are generally +seats around it, in which smokers sit,—or men not smoking but +ruminating. Opening off from this are reading rooms, smoking rooms, +shaving rooms, drinking rooms, parlours for gentlemen in which +smoking is prohibited, and which are generally as desolate as the +ladies' sitting-rooms above. In those other more congenial chambers +is always gathered together a crowd, apparently belonging in no way +to the hotel. It would seem that a great portion of an American inn +is as open to the public as an Exchange, or as the wayside of the +street. In the West, during the early months of this war, the +traveller would always see many soldiers among the crowd,—not only +officers, but privates. They sit in public seats, silent but +apparently contented, sometimes for an hour together. All Americans +are given to gatherings such as these. It is the much-loved +institution to which the name of "loafing" has been given.</p> + +<p>I do not like the mode of life which prevails in the American hotels. +I have come across exceptions, and know one or two that are +comfortable,—always excepting that matter of eating and drinking. +But taking them as a whole I do not like their mode of life. I feel, +however, bound to add that the hotels of Canada, which are kept, I +think, always after the same fashion, are infinitely worse than those +of the United States. I do not like the American hotels; but I must +say in their favour that they afford an immense amount of +accommodation. The traveller is rarely told that an hotel is full, so +that travelling in America is without one of those great perils to +which it is subject in Europe. It must also be acknowledged that for +the ordinary purposes of a traveller they are very cheap.</p> + + +<p><a id="c15"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3> +<h4>LITERATURE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>In speaking of the literature of any country we are, I think, too +much inclined to regard the question as one appertaining exclusively +to the writers of books,—not acknowledging, as we should do, that +the literary character of a people will depend much more upon what it +reads than what it writes. If we can suppose any people to have an +intimate acquaintance with the best literary efforts of other +countries, we should hardly be correct in saying that such a people +had no literary history of their own because it had itself produced +nothing in literature. And, with reference to those countries which +have been most fertile in the production of good books, I doubt +whether their literary histories would not have more to tell of those +ages in which much has been read than of those in which much has been +written.</p> + +<p>The United States have been by no means barren in the production of +literature. The truth is so far from this that their literary +triumphs are perhaps those which of all their triumphs are the most +honourable to them, and which, considering their position as a young +nation, are the most permanently satisfactory. But though they have +done much in writing, they have done much more in reading. As +producers they are more than respectable, but as consumers they are +the most conspicuous people on the earth. It is impossible to speak +of the subject of literature in America without thinking of the +readers rather than of the writers. In this matter their position is +different from that of any other great people, seeing that they share +the advantages of our language. An American will perhaps consider +himself to be as little like an Englishman as he is like a Frenchman. +But he reads Shakespeare through the medium of his own vernacular, +and has to undergo the penance of a foreign tongue before he can +understand Molière. He separates himself from England in politics and +perhaps in affection; but he cannot separate himself from England in +mental culture. It may be suggested that an Englishman has the same +advantages as regards America; and it is true that he is obtaining +much of such advantage. Irving, Prescott, and Longfellow are the same +to England as though she herself had produced them. But the balance +of advantage must be greatly in favour of America. We have given her +the work of four hundred years, and have received back in return the +work of fifty.</p> + +<p>And of this advantage the Americans have not been slow to avail +themselves. As consumers of literature they are certainly the most +conspicuous people on the earth. Where an English publisher contents +himself with thousands of copies an American publisher deals with ten +thousands. The sale of a new book, which in numbers would amount to a +considerable success with us, would with them be a lamentable +failure. This of course is accounted for, as regards the author and +the publisher, by the difference of price at which the book is +produced. One thousand in England will give perhaps as good a return +as the ten thousand in America. But as regards the readers there can +be no such equalization. The thousand copies cannot spread themselves +as do the ten thousand. The one book at a guinea cannot multiply +itself, let Mr. Mudie do what he will, as do the ten books at a +dollar. Ultimately there remain the ten books against the one; and if +there be not the ten readers against the one, there are five, or +four, or three. Everybody in the States has books about his house. +"And so has everybody in England," will say my English reader, +mindful of the libraries, or book-rooms, or book-crowded +drawing-rooms of his friends and acquaintances. But has my English +reader who so replies examined the libraries of many English cabmen, +of ticket porters, of warehousemen, and of agricultural labourers? I +cannot take upon myself to say that I have done so with any close +search in the States. But when it has been in my power I have done +so, and I have always found books in such houses as I have entered. +The amount of printed matter which is poured forth in streams from +the printing-presses of the great American publishers is, however, a +better proof of the truth of what I say than anything that I can have +seen myself.</p> + +<p>But of what class are the books that are so read? There are many who +think that reading in itself is not good unless the matter read be +excellent. I do not myself quite agree with this, thinking that +almost any reading is better than none; but I will of course admit +that good matter is better than bad matter. The bulk of the +literature consumed in the States is no doubt composed of novels,—as +it is also, now-a-days, in this country. Whether or no an unlimited +supply of novels for young people is or is not advantageous, I will +not here pretend to say. The general opinion with ourselves I take it +is, that novels are bad reading if they be bad of their kind. Novels +that are not bad are now-a-days accepted generally as indispensable +to our households. Whatever may be the weakness of the American +literary taste in this respect, it is, I think, a weakness which we +share. There are more novel readers among them than with us, but +only, I think, in the proportion that there are more readers.</p> + +<p>I have no hesitation in saying, that works by English authors are +more popular in the States than those written by themselves; and, +among English authors of the present day, they by no means confine +themselves to the novelists. The English names of whom I heard most +during my sojourn in the States were perhaps those of Dickens, +Tennyson, Buckle, Tom Hughes, Martin Tupper, and Thackeray. As the +owners of all these names are still living, I am not going to take +upon myself the delicate task of criticising the American taste. I +may not perhaps coincide with them in every respect. But if I be +right as to the names which I have given, such a selection shows that +they do get beyond novels. I have little doubt but that many more +copies of Dickens's novels have been sold during the last three +years, than of the works either of Tennyson or of Buckle; but such +also has been the case in England. It will probably be admitted that +one copy of the "Civilization" should be held as being equal to +five-and-twenty of "Nicholas Nickleby," and that a single "In +Memoriam" may fairly weigh down half-a-dozen "Pickwicks." Men and +women after their day's work are not always up to the "Civilization." +As a rule they are generally up to "Proverbial Philosophy," and this, +perhaps, may have had something to do with the great popularity of +that very popular work.</p> + +<p>I would not have it supposed that American readers despise their own +authors. The Americans are very proud of having a literature of their +own. Among the literary names which they honour, there are none, I +think, more honourable than those of Cooper and Irving. They like to +know that their modern historians are acknowledged as great authors, +and as regards their own poets will sometimes demand your admiration +for strains with which you hardly find yourself to be familiar. But +English books are, I think, the better loved;—even the English books +of the present day. And even beyond this,—with those who choose to +indulge in the costly luxuries of literature,—books printed in +England are more popular than those which are printed in their own +country; and yet the manner in which the American publishers put out +their work is very good. The book sold there at a dollar, or a dollar +and a quarter, quite equals our ordinary five shilling volume. +Nevertheless English books are preferred,—almost as strongly as are +French bonnets. Of books absolutely printed and produced in England +the supply in the States is of course small. They must necessarily be +costly, and as regards new books, are always subjected to the rivalry +of a cheaper American copy. But of the reprinted works of English +authors the supply is unlimited, and the sale very great. Almost +everything is reprinted; certainly everything which can be said to +attain any home popularity. I do not know how far English authors may +be aware of the fact; but it is undoubtedly a fact that their +influence as authors is greater on the other side of the Atlantic +than on this. It is there that they have their most numerous school +of pupils. It is there that they are recognized as teachers by +hundreds of thousands. It is of those thirty millions that they +should think, at any rate in part, when they discuss within their own +hearts that question which all authors do discuss, whether that which +they write shall in itself be good or bad,—be true or false. A +writer in England may not, perhaps, think very much of this with +reference to some trifle of which his English publisher proposes to +sell some seven or eight hundred copies. But he begins to feel that +he should have thought of it when he learns that twenty or thirty +thousand copies of the same have been scattered through the length +and breadth of the United States. The English author should feel that +he writes for the widest circle of readers ever yet obtained by the +literature of any country. He provides not only for his own country +and for the States, but for the readers who are rising by millions in +the British colonies. Canada is supplied chiefly from the presses of +Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, but she is supplied with the +works of the mother country. India, as I take it, gets all her books +direct from London, as do the West Indies. Whether or no the +Australian colonies have as yet learned to reprint our books I do not +know, but I presume that they cannot do so as cheaply as they can +import them. London with us, and the three cities which I have named +on the other side of the Atlantic, are the places at which this +literature is manufactured; but the demand in the western hemisphere +is becoming more brisk than that which the old world creates. There +is, I have no doubt, more literary matter printed in London than in +all America put together. A greater extent of letter-press is put up +in London than in the three publishing cities of the States. But the +number of copies issued by the American publishers is so much greater +than those which ours put forth, that the greater bulk of literature +is with them. If this be so, the demand with them is of course +greater than it is with us.</p> + +<p>I have spoken here of the privilege which an English author enjoys by +reason of the ever widening circle of readers to whom he writes. I +speak of the privilege of an English author as distinguished from +that of an American author. I profess my belief that in the United +States an English author has an advantage over one of that country +merely in the fact of his being English, as a French milliner has +undoubtedly an advantage in her nationality let her merits or +demerits as a milliner be what they may. I think that English books +are better liked because they are English. But I do not know that +there is any feeling with us either for or against an author because +he is American. I believe that Longfellow stands in our judgment +exactly where he would have stood had he been a tutor at a college in +Oxford instead of a Professor at Cambridge in Massachusetts. Prescott +is read among us as an historian without any reference as to his +nationality, and by many, as I take it, in absolute ignorance of his +nationality. Hawthorne, the novelist, is quite as well known in +England as he is in his own country. But I do not know that to either +of these three is awarded any favour or is denied any justice because +he is an American. Washington Irving published many of his works in +this country, receiving very large sums for them from Mr. Murray, and +I fancy that in dealing with his publisher he found neither advantage +nor disadvantage in his nationality;—that is, of course, advantage +or disadvantage in reference to the light in which his works would be +regarded. It must be admitted that there is no jealousy in the States +against English authors. I think that there is a feeling in their +favour, but no one can at any rate allege that there is a feeling +against them. I think I may also assert on the part of my own country +that there is no jealousy here against American authors. As regards +the tastes of the people, the works of each country flow freely +through the other. That is as it should be. But when we come to the +mode of supply, things are not exactly as they should be; and I do +not believe that any one will contradict me when I say that the fault +is with the Americans.</p> + +<p>I presume that all my readers know the meaning of the word copyright. +A man's copyright, or right in his copy, is that amount of legal +possession in the production of his brains which has been secured to +him by the laws of his own country and by the laws of others. Unless +an author were secured by such laws, his writings would be of but +little pecuniary value to him, as the right of printing and selling +them would be open to all the world. In England and in America, and +as I conceive in all countries possessing a literature, there is such +a law securing to authors and to their heirs for a term of years the +exclusive right over their own productions. That this should be so in +England as regards English authors is so much a matter of course, +that the copyright of an author would seem to be as naturally his own +as a gentleman's deposit at his bank or his little investment in the +three per cents. The right of an author to the value of his own +productions in other countries than his own is not so much a matter +of course; but nevertheless, if such productions have any value in +other countries, that value should belong to him. This has been felt +to be the case between England and France, and treaties have been +made securing his own property to the author in each country. The +fact that the languages of England and France are different makes the +matter one of comparatively small moment. But it has been found to be +for the honour and profit of the two countries, that there should be +such a law, and an international copyright does exist. But if such an +arrangement be needed between two such countries as France and +England,—between two countries which do not speak the same language +or share the same literature,—how much more necessary must it be +between England and the United States? The literature of the one +country is the literature of the other. The poem that is popular in +London will certainly be popular in New York. The novel that is +effective among American ladies will be equally so with those of +England. There can be no doubt as to the importance of having a law +of copyright between the two countries. The only question can be as +to the expediency and the justice. At present there is no +international copyright between England and the United States, and +there is none because the States have declined to sanction any such +law. It is known by all who are concerned in the matter on either +side of the water that as far as Great Britain is concerned such a +law would meet with no impediment.</p> + +<p>Therefore it is to be presumed that the legislators of the States +think it expedient and just to dispense with any such law. I have +said that there can be no doubt as to the importance of the question, +seeing that the price of English literature in the States must be +most materially affected by it. Without such a law the Americans are +enabled to import English literature without paying for it. It is +open to any American publisher to reprint any work from an English +copy, and to sell his reprints without any permission obtained from +the English author or from the English publisher. The absolute +material which the American publisher sells, he takes, or can take, +for nothing. The paper, ink, and composition he supplies in the +ordinary way of business; but of the very matter which he professes +to sell,—of the book which is the object of his trade, he is enabled +to possess himself for nothing. If you, my reader, be a popular +author, an American publisher will take the choicest work of your +brain and make dollars out of it, selling thousands of copies of it +in his country, whereas you can, perhaps, only sell hundreds of it in +your own; and will either give you nothing for that he takes,—or +else will explain to you that he need give you nothing, and that in +paying you anything he subjects himself to the danger of seeing the +property which he has bought taken again from him by other persons. +If this be so that question whether or no there shall be a law of +international copyright between the two countries cannot be +unimportant.</p> + +<p>But it may be inexpedient that there shall be such a law. It may be +considered well, that as the influx of English books into America is +much greater than the out-flux of American books back to England, the +right of obtaining such books for nothing should be reserved, +although the country in doing so robs its own authors of the +advantage which should accrue to them from the English market. It +might perhaps be thought anything but smart to surrender such an +advantage by the passing of an international copyright bill. There +are not many trades in which the tradesman can get the chief of his +goods for nothing; and it may be thought, that the advantage arising +to the States from such an arrangement of circumstances should not be +abandoned. But how then about the justice? It would seem that the +less said upon that subject the better. I have heard no one say that +an author's property in his own works should not, in accordance with +justice, be insured to him in the one country as well as in the +other. I have seen no defence of the present position of affairs, on +the score of justice. The price of books would be enhanced by an +international copyright law, and it is well that books should be +cheap. That is the only argument used. So would mutton be cheap, if +it could be taken out of a butcher's shop for nothing!</p> + +<p>But I absolutely deny the expediency of the present position of the +matter, looking simply to the material advantage of the American +people in the matter, and throwing aside altogether that question of +justice. I must here, however, explain that I bring no charge +whatsoever against the American publishers. The English author is a +victim in their hands, but it is by no means their fault that he is +so. As a rule, they are willing to pay for the works of popular +English writers, but in arranging as to what payments they can make, +they must of course bear in mind the fact that they have no exclusive +right whatsoever in the things which they purchase. It is natural, +also, that they should bear in mind when making their purchases, and +arranging their prices, that they can have the very thing they are +buying without any payment at all, if the price asked do not suit +them. It is not of the publishers that I complain, or of any +advantage which they take; but of the legislators of the country, and +of the advantage which accrues, or is thought by them to accrue to +the American people from the absence of an international copyright +law. It is mean on their part to take such advantage if it existed; +and it is foolish in them to suppose that any such advantage can +accrue. The absence of any law of copyright no doubt gives to the +American publisher the power of reprinting the works of English +authors without paying for them,—seeing that the English author is +undefended. But the American publisher who brings out such a reprint +is equally undefended in his property. When he shall have produced +his book, his rival in the next street may immediately reprint it +from him, and destroy the value of his property by underselling him. +It is probable that the first American publisher will have made some +payment to the English author for the privilege of publishing the +book honestly,—of publishing it without recurrence to piracy,—and +in arranging his price with his customers he will be, of course, +obliged to debit the book with the amount so paid. If the author +receive ten cents a copy on every copy sold, the publisher must add +that ten cents to the price he charges for it. But he cannot do this +with security, because the book can be immediately reprinted, and +sold without any such addition to the price. The only security which +the American publisher has against the injury which may be so done to +him, is the power of doing other injury in return. The men who stand +high in the trade, and who are powerful because of the largeness of +their dealings, can in a certain measure secure themselves in this +way. Such a firm would have the power of crushing a small tradesman +who should interfere with him. But if the large firm commits any such +act of injustice, the little men in the trade have no power of +setting themselves right by counter injustice. I need hardly point +out what must be the effect of such a state of things upon the whole +publishing trade; nor need I say more to prove that some law which +shall regulate property in foreign copyrights would be as expedient +with reference to America, as it would be just towards England. But +the wrong done by America to herself does not rest here. It is true +that more English books are read in the States than American books in +England, but it is equally true that the literature of America is +daily gaining readers among us. That injury to which English authors +are subjected from the want of protection in the States, American +authors suffer from the want of protection here. One can hardly +believe that the legislators of the States would willingly place the +brightest of their own fellow countrymen in this position, because in +the event of a copyright bill being passed, the balance of advantage +would seem to accrue to England!</p> + +<p>Of the literature of the United States, speaking of literature in its +ordinary sense, I do not know that I need say much more. I regard the +literature of a country as its highest produce, believing it to be +more powerful in its general effect, and more beneficial in its +results, than either statesmanship, professional ability, religious +teaching, or commerce. And in no part of its national career have the +United States been so successful as in this. I need hardly explain +that I should commit a monstrous injustice were I to make a +comparison in this matter between England and America. Literature is +the child of leisure and wealth. It is the produce of minds which by +a happy combination of circumstances have been enabled to dispense +with the ordinary cares of the world. It can hardly be expected to +come from a young country, or from a new and still struggling people. +Looking around at our own magnificent colonies I hardly remember a +considerable name which they have produced, except that of my +excellent old friend, Sam Slick. Nothing, therefore, I think, shows +the settled greatness of the people of the States more significantly +than their firm establishment of a national literature. This +literature runs over all subjects. American authors have excelled in +poetry, in science, in history, in metaphysics, in law, in theology, +and in fiction. They have attempted all, and failed in none. What +Englishman has devoted a room to books, and devoted no portion of +that room to the productions of America?</p> + +<p>But I must say a word of literature in which I shall not speak of it +in its ordinary sense, and shall yet speak of it in that sense which +of all perhaps, in the present day, should be considered the most +ordinary. I mean the every-day periodical literature of the press. +Most of those who can read, it is to be hoped, read books; but all +who can read do read newspapers. Newspapers in this country are so +general that men cannot well live without them; but to men, and to +women also, in the United States they may be said to be the one chief +necessary of life. And yet in the whole length and breadth of the +United States there is not published a single newspaper which seems +to me to be worthy of praise.</p> + +<p>A really good newspaper,—one excellent at all points,—would indeed +be a triumph of honesty and of art! Not only is such a publication +much to be desired in America, but it is still to be desired in Great +Britain also. I used, in my younger days, to think of such a +newspaper as a possible publication, and in a certain degree I then +looked for it. Now I expect it only in my dreams. It should be +powerful without tyranny, popular without triumph, political without +party passion, critical without personal feeling, right in its +statements and just in its judgments, but right and just without +pride. It should be all but omniscient, but not conscious of its +omniscience; it should be moral, but not strait-laced; it should be +well-assured, but yet modest; though never humble, it should be free +from boasting. Above all these things it should be readable; and +above that again it should be true. I used to think that such a +newspaper might be produced, but I now sadly acknowledge to myself +the fact that humanity is not capable of any work so divine.</p> + +<p>The newspapers of the States generally may not only be said to have +reached none of the virtues here named, but to have fallen into all +the opposite vices. In the first place they are never true. In +requiring truth from a newspaper the public should not be anxious to +strain at gnats. A statement setting forth that a certain gooseberry +was five inches in circumference, whereas in truth its girth was only +two and a half, would give me no offence. Nor would I be offended at +being told that Lord Derby was appointed to the premiership, while in +truth the Queen had only sent for his lordship, having as yet come to +no definite arrangement. The demand for truth which may reasonably be +made upon a newspaper amounts to this,—that nothing should be stated +not believed to be true, and that nothing should be stated as to +which the truth is important, without adequate ground for such +belief. If a newspaper accuse me of swindling, it is not sufficient +that the writer believe me to be a swindler. He should have ample and +sufficient ground for such belief;—otherwise in making such a +statement he will write falsely. In our private life we all recognize +the fact that this is so. It is understood that a man is not a whit +the less a slanderer because he believes the slander which he +promulgates. But it seems to me that this is not sufficiently +recognized by many who write for the public press. Evil things are +said, and are probably believed by the writers; they are said with +that special skill for which newspaper writers have in our days +become so conspicuous, defying alike redress by law or redress by +argument; but they are too often said falsely. The words are not +measured when they are written, and they are allowed to go forth +without any sufficient inquiry into their truth. But if there be any +ground for such complaint here in England, that ground is multiplied +ten times—twenty times—in the States. This is not only shown in the +abuse of individuals, in abuse which is as violent as it is +perpetual, but in the treatment of every subject which is handled. +All idea of truth has been thrown overboard. It seems to be admitted +that the only object is to produce a sensation, and that it is +admitted by both writer and reader that sensation and veracity are +incompatible. Falsehood has become so much a matter of course with +American newspapers that it has almost ceased to be falsehood. Nobody +thinks me a liar because I deny that I am at home when I am in my +study. The nature of the arrangement is generally understood. So also +is it with the American newspapers.</p> + +<p>But American newspapers are also unreadable. It is very bad that they +should be false, but it is very surprising that they should be dull. +Looking at the general intelligence of the people, one would have +thought that a readable newspaper, put out with all pleasant +appurtenances of clear type, good paper, and good internal +arrangement, would have been a thing specially within their reach. +But they have failed in every detail. Though their papers are always +loaded with sensation headings, there are seldom sensation paragraphs +to follow. The paragraphs do not fit the headings. Either they cannot +be found, or if found they seem to have escaped from their proper +column to some distant and remote portion of the sheet. One is led to +presume that no American editor has any plan in the composition of +his newspaper. I never know whether I have as yet got to the very +heart's core of the daily journal, or whether I am still to go on +searching for that heart's core. Alas, it too often happens that +there is no heart's core! The whole thing seems to have been put out +at hap-hazard. And then the very writing is in itself below +mediocrity;—as though a power of expression in properly arranged +language was not required by a newspaper editor, either as regards +himself or as regards his subordinates. One is driven to suppose that +the writers for the daily press are not chosen with any view to such +capability. A man ambitious of being on the staff of an American +newspaper should be capable of much work, should be satisfied with +small pay, should be indifferent to the world's good usage, should be +rough, ready, and of long sufferance; but, above all, he should be +smart. The type of almost all American newspapers is wretched—I +think I may say of all;—so wretched that that alone forbids one to +hope for pleasure in reading them. They are ill-written, ill-printed, +ill-arranged, and in fact are not readable. They are bought, glanced +at, and thrown away.</p> + +<p>They are full of boastings,—not boastings simply as to their +country, their town, or their party,—but of boastings as to +themselves. And yet they possess no self-assurance. It is always +evident that they neither trust themselves, nor expect to be trusted. +They have made no approach to that omniscience which constitutes the +great marvel of our own daily press; but finding it necessary to +write as though they possessed it, they fall into blunders which are +almost as marvellous. Justice and right judgment are out of the +question with them. A political party end is always in view, and +political party warfare in America admits of any weapons. No +newspaper in America is really powerful or popular; and yet they are +tyrannical and overbearing. The "New York Herald" has, I believe, the +largest sale of any daily newspaper; but it is absolutely without +political power, and in these times of war has truckled to the +Government more basely than any other paper. It has an enormous sale, +but so far is it from having achieved popularity, that no man on any +side ever speaks a good word for it. All American newspapers deal in +politics as a matter of course; but their politics have ever regard +to men and never to measures. Vituperation is their natural political +weapon; but since the President's ministers have assumed the power of +stopping newspapers which are offensive to them, they have shown that +they can descend to a course of eulogy which is even below +vituperation.</p> + +<p>I shall be accused of using very strong language against the +newspaper press of America. I can only say that I do not know how to +make that language too strong. Of course there are newspapers as to +which the editors and writers may justly feel that my remarks, if +applied to them, are unmerited. In writing on such a subject, I can +only deal with the whole as a whole. During my stay in the country, I +did my best to make myself acquainted with the nature of its +newspapers, knowing in how great a degree its population depends on +them for its daily store of information. Newspapers in the States of +America have a much wider, or rather closer circulation, than they do +with us. Every man and almost every woman sees a newspaper daily. +They are very cheap, and are brought to every man's hand without +trouble to himself, at every turn that he takes in his day's work. It +would be much for the advantage of the country, that they should be +good of their kind; but, if I am able to form a correct judgment on +the matter, they are not good.</p> + + +<p><a id="c16"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> +<h4>CONCLUSION.<br /> </h4> + + +<p>In one of the earlier chapters of this volume,—now some seven or +eight chapters past,—I brought myself on my travels back to Boston. +It was not that my way homewards lay by that route, seeing that my +fate required me to sail from New York; but I could not leave the +country without revisiting my friends in Massachusetts. I have told +how I was there in the sleighing time, and how pleasant were the +mingled slush and frost of the snowy winter. In the morning the +streets would be hard and crisp, and the stranger would surely fall +if he were not prepared to walk on glaciers. In the afternoon he +would be wading through rivers,—and if properly armed at all points +with india-rubber, would enjoy the rivers as he waded. But the air +would be always kindly, and the east wind there, if it was east as I +was told, had none of that power of dominion which makes us all so +submissive to its behests in London. For myself, I believe that the +real east wind blows only in London.</p> + +<p>And when the snow went in Boston I went with it. The evening before I +left I watched them as they carted away the dirty uncouth blocks +which had been broken up with pickaxes in Washington Street, and was +melancholy as I reflected that I too should no longer be known in the +streets. My weeks in Boston had not been very many, but nevertheless +there were haunts there which I knew as though my feet had trodden +them for years. There were houses to which I could have gone with my +eyes blindfold; doors of which the latches were familiar to my hands; +faces which I knew so well that they had ceased to put on for me the +fictitious smiles of courtesy. Faces, houses, doors, and haunts, +where are they now? For me they are as though they had never been. +They are among the things which one would fain remember as one +remembers a dream. Look back on it as a vision and it is all +pleasant. But if you realize your vision and believe your dream to be +a fact, all your pleasure is obliterated by regret.</p> + +<p>I know that I shall never again be at Boston, and that I have said +that about the Americans which would make me unwelcome as a guest if +I were there. It is in this that my regret consists;—for this reason +that I would wish to remember so many social hours as though they had +been passed in sleep. They who will expect blessings from me, will +say among themselves that I have cursed them. As I read the pages +which I have written I feel that words which I intended for blessings +when I prepared to utter them have gone nigh to turn themselves into +curses.</p> + +<p>I have ever admired the United States as a nation. I have loved their +liberty, their prowess, their intelligence, and their progress. I +have sympathized with a people who themselves have had no sympathy +with passive security and inaction. I have felt confidence in them, +and have known, as it were, that their industry must enable them to +succeed as a people, while their freedom would insure to them success +as a nation. With these convictions I went among them wishing to +write of them good words,—words which might be pleasant for them to +read, while they might assist perhaps in producing a true impression +of them here at home. But among my good words there are so many which +are bitter, that I fear I shall have failed in my object as regards +them. And it seems to me, as I read once more my own pages, that in +saying evil things of my friends, I have used language stronger than +I intended; whereas I have omitted to express myself with emphasis +when I have attempted to say good things. Why need I have told of the +mud of Washington, or have exposed the nakedness of Cairo? Why did I +speak with such eager enmity of those poor women in the New York +cars, who never injured me, now that I think of it? Ladies of New +York, as I write this, the words which were written among you, are +printed and cannot be expunged; but I tender to you my apologies from +my home in England. And as to that Van Wyck committee! Might I not +have left those contractors to be dealt with by their own Congress, +seeing that that Congress committee was by no means inclined to spare +them? I might have kept my pages free from gall, and have sent my +sheets to the press unhurt by the conviction that I was hurting those +who had dealt kindly by me! But what then? Was any people ever truly +served by eulogy; or an honest cause furthered by undue praise?</p> + +<p>O my friends with thin skins,—and here I protest that a thick skin +is a fault not to be forgiven in a man or a nation, whereas a thin +skin is in itself a merit, if only the wearer of it will be the +master and not the slave of his skin,—O, my friends with thin skins, +ye whom I call my cousins and love as brethren, will ye not forgive +me these harsh words that I have spoken? They have been spoken in +love,—with a true love, a brotherly love, a love that has never been +absent from the heart while the brain was coining them. I had my task +to do, and I could not take the pleasant and ignore the painful. It +may perhaps be that as a friend I had better not have written either +good or bad. But no! To say that would indeed be to speak calumny of +your country. A man may write of you truly, and yet write that which +you would read with pleasure;—only that your skins are so thin! The +streets of Washington are muddy and her ways are desolate. The +nakedness of Cairo is very naked. And those ladies of New York—is it +not to be confessed that they are somewhat imperious in their +demands? As for the Van Wyck committee, have I not repeated the tale +which you have told yourselves? And is it not well that such tales +should be told?</p> + +<p>And yet ye will not forgive me; because your skins are thin, and +because the praise of others is the breath of your nostrils.</p> + +<p>I do not know that an American as an individual is more thin-skinned +than an Englishman; but as the representative of a nation it may +almost be said of him that he has no skin at all. Any touch comes at +once upon the net-work of his nerves and puts in operation all his +organs of feeling with the violence of a blow. And for this +peculiarity he has been made the mark of much ridicule. It shows +itself in two ways; either by extreme displeasure when anything is +said disrespectful of his country; or by the strong eulogy with which +he is accustomed to speak of his own institutions and of those of his +countrymen whom at the moment he may chance to hold in high esteem. +The manner in which this is done is often ridiculous. "Sir, what do +you think of our Mr. Jefferson Brick? Mr. Jefferson Brick, sir, is +one of our most remarkable men." And again. "Do you like our +institutions, sir? Do you find that philanthropy, religion, +philosophy, and the social virtues are cultivated on a scale +commensurate with the unequalled liberty and political advancement of +the nation?" There is something absurd in such a mode of address when +it is repeated often. But hero-worship and love of country are not +absurd; and do not these addresses show capacity for hero-worship and +an aptitude for the love of country? Jefferson Brick may not be a +hero; but a capacity for such worship is something. Indeed the +capacity is everything, for the need of a hero will at last produce +the hero needed. And it is the same with that love of country. A +people that are proud of their country will see that there is +something in their country to justify their pride. Do we not all of +us feel assured by the intense nationality of an American that he +will not desert his nation in the hour of her need? I feel that +assurance respecting them; and at those moments in which I am moved +to laughter by the absurdities of their addresses, I feel it the +strongest.</p> + +<p>I left Boston with the snow, and returning to New York found that the +streets there were dry and that the winter was nearly over. As I had +passed through New York to Boston the streets had been by no means +dry. The snow had lain in small mountains over which the omnibuses +made their way down Broadway, till at the bottom of that +thoroughfare, between Trinity Church and Bowling Green, alp became +piled upon alp, and all traffic was full of danger. The accursed love +of gain still took men to Wall Street, but they had to fight their +way thither through physical difficulties which must have made even +the state of the money market a matter almost of indifference to +them. They do not seem to me to manage the winter in New York so well +as they do in Boston. But now, on my last return thither, the alps +were gone, the roads were clear, and one could travel through the +city with no other impediment than those of treading on women's +dresses if one walked, or having to look after women's band-boxes and +pay their fares and take their change, if one used the omnibuses.</p> + +<p>And now had come the end of my adventures, and as I set my foot once +more upon the deck of the Cunard steamer I felt that my work was +done. Whether it were done ill or well, or whether indeed any +approach to the doing of it had been attained, all had been done that +I could accomplish. No further opportunity remained to me of seeing, +hearing, or of speaking. I had come out thither, having resolved to +learn a little that I might if possible teach that little to others; +and now the lesson was learned, or must remain unlearned. But in +carrying out my resolution I had gradually risen in my ambition, and +had mounted from one stage of inquiry to another, till at last I had +found myself burdened with the task of ascertaining whether or no the +Americans were doing their work as a nation well or ill; and now, if +ever, I must be prepared to put forth the result of my inquiry. As I +walked up and down the deck of the steamboat I confess I felt that I +had been somewhat arrogant.</p> + +<p>I had been a few days over six months in the States, and I was +engaged in writing a book of such a nature that a man might well +engage himself for six years, or perhaps for sixty, in obtaining the +materials for it. There was nothing in the form of government, or +legislature, or manners of the people, as to which I had not taken +upon myself to say something. I was professing to understand their +strength and their weakness; and was daring to censure their faults +and to eulogize their virtues. "Who is he," an American would say, +"that he comes and judges us? His judgment is nothing." "Who is he," +an Englishman would say, "that he comes and teaches us? His teaching +is of no value."</p> + +<p>In answer to this I have but a small plea to make. I have done my +best. I have nothing "extenuated, and have set down nought in +malice." I do feel that my volumes have blown themselves out into +proportions greater than I had intended;—greater not in mass of +pages, but in the matter handled. I am frequently addressing my own +muse, who I am well aware is not Clio, and asking her whither she is +wending. "Cease, thou wrong-headed one, to meddle with these +mysteries." I appeal to her frequently, but ever in vain. One cannot +drive one's muse, nor yet always lead her. Of the various women with +which a man is blessed, his muse is by no means the least difficult +to manage.</p> + +<p>But again I put in my slight plea. In doing as I have done, I have at +least done my best. I have endeavoured to judge without prejudice, +and to hear with honest ears, and to see with honest eyes. The +subject, moreover, on which I have written, is one which, though +great, is so universal in its bearings, that it may be said to admit +of being handled without impropriety by the unlearned as well as the +learned;—by those who have grown gray in the study of constitutional +lore, and by those who have simply looked on at the government of men +as we all look on at those matters which daily surround us. There are +matters as to which a man should never take a pen in hand unless he +has given to them much labour. The botanist must have learned to +trace the herbs and flowers before he can presume to tell us how God +has formed them. But the death of Hector is a fit subject for a boy's +verses though Homer also sang of it. I feel that there is scope for a +book on the United States' form of government as it was founded, and +as it has since framed itself, which might do honour to the life-long +studies of some one of those great constitutional pundits whom we +have among us; but, nevertheless, the plain words of a man who is no +pundit need not disgrace the subject, if they be honestly written, +and if he who writes them has in his heart an honest love of liberty. +Such were my thoughts as I walked the deck of the Cunard steamer. +Then I descended to my cabin, settled my luggage, and prepared for +the continuance of my work. It was fourteen days from that time +before I reached London, but the fourteen days to me were not +unpleasant. The demon of sea-sickness usually spares me, and if I can +find on board one or two who are equally fortunate—who can eat with +me, drink with me, and talk with me—I do not know that a passage +across the Atlantic is by any means a terrible evil.</p> + +<p>In finishing these volumes after the fashion in which they have been +written throughout, I feel that I am bound to express a final opinion +on two or three points, and that if I have not enabled myself to do +so, I have travelled through the country in vain. I am bound by the +very nature of my undertaking to say whether, according to such view +as I have enabled myself to take of them, the Americans have +succeeded as a nation politically and socially; and in doing this I +ought to be able to explain how far slavery has interfered with such +success. I am bound also, writing at the present moment, to express +some opinion as to the result of this war, and to declare whether the +North or the South may be expected to be victorious,—explaining in +some rough way what may be the results of such victory, and how such +results will affect the question of slavery. And I shall leave my +task unfinished if I do not say what may be the possible chances of +future quarrel between England and the States. That there has been +and is much hot blood and angry feeling no man doubts; but such angry +feeling has existed among many nations without any probability of +war. In this case, with reference to this ill-will that has certainly +established itself between us and that other people, is there any +need that it should be satisfied by war and allayed by blood?</p> + +<p>No one, I think, can doubt that the founders of the great American +Commonwealth made an error in omitting to provide some means for the +gradual extinction of slavery throughout the States. That error did +not consist in any liking for slavery. There was no feeling in favour +of slavery on the part of those who made themselves prominent at the +political birth of the nation. I think I shall be justified in saying +that at that time the opinion that slavery is itself a good thing, +that it is an institution of divine origin and fit to be perpetuated +among men as in itself excellent, had not found that favour in the +southern States in which it is now held. Jefferson, who has been +regarded as the leader of the southern or democratic party, has left +ample testimony that he regarded slavery as an evil. It is, I think, +true that he gave such testimony much more freely when he was +speaking or writing as a private individual than he ever allowed +himself to do when his words were armed with the weight of public +authority. But it is clear that, on the whole, he was opposed to +slavery, and I think there can be little doubt that he and his party +looked forward to a natural death for that evil. Calculation was made +that slavery when not recruited afresh from Africa could not maintain +its numbers, and that gradually the negro population would become +extinct. This was the error made. It was easier to look forward to +such a result and hope for such an end of the difficulty, than to +extinguish slavery by a great political movement, which must +doubtless have been difficult and costly. The northern States got rid +of slavery by the operation of their separate legislatures, some at +one date and some at others. The slaves were less numerous in the +North than in the South, and the feeling adverse to slaves was +stronger in the North than in the South. Mason and Dixon's line, +which now separates slave soil from free soil, merely indicates the +position in the country at which the balance turned. Maryland and +Virginia were not inclined to make great immediate sacrifices for the +manumission of their slaves; but the gentlemen of those States did +not think that slavery was a divine institution, destined to flourish +for ever as a blessing in their land.</p> + +<p>The maintenance of slavery was, I think, a political mistake;—a +political mistake, not because slavery is politically wrong, but +because the politicians of the day made erroneous calculations as to +the probability of its termination. So the income tax may be a +political blunder with us;—not because it is in itself a bad tax, +but because those who imposed it conceived that they were imposing it +for a year or two, whereas, now, men do not expect to see the end of +it. The maintenance of slavery was a political mistake; and I cannot +think that the Americans in any way lessen the weight of their own +error by protesting, as they occasionally do, that slavery was a +legacy made over to them from England. They might as well say, that +travelling in carts without springs, at the rate of three miles an +hour, was a legacy made over to them by England. On that matter of +travelling they have not been contented with the old habits left to +them, but have gone ahead and made railroads. In creating those +railways the merit is due to them; and so also is the demerit of +maintaining those slaves.</p> + +<p>That demerit and that mistake have doubtless brought upon the +Americans the grievances of their present position; and will, as I +think, so far be accompanied by ultimate punishment that they will be +the immediate means of causing the first disintegration of their +nation. I will leave it to the Americans themselves to say, whether +such disintegration must necessarily imply that they have failed in +their political undertaking. The most loyal citizens of the northern +States would have declared a month or two since,—and for aught I +know would declare now,—that any disintegration of the States +implied absolute failure. One stripe erased from the banner, one star +lost from the firmament, would entail upon them all the disgrace of +national defeat! It had been their boast that they would always +advance, never retreat. They had looked forward to add ever State +upon State, and territory to territory, till the whole continent +should be bound together in the same union. To go back from that now, +to fall into pieces and be divided, to become smaller in the eyes of +the nations,—to be absolutely halfed, as some would say of such +division, would be national disgrace, and would amount to political +failure. "Let us fight for the whole," such men said, and probably do +say. "To lose anything is to lose all!"</p> + +<p>But the citizens of the States who speak and think thus, though they +may be the most loyal, are perhaps not politically the most wise. And +I am inclined to think that that defiant claim of every star, that +resolve to possess every stripe upon the banner, had become somewhat +less general when I was leaving the country than I had found it to be +at the time of my arrival there. While things were going badly with +the North,—while there was no tale of any battle to be told except +of those at Bull's Run and Springfield, no northern man would admit a +hint that secession might ultimately prevail in Georgia or Alabama. +But the rebels had been driven out of Missouri when I was leaving the +States, they had retreated altogether from Kentucky, having been +beaten in one engagement there, and from a great portion of +Tennessee, having been twice beaten in that State. The coast of North +Carolina, and many points of the southern coast, were in the hands of +the northern army, while the army of the South was retreating from +all points into the centre of their country. Whatever may have been +the strategetical merits or demerits of the northern generals, it is +at any rate certain that their apparent successes were greedily +welcomed by the people, and created an idea that things were going +well with the cause. And, as all this took place, it seemed to me +that I heard less about the necessary integrity of the old flag. +While as yet they were altogether unsuccessful, they were minded to +make no surrender. But with their successes came the feeling, that in +taking much they might perhaps allow themselves to yield something. +This was clearly indicated by the message sent to Congress by the +President in February, 1862, in which he suggested that Congress +should make arrangements for the purchase of the slaves in the border +States; so that in the event of secession—accomplished secession—in +the gulf States, the course of those border States might be made +clear for them. They might hesitate as to going willingly with the +North, while possessing slaves,—as to setting themselves peaceably +down as a small slave adjunct to a vast free soil nation, seeing that +their property would always be in peril. Under such circumstances a +slave adjunct to the free soil nation would not long be possible. But +if it could be shown to them that in the event of their adhering to +the North, compensation would be forthcoming, then, indeed, the +difficulty in arranging an advantageous line between the two future +nations might be considerably modified. This message of the +President's was intended to signify, that secession on favourable +terms might be regarded by the North as not undesirable. Moderate men +were beginning to whisper that, after all, the gulf States were no +source either of national wealth or of national honour. Had there not +been enough at Washington of cotton lords and cotton laws? When I +have suggested that no senator from Georgia would ever again sit in +the United States senate, American gentlemen have received my remark +with a slight demur, and have then proceeded to argue the case. Six +months before they would have declaimed against me and not have +argued.</p> + +<p>I will leave it to Americans themselves to say whether that +disintegration of the States, should it ever be realized, will imply +that they have failed in their political undertaking. If they do not +protest that it argues failure, their feelings will not be hurt by +any such protestations on the part of others. I have said that the +blunder made by the founders of the nation with regard to slavery has +brought with it this secession as its punishment. But such +punishments come generally upon nations as great mercies. Ireland's +famine was the punishment of her imprudence and idleness, but it has +given to her prosperity and progress. And indeed, to speak with more +logical correctness, the famine was no punishment to Ireland, nor +will secession be a punishment to the northern States. In the long +result step will have gone on after step, and effect will have +followed cause, till the American people will at last acknowledge, +that all these matters have been arranged for their advantage and +promotion. It may be that a nation now and then goes to the wall, and +that things go from bad to worse with a large people. It has been so +with various nations and with many people since history was first +written. But when it has been so, the people thus punished have been +idle and bad. They have not only done evil in their generation, but +have done more evil than good, and have contributed their power to +the injury rather than to the improvement of mankind. It may be that +this or that national fault may produce or seem to produce some +consequent calamity. But the balance of good or evil things which +fall to a people's share will indicate with certainty their average +conduct as a nation. The one will be the certain consequence of the +other. If it be that the Americans of the northern States have done +well in their time, that they have assisted in the progress of the +world, and made things better for mankind rather than worse, then +they will come out of this trouble without eventual injury. That +which came in the guise of punishment for a special fault, will be a +part of the reward resulting from good conduct in the general. And as +to this matter of slavery, in which I think that they have blundered +both politically and morally,—has it not been found impossible +hitherto for them to cleanse their hands of that taint? But that +which they could not do for themselves the course of events is doing +for them. If secession establish herself, though it be only secession +of the gulf States, the people of the United States will soon be free +from slavery.</p> + +<p>In judging of the success or want of success of any political +institutions or of any form of government, we should be guided, I +think, by the general results, and not by any abstract rules as to +the right or wrong of those institutions or of that form. It might be +easy for a German lawyer to show that our system of trial by jury is +open to the gravest objections, and that it sins against common +sense. But if that system gives us substantial justice, and protects +us from the tyranny of men in office, the German lawyer will not +succeed in making us believe that it is a bad system. When looking +into the matter of the schools at Boston, I observed to one of the +committee of management that the statements with which I was +supplied, though they told me how many of the children went to +school, did not tell me how long they remained at school. The +gentleman replied that that information was to be obtained from the +result of the schooling of the population generally. Every boy and +girl around us could read and write, and could enjoy reading and +writing. There was therefore evidence to show that they remained at +school sufficiently long for the required purposes. It was fair that +I should judge of the system from the results. Here in England, we +generally object to much that the Americans have adopted into their +form of government, and think that many of their political theories +are wrong. We do not like universal suffrage. We do not like a +periodical change in the first magistrate; and we like quite as +little a periodical permanence in the political officers immediately +under the chief magistrate. We are, in short, wedded to our own forms +and therefore opposed by judgment to forms differing from our own. +But I think we all acknowledge that the United States, burdened as +they are with these political evils,—as we think them, have grown in +strength and material prosperity with a celerity of growth hitherto +unknown among nations. We may dislike Americans personally, we may +find ourselves uncomfortable when there, and unable to sympathize +with them when away; we may believe them to be ambitious, unjust, +self-idolatrous, or irreligious. But, unless we throw our judgment +altogether overboard, we cannot believe them to be a weak people, a +poor people, a people with low spirits or a people with idle hands. +To what is it that the government of a country should chiefly look? +What special advantages do we expect from our own government? Is it +not that we should be safe at home and respected abroad;—that laws +should be maintained, but that they should be so maintained that they +should not be oppressive? There are, doubtless, countries in which +the government professes to do much more than this for its +people,—countries in which the government is paternal; in which it +regulates the religion of the people, and professes to enforce on all +the national children respect for the governors, teachers, spiritual +pastors, and masters. But that is not our idea of a government. That +is not what we desire to see established among ourselves or +established among others. Safety from foreign foes, respect from +foreign foes and friends, security under the law and security from +the law,—this is what we expect from our government; and if I add to +this that we expect to have these good things provided at a fairly +moderate cost, I think I have exhausted the list of our requirements.</p> + +<p>And if the Americans with their form of government have done for +themselves all that we expect our government to do for us; if they +have with some fair approach to general excellence obtained respect +abroad and security at home from foreign foes; if they have made +life, liberty, and property safe under their laws, and have also so +written and executed their laws as to secure their people from legal +oppression,—I maintain that they are entitled to a verdict in their +favour, let us object as we may to universal suffrage, to four years' +Presidents, and four years' presidential cabinets. What, after all, +matters the theory or the system, whether it be King or President, +universal suffrage or ten-pound voter, so long as the people be free +and prosperous? King and President, suffrage by poll and suffrage by +property, are but the means. If the end be there, if the thing has +been done, King and President, open suffrage and close suffrage may +alike be declared to have been successful. The Americans have been in +existence as a nation for seventy-five years, and have achieved an +amount of foreign respect during that period greater than any other +nation ever obtained in double the time. And this has been given to +them, not in deference to the statesman-like craft of their +diplomatic and other officers, but on grounds the very opposite of +those. It has been given to them because they form a numerous, +wealthy, brave, and self-asserting nation. It is, I think, +unnecessary to prove that such foreign respect has been given to +them: but were it necessary, nothing would prove it more strongly +than the regard which has been universally paid by European +governments to the blockade placed during this war on the southern +ports by the government of the United States. Had the United States +been placed by general consent in any class of nations below the +first, England, France, and perhaps Russia would have taken the +matter into their own hands, and have settled for the States, either +united or disunited, at any rate that question of the blockade. And +the Americans have been safe at home from foreign foes; so safe, that +no other strong people but ourselves have enjoyed anything +approaching to their security since their foundation. Nor has our +security been equal to theirs if we are to count our nationality as +extending beyond the British Isles. Then as to security under their +laws and from their laws! Those laws and the system of their +management have been taken almost entirely from us, and have so been +administered that life and property have been safe, and the subject +also has been free from oppression. I think that this may be taken +for granted, seeing that they who have been most opposed to American +forms of government, have never asserted the reverse. I may be told +of a man being lynched in one State, or tarred and feathered in +another, or of a duel in a third being "fought at sight." So I may be +told also of men garotted in London, and of tithe proctors buried in +a bog without their ears in Ireland. Neither will seventy years of +continuance nor will seven hundred secure such an observance of laws +as will prevent temporary ebullition of popular feeling, or save a +people from the chance disgrace of occasional outrage. Taking the +general, life and limb and property have been as safe in the States +as in other civilized countries with which we are acquainted.</p> + +<p>As to their personal liberty under their laws, I know it will be said +that they have surrendered all claim to any such precious possession +by the facility with which they have now surrendered the privilege of +the writ of habeas corpus. It has been taken from them, as I have +endeavoured to show, illegally, and they have submitted to the loss +and to the illegality without a murmur! But in such a matter I do not +think it fair to judge them by their conduct in such a moment as the +present. That this is the very moment in which to judge of the +efficiency of their institutions generally, of the aptitude of those +institutions for the security of the nation, I readily acknowledge. +But when a ship is at sea in a storm, riding out all that the winds +and waves can do to her, one does not condemn her because a yard-arm +gives way, nor even though the mainmast should go by the board. If +she can make her port, saving life and cargo, she is a good ship, let +her losses in spars and rigging be what they may. In this affair of +the habeas corpus we will wait a while before we come to any final +judgment. If it be that the people, when the war is over, shall +consent to live under a military or other dictatorship,—that they +shall quietly continue their course as a nation without recovery of +their rights of freedom, then we shall have to say that their +institutions were not founded in a soil of sufficient depth, and that +they gave way before the first high wind that blew on them. I myself +do not expect such a result.</p> + +<p>I think we must admit that the Americans have received from their +government, or rather from their system of policy, that aid and +furtherance which they required from it; and, moreover, such aid and +furtherance as we expect from our system of government. We must admit +that they have been great, and free, and prosperous, as we also have +become. And we must admit, also, that in some matters they have gone +forward in advance of us. They have educated their people, as we have +not educated ours. They have given to their millions a personal +respect, and a standing above the abjectness of poverty, which with +us are much less general than with them. These things, I grant, have +not come of their government, and have not been produced by their +written constitution. They are the happy results of their happy +circumstances. But so, also, those evil attributes which we sometimes +assign to them are not the creatures of their government, or of their +constitution. We acknowledge them to be well educated, intelligent, +philanthropic, and industrious; but we say that they are ambitious, +unjust, self-idolatrous, and irreligious. If so, let us at any rate +balance the virtues against the vices. As to their ambition, it is a +vice that leans so to virtue's side, that it hardly needs an apology. +As to their injustice, or rather dishonesty, I have said what I have +to say on that matter. I am not going to flinch from the accusation I +have brought, though I am aware that in bringing it I have thrown +away any hope that I might have had of carrying with me the good will +of the Americans for my book. The love of money,—or rather of making +money,—carried to an extreme, has lessened that instinctive respect +for the rights of meum and tuum which all men feel more or less, and +which, when encouraged within the human breast, finds its result in +perfect honesty. Other nations, of which I will not now stop to name +even one, have had their periods of natural dishonesty. It may be +that others are even now to be placed in the same category. But it is +a fault which industry and intelligence combined will after a while +serve to lessen and to banish. The industrious man desires to keep +the fruit of his own industry, and the intelligent man will +ultimately be able to do so. That the Americans are self-idolaters is +perhaps true,—with a difference. An American desires you to worship +his country, or his brother; but he does not often, by any of the +usual signs of conceit, call upon you to worship himself. As an +American, treating of America, he is self-idolatrous; but that is a +self-idolatry which I can endure. Then, as to his want of +religion—and it is a very sad want—I can only say of him, that I, +as an Englishman, do not feel myself justified in flinging the first +stone at him. In that matter of religion, as in the matter of +education, the American, I think, stands on a level higher than ours. +There is not in the States so absolute an ignorance of religion as is +to be found in some of our manufacturing and mining districts, and +also, alas! in some of our agricultural districts; but also, I think, +there is less of respect and veneration for God's word among their +educated classes, than there is with us; and, perhaps, also less +knowledge as to God's word. The general religious level is, I think, +higher with them; but there is with us, if I am right in my +supposition, a higher eminence in religion, as there is also a deeper +depth of ungodliness.</p> + +<p>I think then that we are bound to acknowledge that the Americans have +succeeded as a nation, politically and socially. When I speak of +social success, I do not mean to say that their manners are correct +according to this or that standard. I will not say that they are +correct, or are not correct. In that matter of manners I have found +that those, with whom it seemed to me natural that I should +associate, were very pleasant according to my standard. I do not know +that I am a good critic on such a subject, or that I have ever +thought much of it with the view of criticising. I have been happy +and comfortable with them, and for me that has been sufficient. In +speaking of social success I allude to their success in private life +as distinguished from that which they have achieved in public +life;—to their successes in commerce, in mechanics, in the comforts +and luxuries of life, in medicine and all that leads to the solace of +affliction, in literature, and I may add also, considering the youth +of the nation, in the arts. We are, I think, bound to acknowledge +that they have succeeded. And if they have succeeded, it is vain for +us to say that a system is wrong which has, at any rate, admitted of +such success. That which was wanted from some form of government, has +been obtained with much more than average excellence; and therefore +the form adopted has approved itself as good. You may explain to a +farmer's wife with indisputable logic, that her churn is a bad churn; +but as long as she turns out butter in greater quantity, in better +quality, and with more profit than her neighbours, you will hardly +induce her to change it. It may be that with some other churn she +might have done even better; but, under such circumstances, she will +have a right to think well of the churn she uses.</p> + +<p>The American constitution is now, I think, at the crisis of its +severest trial. I conceive it to be by no means perfect, even for the +wants of the people who use it; and I have already endeavoured to +explain what changes it seems to need. And it has had this +defect,—that it has permitted a falling away from its intended modes +of action, while its letter has been kept sacred. As I have +endeavoured to show, universal suffrage and democratic action in the +Senate were not intended by the framers of the constitution. In this +respect, the constitution has, as it were, fallen through, and it is +needed that its very beams should be re-strengthened. There are also +other matters as to which it seems that some change is indispensable. +So much I have admitted. But, not the less, judging of it by the +entirety of the work that it has done, I think that we are bound to +own that it has been successful.</p> + +<p>And now, with regard to this tedious war, of which from day to day we +are still, in this month of May, 1862, hearing details which teach us +to think that it can hardly as yet be near its end;—to what may we +rationally look as its result? Of one thing I myself feel tolerably +certain,—that its result will not be nothing, as some among us have +seemed to suppose may be probable. I cannot believe that all this +energy on the part of the North will be of no avail, more than I +suppose that southern perseverance will be of no avail. There are +those among us who say that as secession will at last be +accomplished, the North should have yielded to the South at once, and +that nothing will be gained by their great expenditure of life and +treasure. I can by no means bring myself to agree with these. I also +look to the establishment of secession. Seeing how essential and +thorough are the points of variance between the North and the South, +how unlike the one people is to the other, and how necessary it is +that their policies should be different; seeing how deep are their +antipathies, and how fixed is each side in the belief of its own +rectitude and in the belief also of the other's political baseness, I +cannot believe that the really southern States will ever again be +joined in amicable union with those of the North. They, the States of +the Gulf, may be utterly subjugated, and the North may hold over them +military power. Georgia and her sisters may for a while belong to the +Union, as one conquered country belongs to another. But I do not +think that they will ever act with the Union;—and, as I imagine, the +Union before long will agree to a separation. I do not mean to +prophesy that the result will be thus accomplished. It may be that +the South will effect their own independence before they lay down +their arms. I think, however, that we may look forward to such +independence, whether it be achieved in that way, or in this, or in +some other.</p> + +<p>But not on that account will the war have been of no avail to the +North. I think it must be already evident to all those who have +looked into the matter that had the North yielded to the first call +made by the South for secession all the slave States must have gone. +Maryland would have gone, carrying Delaware in its arms; and if +Maryland, all south of Maryland. If Maryland had gone, the capital +would have gone. If the Government had resolved to yield, Virginia to +the east would assuredly have gone, and I think there can be no doubt +that Missouri, to the west, would have gone also. The feeling for the +Union in Kentucky was very strong, but I do not think that even +Kentucky could have saved itself. To have yielded to the southern +demands would have been to have yielded everything. But no man now +believes, let the contest go as it will, that Maryland and Delaware +will go with the South. The secessionists of Baltimore do not think +so, nor the gentlemen and ladies of Washington, whose whole hearts +are in the southern cause. No man thinks that Maryland will go; and +few, I believe, imagine that either Missouri or Kentucky will be +divided from the North. I will not pretend what may be the exact +line, but I myself feel confident that it will run south both of +Virginia and of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>If the North do conquer the South, and so arrange their matters that +the southern States shall again become members of the Union, it will +be admitted that they have done all that they sought to do. If they +do not do this;—if instead of doing this, which would be all that +they desire, they were in truth to do nothing;—to win finally not +one foot of ground from the South,—a supposition which I regard as +impossible;—I think that we should still admit after a while that +they had done their duty in endeavouring to maintain the integrity of +the empire. But if, as a third and more probable alternative, they +succeed in rescuing from the South and from slavery four or five of +the finest States of the old Union,—a vast portion of the continent, +to be beaten by none other in salubrity, fertility, beauty, and +political importance,—will it not then be admitted that the war has +done some good, and that the life and treasure have not been spent in +vain?</p> + +<p>That is the termination of the contest to which I look forward. I +think that there will be secession, but that the terms of secession +will be dictated by the North, not by the South; and among these +terms I expect to see an escape from slavery for those border States +to which I have alluded. In that proposition which, in February last +(1862), was made by the President, and which has since been +sanctioned by the Senate, I think we may see the first step towards +this measure. It may probably be the case that many of the slaves +will be driven south; that as the owners of those slaves are driven +from their holdings in Virginia they will take their slaves with +them, or send them before them. The manumission, when it reaches +Virginia, will not probably enfranchise the half million of slaves +who, in 1860, were counted among its population. But as to that I +confess myself to be comparatively careless. It is not the concern +which I have now at heart. For myself, I shall feel satisfied if that +manumission shall reach the million of whites by whom Virginia is +populated; or if not that million in its integrity then that other +million by which its rich soil would soon be tenanted. There are now +about four millions of white men and women inhabiting the slave +States which I have described, and I think it will be acknowledged +that the northern States will have done something with their armies +if they succeed in rescuing those four millions from the stain and +evil of slavery.</p> + +<p>There is a third question which I have asked myself, and to which I +have undertaken to give some answer. When this war be over between +the northern and southern States will there come upon us Englishmen a +necessity of fighting with the Americans? If there do come such +necessity, arising out of our conduct to the States during the period +of their civil war, it will indeed be hard upon us, as a nation, +seeing the struggle that we have made to be just in our dealings +towards the States generally, whether they be North or South. To be +just in such a period, and under such circumstances, is very +difficult. In that contest between Sardinia and Austria it was all +but impossible to be just to the Italians without being unjust to the +Emperor of Austria. To have been strictly just at the moment one +should have begun by confessing the injustice of so much that had +gone before! But in this American contest such justice, though +difficult, was easier. Affairs of trade rather than of treaties +chiefly interfered; and these affairs, by a total disregard of our +own pecuniary interests, could be so managed that justice might be +done. This I think was effected. It may be, of course, that I am +prejudiced on the side of my own nation; but striving to judge of the +matter as best I may without prejudice, I cannot see that we, as a +nation, have in aught offended against the strictest justice in our +dealings with America during this contest. But justice has not +sufficed. I do not know that our bitterest foes in the northern +States have accused us of acting unjustly. It is not justice which +they have looked for at our hands, and looked for in vain;—not +justice, but generosity! We have not, as they say, sympathized with +them in their trouble! It seems to me that such a complaint is +unworthy of them as a nation, as a people, or as individuals. In such +a matter generosity is another name for injustice,—as it too often +is in all matters. A generous sympathy with the North would have been +an ostensible and crashing enmity to the South. We could not have +sympathized with the North without condemning the South, and telling +to the world that the South were our enemies. In ordering his own +household a man should not want generosity or sympathy from the +outside; and if not a man, then certainly not a nation. Generosity +between nations must in its very nature be wrong. One nation may be +just to another, courteous to another, even considerate to another +with propriety. But no nation can be generous to another without +injustice either to some third nation, or to itself.</p> + +<p>But though no accusation of unfairness has, as far as I am aware, +ever been made by the government of Washington against the government +of London, there can be no doubt that a very strong feeling of +antipathy to England has sprung up in America during this war, and +that it is even yet so intense in its bitterness, that were the North +to become speedily victorious in their present contest very many +Americans would be anxious to turn their arms at once against Canada. +And I fear that that fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac has +strengthened this wish by giving to the Americans an unwarranted +confidence in their capability of defending themselves against any +injury from British shipping. It may be said by them, and probably +would be said by many of them, that this feeling of enmity had not +been engendered by any idea of national injustice on our side;—that +it might reasonably exist, though no suspicion of such injustice had +arisen in the minds of any. They would argue that the hatred on their +part had been engendered by scorn on ours,—by scorn and ill words +heaped upon them in their distress.</p> + +<p>They would say that slander, scorn, and uncharitable judgments create +deeper feuds than do robbery and violence, and produce deeper enmity +and worse rancour. "It is because we have been scorned by England, +that we hate England. We have been told from week to week, and from +day to day, that we were fools, cowards, knaves, and madmen. We have +been treated with disrespect, and that disrespect we will avenge." It +is thus that they speak of England, and there can be no doubt that +the opinion so expressed is very general. It is not my purpose here +to say whether in this respect England has given cause of offence to +the States, or whether either country has given cause of offence to +the other. On both sides have many hard words been spoken, and on +both sides also have good words been spoken. It is unfortunately the +case that hard words are pregnant, and as such they are read, +digested, and remembered; while good words are generally so dull that +nobody reads them willingly, and when read they are forgotten. For +many years there have been hard words bandied backwards and forwards +between England and the United States, showing mutual jealousies and +a disposition on the part of each nation to spare no fault committed +by the other. This has grown of rivalry between the two, and in fact +proves the respect which each has for the other's power and wealth. I +will not now pretend to say with which side has been the chiefest +blame, if there has been chiefest blame on either side. But I do say +that it is monstrous in any people or in any person to suppose that +such bickerings can afford a proper ground for war. I am not about to +dilate on the horrors of war. Horrid as war may be, and full of evil, +it is not so horrid to a nation, nor so full of evil, as national +insult unavenged, or as national injury unredressed. A blow taken by +a nation and taken without atonement is an acknowledgment of national +inferiority than which any war is preferable. Neither England nor the +States are inclined to take such blows. But such a blow, before it +can be regarded as a national insult, as a wrong done by one nation +on another, must be inflicted by the political entity of the one on +the political entity of the other. No angry clamours of the press, no +declamations of orators, no voices from the people, no studied +criticisms from the learned few or unstudied censures from society at +large, can have any fair weight on such a question or do aught +towards justifying a national quarrel. They cannot form a casus +belli. Those two Latin words, which we all understand, explain this +with the utmost accuracy. Were it not so, the peace of the world +would indeed rest upon sand. Causes of national difference will +arise,—for governments will be unjust as are individuals. And causes +of difference will arise because governments are too blind to +distinguish the just from the unjust. But in such cases the +government acts on some ground which it declares. It either shows or +pretends to show some casus belli. But in this matter of threatened +war between the States and England it is declared openly that such +war is to take place because the English have abused the Americans, +and because, consequently, the Americans hate the English. There +seems to exist an impression that no other ostensible ground for +fighting need be shown, although such an event as that of war between +the two nations would, as all men acknowledge, be terrible in its +results. "Your newspapers insulted us when we were in our +difficulties. Your writers said evil things of us. Your legislators +spoke of us with scorn. You exacted from us a disagreeable duty of +retribution just when the performance of such a duty was most odious +to us. You have shown symptoms of joy at our sorrow. And, therefore, +as soon as our hands are at liberty, we will fight you." I have known +schoolboys to argue in that way, and the arguments have been +intelligible. But I cannot understand that any government should +admit such an argument.</p> + +<p>Nor will the American government willingly admit it. According to +existing theories of government the armies of nations are but the +tools of the governing powers. If at the close of the present civil +war the American government,—the old civil government consisting of +the President with such checks as Congress constitutionally has over +him,—shall really hold the power to which it pretends, I do not fear +that there will be any war. No President, and I think no Congress, +will desire such a war. Nor will the people clamour for it, even +should the idea of such a war be popular. The people of America are +not clamorous against their government. If there be such a war it +will be because the army shall have then become more powerful than +the Government. If the President can hold his own the people will +support him in his desire for peace. But if the President do not hold +his own;—if some General with two or three hundred thousand men at +his back shall then have the upper hand in the nation,—it is too +probable that the people may back him. The old game will be played +again that has so often been played in the history of nations, and +some wretched military aspirant will go forth to flood Canada with +blood, in order that the feathers of his cap may flaunt in men's eyes +and that he may be talked of for some years to come as one of the +great curses let loose by the Almighty on mankind.</p> + +<p>I must confess that there is danger of this. To us the danger is very +great. It cannot be good for us to send ships laden outside with iron +shields instead of inside with soft goods and hardware to those +thickly thronged American ports. It cannot be good for us to have to +throw millions into those harbours instead of taking millions out +from them. It cannot be good for us to export thousands upon +thousands of soldiers to Canada of whom only hundreds would return. +The whole turmoil, cost, and paraphernalia of such a course would be +injurious to us in the extreme, and the loss of our commerce would be +nearly ruinous. But the injury of such a war to us would be as +nothing to the injury which it would inflict upon the States. To them +for many years it would be absolutely ruinous. It would entail not +only all those losses which such a war must bring with it; but that +greater loss which would arise to the nation from the fact of its +having been powerless to prevent it. Such a war would prove that it +had lost the freedom for which it had struggled, and which for so +many years it has enjoyed. For the sake of that people as well as for +our own,—and for their sakes rather than for our own,—let us, as +far as may be, abstain from words which are needlessly injurious. +They have done much that is great and noble, even since this war has +begun, and we have been slow to acknowledge it. They have made +sacrifices for the sake of their country which we have ridiculed. +They have struggled to maintain a good cause, and we have disbelieved +in their earnestness. They have been anxious to abide by their +constitution, which to them has been as it were a second gospel, and +we have spoken of that constitution as though it had been a thing of +mere words in which life had never existed. This has been done while +their hands were very full and their back heavily laden. Such words +coming from us, or from parties among us, cannot justify those +threats of war which we hear spoken; but that they should make the +hearts of men sore and their thoughts bitter against us can hardly be +matter of surprise.</p> + +<p>As to the result of any such war between us and them, it would depend +mainly, I think, on the feelings of the Canadians. Neither could they +annex Canada without the good-will of the Canadians, nor could we +keep Canada without that good-will. At present the feeling in Canada +against the northern States is so strong and so universal that +England has little to fear on that head.</p> + +<p>I have now done my task, and may take leave of my readers on either +side of the water with a hearty hope that the existing war between +the North and South may soon be over, and that none other may follow +on its heels to exercise that new-fledged military skill which the +existing quarrel will have produced on the other side of the +Atlantic. I have written my book in obscure language if I have not +shown that to me social successes and commercial prosperity are much +dearer than any greatness that can be won by arms. The Americans had +fondly thought that they were to be exempt from the curse of war,—at +any rate from the bitterness of the curse. But the days for such +exemption have not come as yet. While we are hurrying on to make +twelve-inch shield-plates for our men-of-war, we can hardly dare to +think of the days when the sword shall be turned into the +ploughshare. May it not be thought well for us if, with such work on +our hands, any scraps of iron shall be left to us with which to +pursue the purposes of peace? But at least let us not have war with +these children of our own. If we must fight, let us fight the French, +"for King George upon the throne." The doing so will be disagreeable, +but it will not be antipathetic to the nature of an Englishman. For +my part, when an American tells me that he wants to fight with me, I +regard his offence as compared with that of a Frenchman under the +same circumstances, as I would compare the offence of a parricide or +a fratricide with that of a mere common-place murderer. Such a war +would be plus quam civile bellum. Which of us two could take a +thrashing from the other and afterwards go about our business with +contentment?</p> + +<p>On our return to Liverpool, we stayed for a few hours at Queenstown, +taking in coal, and the passengers landed that they might stretch +their legs and look about them. I also went ashore at the dear old +place which I had known well in other days, when the people were not +too grand to call it Cove, and were contented to run down from Cork +in river steamers, before the Passage railway was built. I spent a +pleasant summer there once in those times;—God be with the good old +days! And now I went ashore at Queenstown, happy to feel that I +should be again in a British isle, and happy also to know that I was +once more in Ireland. And when the people came around me as they did, +I seemed to know every face and to be familiar with every voice. It +has been my fate to have so close an intimacy with Ireland, that when +I meet an Irishman abroad, I always recognize in him more of a +kinsman than I do in an Englishman. I never ask an Englishman from +what county he comes, or what was his town. To Irishmen I usually put +such questions, and I am generally familiar with the old haunts which +they name. I was happy therefore to feel myself again in Ireland, and +to walk round from Queenstown to the river at Passage by the old way +that had once been familiar to my feet.</p> + +<p>Or rather I should have been happy if I had not found myself +instantly disgraced by the importunities of my friends! A legion of +women surrounded me, imploring alms, begging my honour to bestow my +charity on them for the love of the Virgin, using the most holy names +in their adjurations for halfpence, clinging to me with that half +joking, half lachrymose air of importunity which an Irish beggar has +assumed as peculiarly her own. There were men too, who begged as well +as women. And the women were sturdy and fat, and, not knowing me as +well as I knew them, seemed resolved that their importunities should +be successful. After all, I had an old world liking for them in their +rags. They were endeared to me by certain memories and associations +which I cannot define. But then what would those Americans think of +them;—of them and of the country which produced them? That was the +reflection which troubled me. A legion of women in rags clamorous for +bread, protesting to heaven that they are starving, importunate with +voices and with hands, surrounding the stranger when he puts his foot +on the soil so that he cannot escape, does not afford to the cynical +American who then first visits us,—and they all are cynical when +they visit us,—a bad opportunity for his sarcasm. He can at any rate +boast that he sees nothing of that at home. I myself am fond of Irish +beggars. It is an acquired taste,—which comes upon one as does that +for smoked whisky, or Limerick tobacco. But I certainly did wish that +there were not so many of them at Queenstown.</p> + +<p>I tell all this here not to the disgrace of Ireland;—not for the +triumph of America. The Irishman or American who thinks rightly on +the subject will know that the state of each country has arisen from +its opportunities. Beggary does not prevail in new countries, and but +few old countries have managed to exist without it. As to Ireland we +may rejoice to say that there is less of it now than there was twenty +years since. Things are mending there. But though such excuses may be +truly made,—although an Englishman when he sees this squalor and +poverty on the quays at Queenstown, consoles himself with reflecting +that the evil has been unavoidable, but will perhaps soon be +avoided,—nevertheless he cannot but remember that there is no such +squalor and no such poverty in the land from which he has returned. I +claim no credit for the new country. I impute no blame to the old +country. But there is the fact. The Irishman when he expatriates +himself to one of those American States loses much of that +affectionate, confiding, master-worshipping nature which makes him so +good a fellow when at home. But he becomes more of a man. He assumes +a dignity which he never has known before. He learns to regard his +labour as his own property. That which he earns he takes without +thanks, but he desires to take no more than he earns. To me +personally he has perhaps become less pleasant than he was. But to +<span class="nowrap">himself—!</span> It +seems to me that such a man must feel himself half a +god, if he has the power of comparing what he is with what he was.</p> + +<p>It is right that all this should be acknowledged by us. When we speak +of America and of her institutions we should remember that she has +given to our increasing population rights and privileges which we +could not give;—which as an old country we probably can never give. +That self-asserting, obtrusive independence which so often wounds us, +is, if viewed aright, but an outward sign of those good things which +a new country has produced for its people. Men and women do not beg +in the States;—they do not offend you with tattered rags; they do +not complain to heaven of starvation; they do not crouch to the +ground for halfpence. If poor, they are not abject in their poverty. +They read and write. They walk like human beings made in God's form. +They know that they are men and women, owing it to themselves and to +the world that they should earn their bread by their labour, but +feeling that when earned it is their own. If this be so,—if it be +acknowledged that it is so,—should not such knowledge in itself be +sufficient testimony of the success of the country and of her +institutions?</p> + + + +<p><a id="app1"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>APPENDIX A.</h3> +<h4>DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.<br /> </h4> + + +<p><span class="smallcaps">When</span>, in the +course of human events, it becomes necessary for one +people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with +another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate +and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God +entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires +that they should declare the causes which impel them to the +separation.</p> + +<p>We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain +inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are +instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of +the governed; and that, whenever any form of government becomes +destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or +abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundations +on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to +them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. +Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments, long established, +should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, +accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more +disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right +themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, +when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the +same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute +despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such +government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such +has been the patient sufferance of the colonies, and such is now the +necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of +government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a +history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct +object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. +To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.</p> + +<p>He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary +for the public good.</p> + +<p>He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing +importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent +should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected +to attend to them.</p> + +<p>He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large +districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right +of representation in the legislature—a right inestimable to them, +and formidable to tyrants only.</p> + +<p>He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, +uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public +records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with +his measures.</p> + +<p>He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with +manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.</p> + +<p>He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause +others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of +annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their +exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the +dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.</p> + +<p>He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for +that purpose, obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, +refusing to pass others to encourage their migration thither, and +raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.</p> + +<p>He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his +assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.</p> + +<p>He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of +their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.</p> + +<p>He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of +officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.</p> + +<p>He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the +consent of our legislatures.</p> + +<p>He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior +to, the civil power.</p> + +<p>He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign +to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his +assent to their acts of pretended legislation.</p> + +<p>For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.</p> + +<p>For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders +which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States.</p> + +<p>For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world.</p> + +<p>For imposing taxes on us without our consent</p> + +<p>For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury.</p> + +<p>For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences.</p> + +<p>For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring +province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging +its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit +instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these +colonies.</p> + +<p>For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and +altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments.</p> + +<p>For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves +invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.</p> + +<p>He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his +protection and waging war against us.</p> + +<p>He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and +destroyed the lives of our people.</p> + +<p>He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries +to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already +begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled +in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a +civilized nation.</p> + +<p>He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high +seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners +of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.</p> + +<p>He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured +to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian +savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished +destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.</p> + +<p>In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress +in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered +only by repeated injuries. A prince, whose character is thus marked +by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a +free people.</p> + +<p>Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We +have warned them, from time to time, of the attempts by their +legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have +reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement +here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and +we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow +these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections +and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice +and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity +which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of +mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.</p> + +<p>We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, +in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the +world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the +authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and +declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, +free and independent States; that they are absolved from all +allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection +between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, +totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they +have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, +establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which +independent States may of right do. And, for the support of this +declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine +Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, +and our sacred honour.</p> + +<p>The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and +signed by the following members:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent">JOHN HANCOCK.</p> + + + +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"><tr><td valign="top"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>New Hampshire.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Josiah Bartlett,<br /> + William Whipple,<br /> + Matthew Thornton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Massachusetts Bay.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Samuel Adams,<br /> + John Adams,<br /> + Robert Treat Paine,<br /> + Elbridge Gerry.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Rhode Island.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Stephen Hopkins,<br /> + William Ellery.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Connecticut.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Roger Sherman,<br /> + Samuel Huntington,<br /> + William Williams,<br /> + Oliver Wolcott.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>New York.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">William Floyd,<br /> + Philip Livingston,<br /> + Francis Lewis,<br /> + Lewis Morris.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Pennsylvania.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Robert Morris,<br /> + Benjamin Rush,<br /> + Benjamin Franklin,<br /> + John Morton,<br /> + George Clymer,<br /> + James Smith,<br /> + George Taylor,<br /> + James Wilson,<br /> + George Ross.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>New Jersey.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Richard Stockton,<br /> + John Witherspoon,<br /> + Francis Hopkinson,<br /> + John Hart,<br /> + Abraham Clark.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</td> +<td> </td> +<td valign="top"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Delaware.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Cæsar Rodney,<br /> + George Read,<br /> + Thomas M'Kean.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Maryland.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Samuel Chase,<br /> + William Paca,<br /> + Thomas Stone,<br /> + Charles Carroll,</span><br /> + <span class="ind4">of Carrollton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Virginia.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">George Wythie,<br /> + Richard Henry Lee,<br /> + Thomas Jefferson,<br /> + Benjamin Harrison,<br /> + Thomas Nelson, Jr.<br /> + Francis Lightfoot Lee,<br /> + Carter Braxton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>North Carolina.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">William Hooper,<br /> + Joseph Hewes,<br /> + John Penn.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>South Carolina.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Edward Rutledge,<br /> + Thomas Heyward, Jr.<br /> + Thomas Lynch, Jr.<br /> + Arthur Middleton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Georgia.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Button Gwinnett,<br /> + Lyman Hall,<br /> + George Walton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</td></tr> +</table> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"><tr><td> +4 <i>July</i>, 1776. +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p><a id="app2"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>APPENDIX B.</h3> +<h4>ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, ETC.<br /> </h4> + + +<h4>TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME.</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>We, the undersigned, delegates +of the States, affixed to our names, send greeting:</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Whereas</span>, the +delegates of the United States of America, +in Congress assembled did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the +year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, and in +the second year of the independence of America, agree to certain +articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States of +New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence +Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and +Georgia, in the words following, viz:<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">Articles of confederation +and perpetual union between the States of +New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence +Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and +Georgia.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Article</span> 1. The style +of this confederacy shall be, "The +United States of America."</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 2. Each State +retains its sovereignty, freedom, and +independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not +by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in +Congress assembled.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 3. The said +States hereby severally enter into a +firm league of friendship with each other for their common defence, +the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general +welfare; binding themselves to assist each other against all force +offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of +religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 4. The better +to secure and perpetuate mutual +friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States +in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, +vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to +all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; +and the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to +and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges +of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and +restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that +such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal +of property imported into any State to any other State, of which the +owner is an inhabitant; provided, also, that no imposition, duties, +or restriction, shall be laid by any State on the property of the +United States, or either of them.</p> + +<p>If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other +high misdemeanor, in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found +in any of the United States, he shall upon demand of the Governor, or +executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, and +removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offence.</p> + +<p>Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the +records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates +of every other State.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 5. For +the more convenient management of the +general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually +appointed in such manner as the legislature of each State shall +direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every +year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates or +any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their +stead for the remainder of the year.</p> + +<p>No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two nor more +than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a +delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor +shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding an office +under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit, +receives any salary, fees, or emolument of any kind.</p> + +<p>Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the +States, and while they act as members of the committee of the States.</p> + +<p>In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, +each State shall have one vote.</p> + +<p>Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or +questioned in any court or place out of Congress; and the members of +Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and +imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from and +attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the +peace.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 6. No +State, without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, shall send an embassy to, or receive +any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, +or treaty, with any king, prince, or State; nor shall any person +holding any office of profit or trust under the United States or any +of them, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any +kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State; nor shall the +United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title +of nobility.</p> + +<p>No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or +alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purpose for +which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.</p> + +<p>No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with +any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in +Congress assembled, with any king, prince, or State, in pursuance of +any treaties already proposed by Congress to the courts of France and +Spain.</p> + +<p>No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace, by any State, +except such number as shall be deemed necessary by the United States +in Congress assembled, for the defence of such State or its trade; +nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of +peace, except such number only as, in the judgment of the United +States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison +the forts necessary for the defence of such State; but every State +shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, +sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and have +constantly ready for use, in public stores, a number of field pieces +and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp +equipage.</p> + +<p>No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded +by enemies, or shall, have received certain advice of a resolution +being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State, and the +danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United +States in Congress assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State +grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, or letters of +marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the +United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the +Kingdom or State, and the subjects thereof, against which war has +been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established +by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be +infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out +for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or +until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine +otherwise.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 7. When +land forces are raised by any State for the +common defence, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shall +be appointed by the legislature of each State respectively, by whom +such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall +direct; and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first +made the appointment.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 8. All +charges of war, and all other expenses that +shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and +allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed +out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several +States in proportion to the value of all land within each State +granted to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings +and improvements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode +as the United States in Congress assembled shall from time to time +direct and appoint.</p> + +<p>The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the +authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States, +within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress +assembled.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 9. The +United States in Congress assembled shall +have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace +and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth Article: of +sending and receiving ambassadors: entering into treaties and +alliances; provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby +the legislative power of the respective States shall be restrained +from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own +people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or +importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever: of +establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on land +or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or +naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or +appropriated: of granting letters of marque and reprisal, in times of +peace: appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies +committed on the high seas, and establishing courts for receiving and +determining finally appeals in all cases of captures; provided, that +no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said +courts.</p> + +<p>The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort +on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting, or that +hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning boundary, +jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; which authority shall +always be exercised in the manner following: whenever the legislative +or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy +with another shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter +in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given +by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the +other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of +the parties, by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to +appoint by joint consent commissioners or judges to constitute a +court for hearing and determining the matter in question; but if they +cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the +United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall +alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the +number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less +than seven nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct, shall, +in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot; and the persons +whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be +commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the +controversy, so always as a major part of the judges, who shall hear +the cause, shall agree in the determination; and if either party +shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons +which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall refuse +to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out +of each State, and the Secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf +of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment and sentence of +the court to be appointed in the manner before prescribed, shall be +final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to +submit to the authority of such court, or to appear, or defend their +claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce +sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and +decisive, the judgment or sentence, and other proceedings, being in +either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the acts of +Congress for the security of the parties concerned: provided, that +every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, +to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior +court of the State, where the cause shall be tried, "well and truly +to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best +of his judgment, without favour, affection, or hope of reward;" +provided also, that no State shall be deprived of territory for the +benefit of the United States.</p> + +<p>All controversies concerning the private right of soil, claimed under +different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdiction as they +may respect such lands and the States which passed such grants are +adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time +claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of +jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Congress +of the United States, be finally determined, as near as may be, in +the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes +respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States.</p> + +<p>The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and +exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin +struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States; +fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United +States: regulating the trade and managing all affairs with Indians +not members of any of the States; provided, that the legislative +right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or +violated: establishing and regulating post-offices from one State to +another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage +on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray +the expenses of the said office: appointing all officers of the land +forces in the service of the United States, excepting regimental +officers: appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and +commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United +States: making rules for the government and regulation of the said +land and naval forces, and directing their operations.</p> + +<p>The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to +appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be +denominated "a Committee of the States;" and to consist of one +delegate from each State, and to appoint such other committees and +civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs +of the United States, under their direction: to appoint one of their +number to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the +office of President more than one year in any term of three years: to +ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service of +the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for +defraying the public expenses: to borrow money or emit bills on the +credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the +respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or +emitted: to build and equip a navy: to agree upon the number of land +forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in +proportion to the number of white inhabitants in each State; which +requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each +State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and +clothe, arm, and equip them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense +of the United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and +equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time +agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled: but if the +United States in Congress assembled, shall, on consideration of +circumstances, judge proper that any State should not raise men, or +should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other +State should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, +such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and +equipped, in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the +legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot +safely be spared out of the same; in which case they shall raise, +officer, clothe, arm, and equip, as many of such extra number as they +judge can safely be spared. And the officers and men so clothed, +armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within +the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled.</p> + +<p>The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, +nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter +into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the +value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the +defence and welfare of the United States or any of them, nor emit +bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor +appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be +built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, +nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine +States assent to the same; nor shall a question on any other point, +except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, unless by the +votes of a majority of the United States in Congress assembled.</p> + +<p>The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any +time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so +that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space +of six months; and shall publish the journal of their proceedings +monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, +or military operations, as in their judgment require secresy; and the +yeas and nays of the delegates of each State on any question shall be +entered on the journal when it is desired by any delegate; and the +delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their request, shall +be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such parts +as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several +States.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 10. The +Committee of the States, or any nine of them, +shall be authorized to execute in the recess of Congress, such of the +powers of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, by the +consent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think expedient to +vest them with; provided that no power be delegated to the said +committee, for the exercise of which, by the articles of +confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United +States assembled is requisite.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 11. Canada, +acceding to this confederation, and +joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, +and entitled to, all the advantages of this union: but no other +colony shall be admitted into the same unless such admission be +agreed to by nine States.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 12. All +bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, +debts contracted, by or under the authority of Congress, before the +assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present +confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the +United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United +States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 13. Every +State shall abide by the determination of +the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by +this confederation, are submitted to them. And the Articles of this +confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the +union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time +hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to +in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by +the legislature of every State.</p> + +<p>And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline +the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, +to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of +confederation and perpetual union: +<span class="smallcaps">Know ye</span>, That +we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority +to us given for that purpose, do, by these presents, in the name and +in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify +and confirm each and every of the said Articles of confederation and +perpetual union, and all and singular the matters and things therein +contained; and we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of +our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the +determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all +questions which, by the said confederation, are submitted to them; +and that the Articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the +States we respectively represent; and that the union shall be +perpetual.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">In witness whereof, +we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress. Done +at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth day of July, +in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, +and in the third year of the independence of America.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Josiah Bartlet, + </td> + <td valign="top"> + John Wentworth, jun.,<br /> + <span class="ind4">August 8, 1778.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Massachusetts Bay.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + John Hancock,<br /> + Samuel Adams,<br /> + Elbridge Gerry, + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Francis Dana,<br /> + James Lovell,<br /> + Samuel Holten.<br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and in behalf of the State of Rhode Island and + Providence Plantations.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + William Ellery,<br /> + Henry Marchant,<br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + John Collins. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Roger Sherman,<br /> + Samuel Huntington,<br /> + Oliver Wolcott,<br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Titus Hosmer,<br /> + Andrew Adams. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of New York.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Jas. Duane,<br /> + Fra. Lewis, + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Wm. Duer,<br /> + Gouv. Morris.<br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and in behalf of the State of New Jersey.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Jno. Witherspoon, + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Nath. Scudder,<br /> + <span class="ind4">Nov. 26, 1778.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Robt. Morris,<br /> + Daniel Roberdeau,<br /> + Jona. Bayard Smith, + </td> + <td valign="top"> + William Clingan,<br /> + Joseph Reed,<br /> + <span class="ind4">22d July, 1778.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Tho. M'Kean,<br /> + <span class="ind4">Feb. 13, 1779,</span><br /> + John Dickinson,<br /> + <span class="ind4">May 5th, 1779,</span><br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Nicholas Van Dyke. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + John Hanson,<br /> + <span class="ind4">March 1,1781,</span> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Daniel Carroll,<br /> + <span class="ind4">March 1, 1781.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Virginia.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Richard Henry Lee,<br /> + John Banister,<br /> + Thomas Adams,<br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Jno. Harvie,<br /> + Francis Lightfoot Lee. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of North Carolina.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + John Penn,<br /> + <span class="ind4">July 21,1778,</span><br /> + Corns. Harnett,<br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Jno. Williams. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Henry Laurens,<br /> + William Henry Drayton,<br /> + Jno. Mathews,<br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Richard Hutson,<br /> + Thos. Heywood, jun. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center"> + <i>On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Jno. Walton,<br /> + <span class="ind4">24th July, 1778,</span><br /> + Edwd. Telfair,<br /> + </td> + <td valign="top"> + Edwd. Langworthy. + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<blockquote> +<p><span class="smallcaps">Note</span>.—From +the circumstance of delegates from the same +State having signed the Articles of confederation at different times, +as appears by the dates, it is probable they affixed their names as +they happened to be present in Congress, after they had been +authorized by their constituents.</p> + +<p>The above Articles of confederation continued in force until the 4th +day of March, 1789, when the constitution of the United States took +effect.</p> +</blockquote> + + +<p><a id="app3"></a> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>APPENDIX C.</h3> +<h4>CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.<br /> </h4> + + +<h4>PREAMBLE.</h4> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">We</span>, the +people of the United States, in order to form a +more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, +provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do +ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of +America.<br /> </p> + +<h4>ARTICLE I.</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Of the Legislature.</i></p> +</div> + +<h5>SECTION I.</h5> + +<p>1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a +Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and +House of Representatives.</p> + +<h5>SECTION II.</h5> + +<p>1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen +every second year by the people of the several States; and the +electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for +electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.</p> + +<p>2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to +the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the +United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of +that State in which he shall be chosen.</p> + +<p>3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the +several States which may be included within this union, according to +their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the +whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a +term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all +other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three +years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, +and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they +shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed +one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one +representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State +of <i>New Hampshire</i> shall be entitled to choose three; +<i>Massachusetts</i>, eight; <i>Rhode Island</i>, and <i>Providence Plantations</i>, +one; <i>Connecticut</i>, five; <i>New York</i>, six; <i>New Jersey</i>, four; +<i>Pennsylvania</i>, eight; <i>Delaware</i>, one; <i>Maryland</i>, six; <i>Virginia</i>, +ten; <i>North Carolina</i>, five; <i>South Carolina</i>, five; and <i>Georgia</i>, +three.</p> + +<p>4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the +executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill up +such vacancies.</p> + +<p>5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other +officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION III.</h5> + +<p>1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators +from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years, +and each senator shall have one vote.</p> + +<p>2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the +first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into +three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be +vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at +the expiration of the fourth, and of the third class at the +expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every +second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, +during the recess of the legislature of any State, the executive +thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the +legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.</p> + +<p>3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the +age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United +States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that +State for which he shall be chosen.</p> + +<p>4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the +Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.</p> + +<p>5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president +pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall +exercise the office of President of the United States.</p> + +<p>6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When +sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When +the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall +preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of +two-thirds of the members present.</p> + +<p>7. Judgment in case of impeachment shall not extend further than to +removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any +office of honour, trust, or profit, under the United States; but the +party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to +indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION IV.</h5> + +<p>1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators +and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the +legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time, by law, make +or alter such regulations, except as to the place of choosing +senators.</p> + +<p>2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such +meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall +by law appoint a different day.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION V.</h5> + +<p>1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and +qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall +constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn +from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of +absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House +may provide.</p> + +<p>2. Each House may determine the rule of its proceedings, punish its +members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of +two-thirds, expel a member.</p> + +<p>3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time +to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their +judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of +either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of +those present, be entered on the journal.</p> + +<p>4. Neither House during the Session of Congress shall, without the +consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any +other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION VI.</h5> + +<p>1. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for +their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the +treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except +treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest +during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, +and in going to or returning from the same; and for any speech or +debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other +place.</p> + +<p>2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he +was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of +the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments +whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person +holding any office under the United States shall be a member of +either House during his continuance in office.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION VII.</h5> + +<p>1. All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of +Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with +amendments, as on other Bills.</p> + +<p>2. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives +and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the +President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but +if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in +which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objection at +large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such +reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the +Bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other +House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by +two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such +cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, +and the names of the persons voting for and against the Bill shall be +entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall +not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) +after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in +like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their +adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.</p> + +<p>3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the +Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, (except a +question of adjournment), shall be presented to the President of the +United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be +approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by +two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to +the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a Bill.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION VIII.</h5> + +<p>The Congress shall have power—</p> + +<p>1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the +debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the +United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform +throughout the United States:</p> + +<p>2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States:</p> + +<p>3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several +States, and with the Indian tribes:</p> + +<p>4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on +the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States:</p> + +<p>5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, +and fix the standard of weights and measures:</p> + +<p>6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and +current coin of the United States:</p> + +<p>7. To establish post offices and post roads:</p> + +<p>8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing +for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to +their respective writings and discoveries:</p> + +<p>9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court:</p> + +<p>10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high +seas, and offences against the law of nations:</p> + +<p>11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make +rules concerning captures on land and water:</p> + +<p>12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to +that use shall be for a longer term than two years:</p> + +<p>13. To provide and maintain a navy:</p> + +<p>14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and +naval forces:</p> + +<p>15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of +the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions:</p> + +<p>16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, +and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service +of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the +appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia +according to the discipline prescribed by Congress:</p> + +<p>17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over +such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of +particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of +government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over +all places purchased, by the consent of the legislature of the State +in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, +arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings: and,</p> + +<p>18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying +into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by +this Constitution in the government of the United States, or any +department or officer thereof.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION IX.</h5> + +<p>1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States +now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by +the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, +but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding +ten dollars for each person.</p> + +<p>2. The privilege of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> shall not be +suspended unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public +safety may require it.</p> + +<p>3. No Bill of attainder, or ex-post-facto law, shall be passed.</p> + +<p>4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid; unless in +proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be +taken.</p> + +<p>5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. +No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue +to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels +bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties +in another.</p> + +<p>6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of +appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of +the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published +from time to time.</p> + +<p>7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no +person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, +without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, +office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or +foreign State.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION X.</h5> + + +<p>1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; +grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of +credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of +debts; pass any Bill of attainder, ex-post-facto law, or law +impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of +nobility.</p> + +<p>2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts +or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely +necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of +all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports shall +be for the use of the treasury of the United States, and all such +laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress. No +State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on +tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any +agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or +engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as +will not admit of delay.<br /> </p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE II.</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Of the Executive.</i></p> +</div> + + +<h5>SECTION I.</h5> + + +<p>1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United +States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four +years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same +term, be elected as +<span class="nowrap">follows:—</span></p> + +<p>2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature +thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number +of senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled in +Congress; but no senator or representative, or person holding any +office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed +an elector.</p> + +<p>3. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by +ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an +inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a +list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for +each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to +the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the +President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the +presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the +certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having +the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number +be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there +be more than one who have such a majority, and have an equal number +of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose +by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a +majority, then, from the five highest on the list, the said House +shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the +President, the votes shall be taken by States; the representation +from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall +consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a +majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every +case, after the choice of the President, the person having the +greatest number of votes of the electors shall be Vice-President. But +if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate +shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-President.</p> + +<p>4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and +the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the +same throughout the United States.</p> + +<p>5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the +United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall +be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be +eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of +thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the +United States.</p> + +<p>6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his +death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties +of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President; and +the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, +resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, +declaring what officer shall then act as President: and such officer +shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a President +shall be elected.</p> + +<p>7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a +compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during +the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not +receive within that period any other emolument from the United +States, or any of them.</p> + +<p>8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the +following oath or affirmation:</p> + +<p>"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the +office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my +ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United +States."</p> + + +<h5>SECTION II.</h5> + + +<p>1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of +the United States and of the militia of the several States, when +called into the actual service of the United States; he may require +the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the +executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of +their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves +and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases +of impeachment.</p> + +<p>2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present +concur: and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent +of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and +consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the +United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided +for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may by +law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think +proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads +of departments.</p> + +<p>3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may +happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, +which shall expire at the end of their next session.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION III.</h5> + + +<p>1. He shall, from time to time, give to Congress information of the +state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such +measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on +extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them; and +in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of +adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think +proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he +shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall +commission all the officers of the United States.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION IV.</h5> + + +<p>1. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the +United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for and +conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and +misdemeanors.<br /> </p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE III.</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Of the Judiciary.</i></p> +</div> + + +<h5>SECTION I.</h5> + + +<p>1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one +Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as Congress may, from time +to time, order and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and +inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour; and +shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, +which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION II.</h5> + + +<p>1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity +arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and +treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all +cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to +all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to +which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between +two or more states; between a State and citizens of another State; +between citizens of different States; between citizens of the same +State claiming lands under grants of different States; and between a +State, or the citizens thereof and foreign States, citizens or +subjects.</p> + +<p>2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and +consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme +Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before +mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both +as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations +as Congress shall make.</p> + +<p>3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be +by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said +crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any +State, the trial shall be at such place or places as Congress may by +law have directed.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION III.</h5> + + +<p>1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying +war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid +and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the +testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in +open court.</p> + +<p>2. Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; +but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or +forfeiture, except during the life of the person +attainted.<br /> </p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE IV.</h4> + + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Miscellaneous.</i></p> +</div> + + +<h5>SECTION I.</h5> + +<p>1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public +acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And +Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such +acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect +thereof.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION II.</h5> + + +<p>1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges +and immunities of citizens in the several States.</p> + +<p>2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other +crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, +shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which +he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having +jurisdiction of the crime.</p> + +<p>3. No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour; but +shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or +labour may be due.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION III.</h5> + + +<p>1. New States may be admitted by Congress into this Union; but no new +State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other +State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, +or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the +States concerned, as well as of Congress.</p> + +<p>2. Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful +rules and regulations respecting the territory, or other property +belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution +shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States +or of any particular State.</p> + + +<h5>SECTION IV.</h5> + + +<p>1. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this union a +republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against +invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or of the executive +(when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic +violence.<br /> </p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE V.</h4> + + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Of Amendments.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p>1. Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it +necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution; or, on the +application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, +shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either +case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this +Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of +the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as +the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by +Congress; provided, that no amendment which may be made prior to the +year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect +the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first +Article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of +its equal suffrage in the Senate.<br /> </p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE VI.</h4> + + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Miscellaneous.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p>1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the +adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United +States under this Constitution, as under the confederation.</p> + +<p>2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall +be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall +be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the +supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound +thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the +contrary notwithstanding.</p> + +<p>3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members +of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial +officers, both of the United States, and of the several States, shall +be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no +religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any +office, or public trust, under the United States.<br /> </p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE VII.</h4> + + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"><i>Of the Ratification.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p>1. The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be +sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the +States so ratifying the same.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent">Done in Convention, +by the unanimous consent of the States present, +the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one +thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of +the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof, we have +hereunto subscribed our names.</p> +</blockquote> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="ind10">GEORGE WASHINGTON,</span><br /> +<span class="ind10"><i>President, and Deputy from Virginia.</i></span></p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"><tr><td valign="top"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>New Hampshire.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">John Langdon,<br /> + Nicholas Gilman.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Massachusetts.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Nathaniel Gorman,<br /> + Rufus King.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Connecticut.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">William Samuel Johnson,<br /> + Roger Sherman.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>New York.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Alexander Hamilton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>New Jersey.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">William Livingston,<br /> + David Brearly,<br /> + William Patterson,<br /> + Jonathan Dayton.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Pennsylvania.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">Benjamin Franklin,<br /> +Thomas Mifflin,<br /> +Robert Morris,<br /> +George Clymer,<br /> +Thomas Fitzsimons,<br /> +Jared Ingersoll,<br /> +James Wilson,<br /> +Governeur Morris.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</td> +<td> </td> +<td valign="top"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Delaware.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">George Read,<br /> + Gunning Bedford,</span> jun.,<br /> + <span class="smallcaps">John Dickinson,<br /> + Richard Bassett,<br /> + Jacob Broom.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Maryland.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">James M'Henry,<br /> + Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer,<br /> + Daniel Carroll.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Virginia.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">John Blair,<br /> + James Madison,</span> jr.<br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>North Carolina.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">William Blount,<br /> + Richard Dobbs Spaight,<br /> + Hugh Williamson.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>South Carolina.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">John Rutledge,<br /> + Chas. Cotesworth Pinckney,<br /> + Charles Pinckney,<br /> + Pierce Butler.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="center"> + <i>Georgia.</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <span class="smallcaps">William Few,<br /> + Abraham Baldwin.</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</td></tr> +</table> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="center"> + <i>Attest.</i>, WILLIAM JACKSON, <i>Secretary</i>. +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h4>AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.<br /> </h4> + + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 1. Congress +shall make no law respecting an +establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; +or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of +the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for +a redress of grievances.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 2. A well-regulated +militia being necessary to the +security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear +arms shall not be infringed.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 3. No soldier +shall, in time of peace, be quartered +in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, +but in a manner to be prescribed by law.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 4. The +right of the people to be secure in their +persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches +and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but +upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and +particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or +things to be seized.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 5. No +person shall be held to answer for a capital +or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of +a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or +in the militia when in actual service in time of war, or public +danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence, to be +put twice in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any +criminal case, to be witness against himself; nor be deprived of +life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall +private property be taken for public use without just compensation.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 6. In +all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall +enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of +the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, +which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to +be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be +confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process +for obtaining witnesses in his favour; and to have the assistance of +counsel for his defence.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 7. In +suits at common law, where the value in +controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury +shall be preserved; and no fact tried by jury shall be otherwise +re-examined in any court of the United States than according to the +rules of the common law.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 8. Excessive +bail shall not be required, nor +excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 9. The +enumeration in the Constitution of certain +rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained +by the people.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 10. The +powers not delegated to the United States by +the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to +the States respectively, or to the people.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 11. The +judicial power of the United States shall +not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or +prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another +State, or by citizens or subjects of another State, or by citizens or +subjects of any foreign State.</p> + +<p><span class="smallcaps">Art</span>. 12. § 1. The +electors shall meet in their +respective States, and vote by ballot for President and +Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of +the same State as themselves; they shall name in their ballots the +person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person +voted for with Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of +all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as +Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which list they +shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government +of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate: the +President of the Senate shall in the presence of the Senate and House +of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall +then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for +President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the +whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such a +majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not +exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the +House of Representatives shall choose immediately by ballot the +President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by +States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum +for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds +of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to +a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a +President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, +before the fourth day of March next following, then the +Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or +other constitutional disability of the President.</p> + +<p>2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, +shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the +whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, +then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall +choose the Vice-President: a quorum for the purpose shall consist of +two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the +whole number shall be necessary to a choice.</p> + +<p>3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of +President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United +States.<br /> </p> + + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Note</span>.—At +the fourth presidential election, Thomas +Jefferson and Aaron Burr were the democratic candidates for President +and Vice-President. By the electoral returns they had an even number +of votes. In the House of Representatives, Burr, by intrigue, got up +a party to vote for him for President; and the House was so divided +that there was a tie. A contest was carried on for several days, and +so warmly, that even sick members were brought to the House on their +beds. Finally one of Burr's adherents withdrew, and Jefferson was +elected by one majority—which was the occasion of this twelfth +article.<br /> </p> +</blockquote> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME II (OF 2)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 1866-h.htm or 1866-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1866">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/1866</a></p> +<p> +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p> +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: North America, Volume II (of 2) + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: December 29, 1998 [eBook #1866] +Release Date of this revision: February 18, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +E-text prepared by Donald Lainson and revised by Joseph E. Loewenstein, +M.D. + + + +Editorial note: + + Anthony Trollope travelled through the United States from + August, 1861, to May, 1862. He visited all the states that + did not secede except California. This book is partly a + journal of his travels and partly his description of American + customs and culture including industry, education, government, + military affairs, religion, transportation, and even + hotels. To an American of today it provides a revealing and + fascinating picture of life at the time. + + The book was first published in two volumes by Chapman & Hall + in 1862. + + + Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work. + Volume I: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1865 + + + + + +NORTH AMERICA + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +In Two Volumes + +VOL. II + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. WASHINGTON. + II. CONGRESS. + III. THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. + IV. WASHINGTON TO ST. LOUIS. + V. MISSOURI. + VI. CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD. + VII. THE ARMY OF THE NORTH. + VIII. BACK TO BOSTON. + IX. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + X. THE GOVERNMENT. + XI. THE LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS OF THE UNITED STATES. + XII. THE FINANCIAL POSITION. + XIII. THE POST-OFFICE. + XIV. AMERICAN HOTELS. + XV. LITERATURE. + XVI. CONCLUSION. + APPENDIX A. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. + APPENDIX B. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, ETC. + APPENDIX C. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +WASHINGTON. + + +The site of the present city of Washington was chosen with three +special views; firstly, that being on the Potomac it might have the +full advantage of water-carriage and a sea-port; secondly, that +it might be so far removed from the seaboard as to be safe from +invasion; and, thirdly, that it might be central alike to all the +States. It was presumed when Washington was founded that these three +advantages would be secured by the selected position. As regards the +first, the Potomac affords to the city but few of the advantages +of a sea-port. Ships can come up, but not ships of large burthen. +The river seems to have dwindled since the site was chosen; and at +present it is, I think, evident that Washington can never be great in +its shipping. _Statio benefida carinis_ can never be its motto. As +regards the second point, singularly enough Washington is the only +city of the Union that has been in an enemy's possession since the +United States became a nation. In the war of 1812 it fell into our +hands, and we burnt it. As regards the third point, Washington, from +the lie of the land, can hardly have been said to be centrical at +any time. Owing to the irregularities of the coast it is not easy of +access by railways from different sides. Baltimore would have been +far better. But as far as we can now see, and as well as we can now +judge, Washington will soon be on the borders of the nation to which +it belongs, instead of at its centre. I fear, therefore, that we must +acknowledge that the site chosen for his country's capital by George +Washington has not been fortunate. + +I have a strong idea, which I expressed before in speaking of the +capital of the Canadas, that no man can ordain that on such a spot +shall be built a great and thriving city. No man can so ordain even +though he leave behind him, as was the case with Washington, a +prestige sufficient to bind his successors to his wishes. The +political leaders of the country have done what they could for +Washington. The pride of the nation has endeavoured to sustain +the character of its chosen metropolis. There has been no rival, +soliciting favour on the strength of other charms. The country has +all been agreed on the point since the father of the country first +commenced the work. Florence and Rome in Italy have each their +pretensions; but in the States no other city has put itself forward +for the honour of entertaining Congress. And yet Washington has been +a failure. It is commerce that makes great cities, and commerce has +refused to back the General's choice. New York and Philadelphia, +without any political power, have become great among the cities of +the earth. They are beaten by none except by London and Paris. But +Washington is but a ragged, unfinished collection of unbuilt broad +streets, as to the completion of which there can now, I imagine, be +but little hope. + +Of all places that I know it is the most ungainly and most +unsatisfactory;--I fear I must also say the most presumptuous in its +pretensions. There is a map of Washington accurately laid down; and +taking that map with him in his journeyings a man may lose himself in +the streets, not as one loses oneself in London between Shoreditch +and Russell Square, but as one does so in the deserts of the Holy +Land, between Emmaus and Arimathea. In the first place no one knows +where the places are, or is sure of their existence, and then between +their presumed localities the country is wild, trackless, unbridged, +uninhabited, and desolate. Massachusetts Avenue runs the whole length +of the city, and is inserted on the maps as a full-blown street, +about four miles in length. Go there, and you will find yourself not +only out of town, away among the fields, but you will find yourself +beyond the fields, in an uncultivated, undrained wilderness. Tucking +your trousers up to your knees you will wade through the bogs, you +will lose yourself among rude hillocks, you will be out of the reach +of humanity. The unfinished dome of the Capitol will loom before you +in the distance, and you will think that you approach the ruins of +some western Palmyra. If you are a sportsman, you will desire to +shoot snipe within sight of the President's house. There is much +unsettled land within the States of America, but I think none so +desolate in its state of nature as three-fourths of the ground on +which is supposed to stand the city of Washington. + +The city of Washington is something more than four miles long, and +is something more than two miles broad. The land apportioned to it +is nearly as compact as may be, and it exceeds in area the size +of a parallelogram four miles long by two broad. These dimensions +are adequate for a noble city, for a city to contain a million of +inhabitants. It is impossible to state with accuracy the actual +population of Washington, for it fluctuates exceedingly. The place +is very full during Congress, and very empty during the recess. +By which I mean it to be understood that those streets, which +are blessed with houses, are full when Congress meets. I do not +think that Congress makes much difference to Massachusetts Avenue. +I believe that the city never contains as many as eighty thousand, +and that its permanent residents are less than sixty thousand. + +But, it will be said,--was it not well to prepare for a growing city? +Is it not true that London is choked by its own fatness, not having +been endowed at its birth or during its growth, with proper means for +accommodating its own increasing proportions? Was it not well to lay +down fine avenues and broad streets, so that future citizens might +find a city well prepared to their hand? + +There is no doubt much in such an argument, but its correctness must +be tested by its success. When a man marries it is well that he +should make provision for a coming family. But a Benedict, who early +in his career shall have carried his friends with considerable +self-applause through half-a-dozen nurseries and at the end of twelve +years shall still be the father of one ricketty baby, will incur a +certain amount of ridicule. It is very well to be prepared for good +fortune, but one should limit one's preparation within a reasonable +scope. Two miles by one might perhaps have done for the skeleton +sketch of a new city. Less than half that would contain much more +than the present population of Washington; and there are, I fear, few +towns in the Union so little likely to enjoy any speedy increase. + +Three avenues sweep the whole length of Washington;--Virginia Avenue, +Pennsylvania Avenue, and Massachusetts Avenue. But Pennsylvania +Avenue is the only one known to ordinary men, and the half of that +only is so known. This avenue is the backbone of the city, and those +streets which are really inhabited cluster round that half of it +which runs westward from the Capitol. The eastern end, running from +the front of the Capitol, is again a desert. The plan of the city is +somewhat complicated. It may truly be called "a mighty maze, but not +without a plan." The Capitol was intended to be the centre of the +city. It faces eastward, away from the Potomac,--or rather from the +main branch of the Potomac, and also unfortunately from the main body +of the town. It turns its back upon the chief thoroughfare, upon the +Treasury buildings, and upon the President's house; and indeed upon +the whole place. It was, I suppose, intended that the streets to the +eastward should be noble and populous, but hitherto they have come +to nothing. The building therefore is wrong side foremost, and all +mankind who enter it, senators, representatives, and judges included, +go in at the back-door. Of course it is generally known that in +the Capitol is the Chamber of the Senate, that of the House of +Representatives, and the Supreme Judicial Court of the Union. It may +be said that there are two centres in Washington, this being one and +the President's house the other. At these centres the main avenues +are supposed to cross each other, which avenues are called by the +names of the respective States. At the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue, +New Jersey Avenue, Delaware Avenue, and Maryland Avenue converge. +They come from one extremity of the city to the square of the Capitol +on one side, and run out from the other side of it to the other +extremity of the city. Pennsylvania Avenue, New York Avenue, Vermont +Avenue, and Connecticut Avenue do the same at what is generally +called President's Square. In theory, or on paper, this seems to be a +clear and intelligible arrangement; but it does not work well. These +centre depots are large spaces, and consequently one portion of a +street is removed a considerable distance from the other. It is as +though the same name should be given to two streets, one of which +entered St. James's Park at Buckingham Gate, while the other started +from the Park at Marlborough House. To inhabitants the matter +probably is not of much moment, as it is well known that this portion +of such an avenue and that portion of such another avenue are merely +myths,--unknown lands away in the wilds. But a stranger finds himself +in the position of being sent across the country knee-deep into the +mud, wading through snipe grounds, looking for civilization where +none exists. + +All these avenues have a slanting direction. They are so arranged +that none of them run north and south or east and west; but the +streets, so called, all run in accordance with the points of the +compass. Those from east to west are A Street, B Street, C Street, +and so on,--counting them away from the Capitol on each side, so that +there are two A streets and two B streets. On the map these streets +run up to V Street, both right and left,--V Street North and V Street +South. Those really known to mankind are E, F, G, H, I, and K Streets +North. Then those streets which run from north to south are numbered +First Street, Second Street, Third Street, and so on, on each front +of the Capitol, running to Twenty-fourth or Twenty-fifth Street on +each side. Not very many of these have any existence, or I might +perhaps more properly say, any vitality in their existence. + +Such is the plan of the city, that being the arrangement and those +the dimensions intended by the original architects and founders of +Washington; but the inhabitants have hitherto confined themselves to +Pennsylvania Avenue West, and to the streets abutting from it or near +to it. Whatever address a stranger may receive, however perplexing +it may seem to him, he may be sure that the house indicated is near +Pennsylvania Avenue. If it be not, I should recommend him to pay no +attention to the summons. Even in those streets with which he will +become best acquainted, the houses are not continuous. There will be +a house, and then a blank; then two houses, and then a double blank. +After that a hut or two, and then probably an excellent, roomy, +handsome family mansion. Taken altogether, Washington as a city is +most unsatisfactory, and falls more grievously short of the thing +attempted than any other of the great undertakings of which I have +seen anything in the States. San Jose, the capital of the republic of +Costa Rica, in Central America, has been prepared and arranged as a +new city in the same way. But even San Jose comes nearer to what was +intended than does Washington. + +For myself, I do not believe in cities made after this fashion. +Commerce, I think, must select the site of all large congregations of +mankind. In some mysterious way she ascertains what she wants, and +having acquired that, draws men in thousands round her properties. +Liverpool, New York, Lyons, Glasgow, Venice, Marseilles, Hamburg, +Calcutta, Chicago, and Leghorn, have all become populous, and are or +have been great, because trade found them to be convenient for its +purposes. Trade seems to have ignored Washington altogether. Such +being the case, the Legislature and the Executive of the country +together have been unable to make of Washington anything better than +a straggling congregation of buildings in a wilderness. We are now +trying the same experiment at Ottawa, in Canada, having turned our +back upon Montreal in dudgeon. The site of Ottawa is more interesting +than that of Washington, but I doubt whether the experiment will be +more successful. A new town for art, fashion, and politics has been +built at Munich, and there it seems to answer the expectation of the +builders; but at Munich there is an old city as well, and commerce +had already got some considerable hold on the spot before the new +town was added to it. + +The streets of Washington, such as exist, are all broad. Throughout +the town there are open spaces,--spaces, I mean, intended to be open +by the plan laid down for the city. At the present moment it is +almost all open space. There is also a certain nobility about the +proposed dimensions of the avenues and squares. Desirous of praising +it in some degree, I can say that the design is grand. The thing +done, however, falls so infinitely short of that design, that nothing +but disappointment is felt. And I fear that there is no look-out +into the future which can justify a hope that the design will be +fulfilled. It is therefore a melancholy place. The society into which +one falls there consists mostly of persons who are not permanently +resident in the capital; but of those who were permanent residents I +found none who spoke of their city with affection. The men and women +of Boston think that the sun shines nowhere else;--and Boston Common +is very pleasant. The New Yorkers believe in Fifth Avenue with an +unswerving faith; and Fifth Avenue is calculated to inspire a faith. +Philadelphia to a Philadelphian is the centre of the universe, and +the progress of Philadelphia, perhaps, justifies the partiality. The +same thing may be said of Chicago, of Buffalo, and of Baltimore. But +the same thing cannot be said in any degree of Washington. They who +belong to it turn up their noses at it. They feel that they live +surrounded by a failure. Its grand names are as yet false, and none +of the efforts made have hitherto been successful. Even in winter, +when Congress is sitting, Washington is melancholy;--but Washington +in summer must surely be the saddest spot on earth. + +There are six principal public buildings in Washington, as to which +no expense seems to have been spared, and in the construction of +which a certain amount of success has been obtained. In most of these +this success has been more or less marred by an independent deviation +from recognized rules of architectural taste. These are the Capitol, +the Post-office, the Patent-office, the Treasury, the President's +house, and the Smithsonian Institute. The five first are Grecian, +and the last in Washington is called--Romanesque. Had I been left to +classify it by my own unaided lights, I should have called it bastard +Gothic. + +The Capitol is by far the most imposing; and though there is much +about it with which I cannot but find fault, it certainly is +imposing. The present building was, I think, commenced in 1815, the +former Capitol having been destroyed by the English in the war of +1812-13. It was then finished according to the original plan, with a +fine portico and well-proportioned pediment above it,--looking to the +east. The outer flight of steps, leading up to this from the eastern +approach, is good and in excellent taste. The expanse of the building +to the right and left, as then arranged, was well proportioned, +and, as far as we can now judge, the then existing dome was well +proportioned also. As seen from the east the original building +must have been in itself very fine. The stone is beautiful, being +bright almost as marble, and I do not know that there was any great +architectural defect to offend the eye. The figures in the pediment +are mean. There is now in the Capitol a group apparently prepared for +a pediment, which is by no means mean. I was informed that they were +intended for this position; but they, on the other hand, are too good +for such a place, and are also too numerous. This set of statues +is by Crawford. Most of them are well known, and they are very +fine. They now stand within the old chamber of the Representative +House, and the pity is, that if elevated to such a position as that +indicated, they can never be really seen. There are models of them +all at West Point, and some of them I have seen at other places in +marble. The Historical Society at New York has one or two of them. +In and about the front of the Capitol there are other efforts of +sculpture,--imposing in their size, and assuming, if not affecting, +much in the attitudes chosen. Statuary at Washington runs too much on +two subjects, which are repeated perhaps almost ad nauseam; one is +that of a stiff, steady-looking, healthy, but ugly individual, with +a square jaw and big jowl, which represents the great General; he +does not prepossess the beholder, because he appears to be thoroughly +ill-natured. And the other represents a melancholy, weak figure +without any hair, but often covered with feathers, and is intended +to typify the red Indian. The red Indian is generally supposed to +be receiving comfort; but it is manifest that he never enjoys the +comfort ministered to him. There is a gigantic statue of Washington, +by Greenough, out in the grounds in front of the building. The figure +is seated and holding up one of its arms towards the city. There is +about it a kind of weighty magnificence; but it is stiff, ungainly, +and altogether without life. + +But the front of the original building is certainly grand. The +architect who designed it must have had skill, taste, and nobility of +conception; but even this was spoilt, or rather wasted, by the fact +that the front is made to look upon nothing, and is turned from the +city. It is as though the _facade_ of the London Post-office had been +made to face the Goldsmiths' Hall. The Capitol stands upon the side +of a hill, the front occupying a much higher position than the back; +consequently they who enter it from the back--and everybody does so +enter it--are first called on to rise to the level of the lower floor +by a stiff ascent of exterior steps, which are in no way grand or +imposing, and then, having entered by a mean back-door, are instantly +obliged to ascend again by another flight,--by stairs sufficiently +appropriate to a back entrance, but altogether unfitted for the chief +approach to such a building. It may, of course, be said that persons +who are particular in such matters should go in at the front door and +not at the back; but one must take these things as one finds them. +The entrance by which the Capitol is approached is such as I have +described. There are mean little brick chimneys at the left hand as +one walks in, attached to modern bakeries which have been constructed +in the basement for the use of the soldiers; and there is on +the other hand the road by which waggons find their way to the +underground region with fuel, stationery, and other matters desired +by senators and representatives,--and at present by bakers also. + +In speaking of the front I have spoken of it as it was originally +designed and built. Since that period very heavy wings have been +added to the pile;--wings so heavy that they are or seem to be much +larger than the original structure itself. This, to my thinking, has +destroyed the symmetry of the whole. The wings, which in themselves +are by no means devoid of beauty, are joined to the centre by +passages so narrow that from exterior points of view the light can be +seen through them. This robs the mass of all oneness, of all entirety +as a whole, and gives a scattered straggling appearance where there +should be a look of massiveness and integrity. The dome also has been +raised, a double drum having been given to it. This is unfinished +and should not therefore yet be judged; but I cannot think that the +increased height will be an improvement. This again, to my eyes, +appears to be straggling rather than massive. At a distance it +commands attention, and to one journeying through the desert places +of the city gives that idea of Palmyra which I have before mentioned. + +Nevertheless, and in spite of all that I have said, I have had +pleasure in walking backwards and forwards, and through the grounds +which lie before the eastern front of the Capitol. The space for the +view is ample, and the thing to be seen has points which are very +grand. If the Capitol were finished and all Washington were built +around it, no man would say that the house in which Congress sat +disgraced the city. + +Going west, but not due west, from the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue +stretches in a right line to the Treasury Chambers. The distance is +beyond a mile, and men say, scornfully, that the two buildings have +been put so far apart in order to save the Secretaries who sit in +the bureaux from a too rapid influx of members of Congress. This +statement I by no means indorse; but it is undoubtedly the fact that +both senators and representatives are very diligent in their calls +upon gentlemen high in office. I have been present on some such +occasions, and it has always seemed to me that questions of patronage +have been paramount. This reach of Pennsylvania Avenue is the quarter +for the best shops of Washington,--that is to say, the frequented +side of it is so,--that side which is on your right as you leave the +Capitol. Of the other side the world knows nothing. And very bad +shops they are. I doubt whether there be any town in the world at all +equal in importance to Washington, which is in such respects so ill +provided. The shops are bad and dear. In saying this I am guided by +the opinions of all whom I heard speak on the subject. The same thing +was told me of the hotels. Hearing that the city was very full at the +time of my visit--full to overflowing--I had obtained private rooms +through a friend before I went there. Had I not done so, I might have +lain in the streets, or have made one with three or four others in a +small room at some third-rate inn. There had never been so great a +throng in the town. I am bound to say that my friend did well for me. +I found myself put up at the house of one Wormley, a coloured man, in +I Street, to whose attention I can recommend any Englishman who may +chance to want quarters in Washington. He has an hotel on one side of +the street, and private lodging-houses on the other in which I found +myself located. From what I heard of the hotels I conceived myself +to be greatly in luck. Willard's is the chief of these, and the +everlasting crowd and throng of men with which the halls and passages +of the house were always full, certainly did not seem to promise +either privacy or comfort. But then there are places in which +privacy and comfort are not expected,--are hardly even desired,--and +Washington is one of them. + +The Post-office and the Patent-office lie a little away from +Pennsylvania Avenue in F Street, and are opposite to each other. The +Post-office is certainly a very graceful building. It is square, and +hardly can be said to have any settled front or any grand entrance. +It is not approached by steps, but stands flush on the ground, +alike on each of the four sides. It is ornamented with Corinthian +pilasters, but is not over ornamented. It is certainly a structure +creditable to any city. The streets around it are all unfinished, and +it is approached through seas of mud and sloughs of despond, which +have been contrived, as I imagine, to lessen, if possible, the +crowd of callers, and lighten in this way the overtasked officials +within. That side by which the public in general were supposed to +approach was, during my sojourn, always guarded by vast mountains of +flour-barrels. Looking up at the windows of the building I perceived +also that barrels were piled within, and then I knew that the +Post-office had become a provision depot for the army. The official +arrangements here for the public were so bad as to be absolutely +barbarous. I feel some remorse in saying this, for I was myself +treated with the utmost courtesy by gentlemen holding high positions +in the office,--to which I was specially attracted by my own +connection with the Post-office in England. But I do not think that +such courtesy should hinder me from telling what I saw that was +bad,--seeing that it would not hinder me from telling what I saw that +was good. In Washington there is but one Post-office. There are no +iron pillars or wayside letter-boxes, as are to be found in other +towns of the Union;--no subsidiary offices at which stamps can be +bought and letters posted. The distances of the city are very great, +the means of transit through the city very limited, the dirt of the +city ways unrivalled in depth and tenacity; and yet there is but one +Post-office. Nor is there any established system of letter-carriers. +To those who desire it, letters are brought out and delivered by +carriers who charge a separate porterage for that service; but +the rule is that letters shall be delivered from the window. For +strangers this is of course a necessity of their position; and I +found that when once I had left instructions that my letters should +be delivered, those instructions were carefully followed. Indeed +nothing could exceed the civility of the officials within;--but so +also nothing can exceed the barbarity of the arrangements without. +The purchase of stamps I found to be utterly impracticable. They +were sold at a window in a corner, at which newspapers were also +delivered, to which there was no regular ingress, and from which +there was no egress. It would generally be deeply surrounded by a +crowd of muddy soldiers, who would wait there patiently till time +should enable them to approach the window. The delivery of letters +was almost more tedious, though in that there was a method. The +aspirants stood in a long line, _en cue_, as we are told by Carlyle +that the bread-seekers used to approach the bakers' shops at Paris +during the Revolution. This "cue" would sometimes project out into +the street. The work inside was done very slowly. The clerk had no +facility, by use of a desk or otherwise, for running through the +letters under the initials denominated, but turned letter by letter +through his hand. To one questioner out of ten would a letter +be given. It no doubt may be said in excuse for this that the +presence of the army round Washington caused at that period special +inconvenience; and that plea should of course be taken, were it +not that a very trifling alteration in the management within would +have remedied all the inconvenience. As a building the Washington +Post-office is very good; as the centre of a most complicated and +difficult department, I believe it to be well managed: but as regards +the special accommodation given by it to the city in which it stands, +much cannot, I think, be said in its favour. + +Opposite to that which is, I presume, the back of the Post-office, +stands the Patent-office. This also is a grand building, with a fine +portico of Doric pillars at each of its three fronts. These are +approached by flights of steps, more gratifying to the eye than to +the legs. The whole structure is massive and grand, and, if the +streets round it were finished, would be imposing. The utilitarian +spirit of the nation has, however, done much toward marring the +appearance of the building, by piercing it with windows altogether +unsuited to it, both in number and size. The walls, even under the +porticoes, have been so pierced, in order that the whole space might +be utilized without loss of light; and the effect is very mean. The +windows are small and without ornament,--something like a London +window of the time of George III. The effect produced by a dozen such +at the back of a noble Doric porch, looking down among the pillars, +may be imagined. + +In the interior of this building the Minister of the Interior holds +his court, and of course also the Commissioners of Patents. Here is, +in accordance with the name of the building, a museum of models of +all patents taken out. I wandered through it, gazing with listless +eye, now upon this, and now upon that; but to me, in my ignorance, +it was no better than a large toy-shop. When I saw an ancient +dusty white hat, with some peculiar appendage to it which was +unintelligible, it was no more to me than any other old white hat. +But had I been a man of science, what a tale it might have told! +Wandering about through the Patent-office I also found a hospital for +soldiers. A British officer was with me who pronounced it to be, in +its kind, very good. At any rate it was sweet, airy, and large. In +these days the soldiers had got hold of everything. + +The Treasury Chambers is as yet an unfinished building. The front +to the south has been completed; but that to the north has not been +built. Here at the north stands as yet the old Secretary of State's +office. This is to come down, and the Secretary of State is to be +located in the new building, which will be added to the Treasury. +This edifice will probably strike strangers more forcibly than any +other in the town, both from its position and from its own character. +It stands with its side to Pennsylvania Avenue, but the avenue here +has turned round, and runs due north and south, having taken a twist, +so as to make way for the Treasury and for the President's house, +through both of which it must run had it been carried straight on +throughout. These public offices stand with their side to the street, +and the whole length is ornamented with an exterior row of Ionic +columns raised high above the footway. This is perhaps the prettiest +thing in the city, and when the front to the north has been +completed, the effect will be still better. The granite monoliths +which have been used, and which are to be used, in this building are +very massive. As one enters by the steps to the south there are two +flat stones, one on each side of the ascent, the surface of each +of which is about 20 feet by 18. The columns are, I think, all +monoliths. Of those which are still to be erected, and which now lie +about in the neighbouring streets, I measured one or two--one which +was still in the rough I found to be 32 feet long by 5 feet broad, +and 4-1/2 deep. These granite blocks have been brought to Washington +from the State of Maine. The finished front of this building, looking +down to the Potomac, is very good; but to my eyes this also has been +much injured by the rows of windows which look out from the building +into the space of the portico. + +The President's house--or the White House as it is now called all the +world over--is a handsome mansion fitted for the chief officer of +a great Republic, and nothing more. I think I may say that we have +private houses in London considerably larger. It is neat and pretty, +and with all its immediate outside belongings calls down no adverse +criticism. It faces on to a small garden, which seems to be always +accessible to the public, and opens out upon that everlasting +Pennsylvania Avenue, which has now made another turn. Here in front +of the White House is President's Square, as it is generally called. +The technical name is, I believe, La Fayette Square. The houses round +it are few in number,--not exceeding three or four on each side, but +they are among the best in Washington, and the whole place is neat +and well kept. President's Square is certainly the most attractive +part of the city. The garden of the square is always open, and does +not seem to suffer from any public ill-usage; by which circumstance +I am again led to suggest that the gardens of our London squares +might be thrown open in the same way. In the centre of this one +at Washington, immediately facing the President's house, is an +equestrian statue of General Jackson. It is very bad; but that it +is not nearly as bad as it might be is proved by another equestrian +statue,--of General Washington,--erected in the centre of a small +garden-plat at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, near the bridge +leading to Georgetown. Of all the statues on horseback which I ever +saw, either in marble or bronze, this is by far the worst and most +ridiculous. The horse is most absurd, but the man sitting on the +horse is manifestly drunk. I should think the time must come when +this figure at any rate will be removed. + +I did not go inside the President's house, not having had while +at Washington an opportunity of paying my personal respects to Mr. +Lincoln. I had been told that this was to be done without trouble, +but when I inquired on the subject I found that this was not exactly +the case. I believe there are times when anybody may walk into the +President's house without an introduction; but that, I take it, is +not considered to be the proper way of doing the work. I found that +something like a favour would be incurred, or that some disagreeable +trouble would be given, if I made a request to be presented,--and +therefore I left Washington without seeing the great man. + +The President's house is nice to look at, but it is built on marshy +ground, not much above the level of the Potomac, and is very +unhealthy. I was told that all who live there become subject to fever +and ague, and that few who now live there have escaped it altogether. +This comes of choosing the site of a new city, and decreeing that it +shall be built on this or on that spot. Large cities, especially in +these latter days, do not collect themselves in unhealthy places. Men +desert such localities,--or at least do not congregate at them when +their character is once known. But the poor President cannot desert +the White House. He must make the most of the residence which the +nation has prepared for him. + +Of the other considerable public building of Washington, called the +Smithsonian Institution, I have said that its style was bastard +Gothic; by this I mean that its main attributes are Gothic, but that +liberties have been taken with it, which, whether they may injure its +beauty or no, certainly are subversive of architectural purity. It is +built of red stone, and is not ugly in itself. There is a very nice +Norman porch to it, and little bits of Lombard Gothic have been well +copied from Cologne. But windows have been fitted in with stilted +arches, of which the stilts seem to crack and bend, so narrow are +they and so high. And then the towers with high pinnacled roofs are a +mistake,--unless indeed they be needed to give to the whole structure +that name of Romanesque which it has assumed. The building is used +for museums and lectures, and was given to the city by one James +Smithson, an Englishman. I cannot say that the city of Washington +seems to be grateful, for all to whom I spoke on the subject hinted +that the Institution was a failure. It is to be remarked that nobody +in Washington is proud of Washington, or of anything in it. If the +Smithsonian Institution were at New York or at Boston, one would have +a different story to tell. + +There has been an attempt made to raise at Washington a vast obelisk +to the memory of Washington,--the first in war and first in peace, +as the country is proud to call him. This obelisk is a fair type +of the city. It is unfinished,--not a third of it having as yet +been erected,--and in all human probability ever will remain so. If +finished it would be the highest monument of its kind standing on the +face of the globe,--and yet, after all, what would it be even then as +compared with one of the great pyramids? Modern attempts cannot bear +comparison with those of the old world in simple vastness. But in +lieu of simple vastness, the modern world aims to achieve either +beauty or utility. By the Washington monument, if completed, neither +would be achieved. An obelisk with the proportions of a needle +may be very graceful; but an obelisk which requires an expanse of +flat-roofed, sprawling buildings for its base, and of which the shaft +shall be as big as a cathedral tower, cannot be graceful. At present +some third portion of the shaft has been built, and there it stands. +No one has a word to say for it. No one thinks that money will ever +again be subscribed for its completion. I saw somewhere a box of +plate-glass kept for contributions for this purpose, and looking in +perceived that two half-dollar pieces had been given;--but both of +them were bad. I was told also that the absolute foundation of the +edifice is bad;--that the ground, which is near the river and swampy, +would not bear the weight intended to be imposed on it. + +A sad and saddening spot was that marsh, as I wandered down on it all +alone one Sunday afternoon. The ground was frozen and I could walk +dry-shod, but there was not a blade of grass. Around me on all sides +were cattle in great numbers--steers and big oxen--lowing in their +hunger for a meal. They were beef for the army, and never again I +suppose would it be allowed to them to fill their big maws and chew +the patient cud. There, on the brown, ugly, undrained field, within +easy sight of the President's house, stood the useless, shapeless, +graceless pile of stones. It was as though I were looking on the +genius of the city. It was vast, pretentious, bold, boastful with a +loud voice, already taller by many heads than other obelisks, but +nevertheless still in its infancy,--ugly, unpromising, and false. The +founder of the monument had said, Here shall be the obelisk of the +world! and the founder of the city had thought of his child somewhat +in the same strain. It is still possible that both city and monument +shall be completed; but at the present moment nobody seems to believe +in the one or in the other. For myself I have much faith in the +American character, but I cannot believe either in Washington city or +in the Washington monument. The boast made has been too loud, and the +fulfilment yet accomplished has been too small! + +Have I as yet said that Washington was dirty in that winter of +1861-1862? Or, I should rather ask, have I made it understood that +in walking about Washington one waded as deep in mud as one does in +floundering through an ordinary ploughed field in November? There +were parts of Pennsylvania Avenue which would have been considered +heavy ground by most hunting-men, and through some of the remoter +streets none but light weights could have lived long. This was the +state of the town when I left it in the middle of January. On my +arrival in the middle of December, everything was in a cloud of +dust. One walked through an atmosphere of floating mud; for the dirt +was ponderous and thick, and very palpable in its atoms. Then came +a severe frost and a little snow; and if one did not fall while +walking, it was very well. After that we had the thaw; and Washington +assumed its normal winter condition. I must say that, during the +whole of this time, the atmosphere was to me exhilarating; but I was +hardly out of the doctor's hands while I was there, and he did not +support my theory as to the goodness of the air. "It is poisoned by +the soldiers," he said, "and everybody is ill." But then my doctor +was perhaps a little tinged with southern proclivities. + +On the Virginian side of the Potomac stands a country-house called +Arlington Heights, from which there is a fine view down upon the +city. Arlington Heights is a beautiful spot,--having all the +attractions of a fine park in our country. It is covered with grand +timber. The ground is varied and broken, and the private roads about +sweep here into a dell and then up a brae-side, as roads should do in +such a domain. Below it was the Potomac, and immediately on the other +side stands the city of Washington. Any city seen thus is graceful; +and the white stones of the big buildings when the sun gleams on +them, showing the distant rows of columns, seem to tell something of +great endeavour and of achieved success. It is the place from whence +Washington should be seen by those who wish to think well of the +present city and of its future prosperity. But is it not the case +that every city is beautiful from a distance? + +The house at Arlington Heights is picturesque, but neither large +nor good. It has before it a high Greek colonnade, which seems to +be almost bigger than the house itself. Had such been built in a +city,--and many such a portico does stand in cities through the +States,--it would be neither picturesque nor graceful; but here it is +surrounded by timber, and as the columns are seen through the trees, +they gratify the eye rather than offend it. The place did belong, +and as I think does still belong, to the family of the Lees,--if not +already confiscated. General Lee, who is or would be the present +owner, bears high command in the army of the Confederalists, and +knows well by what tenure he holds, or is likely to hold, his family +property. The family were friends of General Washington, whose seat, +Mount Vernon, stands about twelve miles lower down the river; and +here, no doubt, Washington often stood, looking on the site he had +chosen. If his spirit could stand there now and look around upon the +masses of soldiers by which his capital is surrounded, how would it +address the city of his hopes? When he saw that every foot of the +neighbouring soil was desecrated by a camp, or torn into loathsome +furrows of mud by cannon and army waggons,--that agriculture was +gone, and that every effort both of North and South was concentrated +on the art of killing; when he saw that this was done on the very +spot chosen by himself for the centre temple of an everlasting union, +what would he then say as to that boast made on his behalf by his +countrymen that he was first in war and first in peace? Washington +was a great man, and I believe a good man. I, at any rate, will not +belittle him. I think that he had the firmness and audacity necessary +for a revolutionary leader, that he had honesty to preserve him from +the temptations of ambition and ostentation, and that he had the good +sense to be guided in civil matters by men who had studied the laws +of social life and the theories of free government. He was _justus +et tenax propositi_; and in periods that might well have dismayed +a smaller man, he feared neither the throne to which he opposed +himself, nor the changing voices of the fellow-citizens for whose +welfare he had fought. But sixty or seventy years will not suffice to +give to a man the fame of having been first among all men. Washington +did much, and I for one do not believe that his work will perish. +But I have always found it difficult,--I may say impossible,--to +sound his praises in his own land. Let us suppose that a courteous +Frenchman ventures an opinion among Englishmen that Wellington was a +great general, would he feel disposed to go on with his eulogium when +encountered on two or three sides at once with such observations as +the following:--"I should rather calculate he was; about the first +that ever did live or ever will live. Why, he whipped your Napoleon +everlasting whenever he met him. He whipped everybody out of the +field. There warn't anybody ever lived was able to stand nigh him, +and there won't come any like him again. Sir, I guess our Wellington +never had his likes on your side of the water. Such men can't +grow in a down-trodden country of slaves and paupers." Under such +circumstances the Frenchman would probably be shut up. And when I +strove to speak of Washington I generally found myself shut up also. + +Arlington Heights, when I was at Washington, was the head-quarters of +General M'Dowell, the General to whom is attributed--I believe most +wrongfully--the loss of the battle of Bull's Run. The whole place was +then one camp. The fences had disappeared. The gardens were trodden +into mud. The roads had been cut to pieces, and new tracks made +everywhere through the grounds. But the timber still remained. Some +no doubt had fallen, but enough stood for the ample ornamentation +of the place. I saw placards up, prohibiting the destruction of the +trees, and it is to be hoped that they have been spared. Very little +in this way has been spared in the country all around. + +Mount Vernon, Washington's own residence, stands close over the +Potomac, above six miles below Alexandria. It will be understood that +the capital is on the eastern, or Maryland side of the river, and +that Arlington Heights, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon are in Virginia. +The river Potomac divided the two old colonies, or States as they +afterwards became; but when Washington was to be built, a territory, +said to be ten miles square, was cut out of the two States and was +called the district of Columbia. The greater portion of this district +was taken from Maryland, and on that the city was built. It comprised +the pleasant town of Georgetown, which is now a suburb--and the only +suburb--of Washington. The portion of the district on the Virginian +side included Arlington Heights, and went so far down the river as +to take in the Virginian city of Alexandria. This was the extreme +western point of the district; but since that arrangement was made, +the State of Virginia petitioned to have their portion of Columbia +back again, and this petition was granted. Now it is felt that the +land on both sides of the river should belong to the city, and the +Government is anxious to get back the Virginian section. The city and +the immediate vicinity are freed from all State allegiance, and are +under the immediate rule of the United States Government,--having of +course its own municipality; but the inhabitants have no political +power, as power is counted in the States. They vote for no political +officer, not even for the President, and return no member to +Congress, either as a senator or as a representative. Mount Vernon +was never within the district of Columbia. + +When I first made inquiry on the subject I was told that Mount Vernon +at that time was not to be reached;--that though it was not in the +hands of the rebels, neither was it in the hands of Northerners, and +that therefore strangers could not go there; but this, though it +was told to me and others by those who should have known the facts, +was not the case. I had gone down the river with a party of ladies, +and we were opposite to Mount Vernon; but on that occasion we were +assured we could not land. The rebels, we were told, would certainly +seize the ladies, and carry them off into Secessia. On hearing which +the ladies were of course doubly anxious to be landed. But our stern +commander, for we were on a Government boat, would not listen to +their prayers, but carried us instead on board the "Pensacola," a +sloop-of-war which was now lying in the river, ready to go to sea, +and ready also to run the gauntlet of the rebel batteries which lined +the Virginian shore of the river for many miles down below Alexandria +and Mount Vernon. A sloop-of-war in these days means a large +man-of-war, the guns of which are so big that they only stand on +one deck, whereas a frigate would have them on two decks, and a +line-of-battle ship on three. Of line-of-battle ships there will, I +suppose, soon be none, as the "Warrior" is only a frigate. We went +over the "Pensacola," and I must say she was very nice, pretty, and +clean. I have always found American sailors on their men-of-war to +be clean and nice-looking,--as much so I should say as our own; but +nothing can be dirtier, more untidy, or apparently more ill-preserved +than all the appurtenances of their soldiers. + +We landed also on this occasion at Alexandria, and saw as melancholy +and miserable a town as the mind of man can conceive. Its ordinary +male population, counting by the voters, is 1500, and of these 700 +were in the southern army. The place had been made a hospital for +northern soldiers, and no doubt the site for that purpose had been +well chosen. But let any woman imagine what would be the feelings of +her life while living in a town used as a hospital for the enemies +against whom her absent husband was then fighting! Her own man would +be away ill,--wounded, dying, for what she knew, without the comfort +of any hospital attendance, without physic, with no one to comfort +him; but those she hated, with a hatred much keener than his, were +close to her hand, using some friend's house that had been forcibly +taken, crawling out into the sun under her eyes, taking the bread +from her mouth! Life in Alexandria at this time must have been sad +enough. The people were all secessionists, but the town was held by +the northern party. Through the lines, into Virginia, they could not +go at all. Up to Washington they could not go without a military +pass, not to be obtained without some cause given. All trade was at +an end. In no town at that time was trade very flourishing; but here +it was killed altogether,--except that absolutely necessary trade of +bread. Who would buy boots or coats, or want new saddles, or waste +money on books, in such days as these, in such a town as Alexandria? +And then out of 1500 men, one-half had gone to fight the southern +battles! Among the women of Alexandria secession would have found but +few opponents. + +It was here that a hot-brained young man, named Ellsworth, was killed +in the early days of the rebellion. He was a colonel in the northern +volunteer army, and on entering Alexandria found a secession flag +flying at the chief hotel. Instead of sending up a corporal's guard +to remove it, he rushed up and pulled it down with his own hand. As +he descended, the landlord shot him dead, and one of his soldiers +shot the landlord dead. It was a pity that so brave a lad, who had +risen so high, should fall so vainly; but they have made a hero of +him in America;--have inscribed his name on marble monuments, and +counted him up among their great men. In all this their mistake +is very great. It is bad for a country to have no names worthy of +monumental brass; but it is worse for a country to have monumental +brasses covered with names which have never been made worthy of such +honour. Ellsworth had shown himself to be brave and foolish. Let his +folly be pardoned on the score of his courage, and there, I think, +should have been an end of it. + +I found afterwards that Mount Vernon was accessible, and I rode +thither with some officers from the staff of General Heintzleman, +whose outside pickets were stationed beyond the old place. I +certainly should not have been well pleased had I been forced to +leave the country without seeing the house in which Washington had +lived and died. Till lately this place was owned and inhabited by +one of the family, a Washington, descended from a brother of the +General's; but it has now become the property of the country, under +the auspices of Mr. Everett, by whose exertions was raised the money +with which it was purchased. It is a long house, of two stories, +built, I think, chiefly of wood, with a verandah, or rather long +portico, attached to the front, which looks upon the river. There are +two wings, or sets of outhouses, containing the kitchen and servants' +rooms, which were joined by open wooden verandahs to the main +building; but one of these verandahs has gone, under the influence of +years. By these a semicircular sweep is formed before the front door, +which opens away from the river, and towards the old prim gardens, +in which, we were told, General Washington used to take much delight. +There is nothing very special about the house. Indeed, as a house, it +would now be found comfortless and inconvenient. But the ground falls +well down to the river, and the timber, if not fine, is plentiful +and picturesque. The chief interest of the place, however, is in the +tomb of Washington and his wife. It must be understood that it was a +common practice throughout the States to make a family burying-ground +in any secluded spot on the family property. I have not unfrequently +come across these in my rambles, and in Virginia I have encountered +small, unpretending gravestones under a shady elm, dated as lately as +eight or ten years back. At Mount Vernon there is now a cemetery of +the Washington family; and there, in an open vault--a vault open, but +guarded by iron grating--is the great man's tomb, and by his side +the tomb of Martha his wife. As I stood there alone, with no one +by to irritate me by assertions of the man's absolute supremacy, I +acknowledged that I had come to the final resting-place of a great +and good man,--of a man whose patriotism was, I believe, an honest +feeling, untinged by any personal ambition of a selfish nature. That +he was pre-eminently a successful man may have been due chiefly to +the excellence of his cause, and the blood and character of the +people who put him forward as their right arm in their contest; +but that he did not mar that success by arrogance, or destroy the +brightness of his own name by personal aggrandisement, is due to a +noble nature and to the calm individual excellence of the man. + +Considering the circumstances and history of the place, the position +of Mount Vernon, as I saw it, was very remarkable. It lay exactly +between the lines of the two armies. The pickets of the Northern +army had been extended beyond it, not improbably with the express +intention of keeping a spot so hallowed within the power of the +northern Government. But since the war began it had been in the +hands of the seceders. In fact, it stood there in the middle of the +battle-field, on the very line of division between loyalism and +secession. And this was the spot which Washington had selected as the +heart and centre, and safest rallying homestead of the united nation +which he left behind him. But Washington, when he resolved to found +his capital on the banks of the Potomac, knew nothing of the glories +of the Mississippi. He did not dream of the speedy addition to his +already gathered constellations of those Western stars, of Wisconsin, +Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa; nor did he dream of Texas conquered, +Louisiana purchased, and Missouri and Kansas rescued from the +wilderness. + +I have said that Washington was at that time,--the Christmas of +1861-1862,--a melancholy place. This was partly owing to the +despondent tone in which so many Americans then spoke of their own +affairs. It was not that the northern men thought that they were to +be beaten, or that the southern men feared that things were going bad +with their party across the river; but that nobody seemed to have any +faith in anybody. Maclellan had been put up as the true man--exalted +perhaps too quickly, considering the limited opportunities for +distinguishing himself which fortune had thrown in his way; but now +belief in Maclellan seemed to be slipping away. One felt that it was +so from day to day, though it was impossible to define how or whence +the feeling came. And then the character of the ministry fared still +worse in public estimation. That Lincoln, the President, was honest, +and that Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, was able, was the only +good that one heard spoken. At this time two Jonahs were specially +pointed out as necessary sacrifices, by whose immersion into the +comfortless ocean of private life the ship might perhaps be saved. +These were Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War, and Mr. Welles, the +Secretary of the Navy. It was said that Lincoln, when pressed to rid +his Cabinet of Cameron, had replied, that when a man was crossing a +stream the moment was hardly convenient for changing his horse; but +it came to that at last, that he found he must change his horse, even +in the very sharpest run of the river. Better that than sit an animal +on whose exertions he knew that he could not trust. So Mr. Cameron +went, and Mr. Stanton became Secretary at War in his place. But Mr. +Cameron, though put out of the Cabinet, was to be saved from absolute +disgrace by being sent as Minister to Russia. I do not know that +it would become me here to repeat the accusations made against Mr. +Cameron, but it had long seemed to me that the maintenance in such +a position, at such a time, of a gentleman who had to sustain such +a universal absence of public confidence, must have been most +detrimental to the army and to the Government. + +Men whom one met in Washington were not unhappy about the state of +things, as I had seen men unhappy in the North and in the West. They +were mainly indifferent, but with that sort of indifference which +arises from a break down of faith in anything. "There was the army! +Yes, the army! But what an army! Nobody obeyed anybody. Nobody did +anything! Nobody thought of advancing! There were, perhaps, two +hundred thousand men assembled round Washington; and now the effort +of supplying them with food and clothing was as much as could be +accomplished! But the contractors, in the meantime, were becoming +rich. And then as to the Government! Who trusted it? Who would put +their faith in Seward and Cameron? Cameron was now gone, it was true; +and in that way the whole of the Cabinet would soon be broken up. As +to Congress, what could Congress do? Ask questions which no one would +care to answer, and finally get itself packed up and sent home." The +President and the constitution fared no better in men's mouths. The +former did nothing,--neither harm nor good; and as for the latter, it +had broken down and shown itself to be inefficient. So men ate, and +drank, and laughed, waiting till chaos should come, secure in the +belief that the atoms into which their world would resolve itself, +would connect themselves again in some other form without trouble on +their part. + +And at Washington I found no strong feeling against England and +English conduct towards America. "We men of the world," a Washington +man might have said, "know very well that everybody must take care of +himself first. We are very good friends with you,--of course, and are +very glad to see you at our table whenever you come across the water; +but as for rejoicing at your joys, or expecting you to sympathize +with our sorrows, we know the world too well for that. We are +splitting into pieces, and of course that is gain to you. Take +another cigar." This polite, fashionable, and certainly comfortable +way of looking at the matter had never been attained at New York or +Philadelphia, at Boston or Chicago. The northern provincial world +of the States had declared to itself that those who were not with +it were against it; that its neighbours should be either friends or +foes; that it would understand nothing of neutrality. This was often +mortifying to me, but I think I liked it better on the whole than the +_laisser-aller_ indifference of Washington. + +Everybody acknowledged that society in Washington had been almost +destroyed by the loss of the southern half of the usual sojourners in +the city. The senators and members of Government, who heretofore had +come from the southern States, had no doubt spent more money in the +capital than their northern brethren. They and their families had +been more addicted to social pleasures. They are the descendants of +the old English Cavaliers, whereas the northern men have come from +the old English Roundheads. Or if, as may be the case, the blood +of the races has now been too well mixed to allow of this being +said with absolute truth, yet something of the manners of the old +forefathers has been left. The southern gentleman is more genial, +less dry,--I will not say more hospitable, but more given to enjoy +hospitality than his northern brother; and this difference is quite +as strong with the women as with the men. It may therefore be +understood that secession would be very fatal to the society of +Washington. It was not only that the members of Congress were not +there. As to very many of the representatives, it may be said that +they do not belong sufficiently to Washington to make a part of its +society. It is not every representative that is, perhaps, qualified +to do so. But secession had taken away from Washington those who +held property in the South--who were bound to the South by any ties, +whether political or other; who belonged to the South by blood, +education, and old habits. In very many cases--nay, in most such +cases--it had been necessary that a man should select whether he +would be a friend to the South, and therefore a rebel; or else an +enemy to the South, and therefore untrue to all the predilections and +sympathies of his life. Here has been the hardship. For such people +there has been no neutrality possible. Ladies even have not been able +to profess themselves simply anxious for peace and goodwill, and so +to remain tranquil. They who are not for me are against me, has been +spoken by one side and by the other. And I suppose that in all civil +war it is necessary that it should be so. I heard of various cases +in which father and son had espoused different sides in order that +property might be retained both in the North and in the South. Under +such circumstances it may be supposed that society in Washington +would be considerably cut up. All this made the place somewhat +melancholy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CONGRESS. + + +In the interior of the Capitol much space is at present wasted, but +this arises from the fact of great additions to the original plan +having been made. The two chambers,--that of the Senate and of the +Representatives, are in the two new wings, on the middle, or what we +call the first-floor. The entrance is made under a dome, to a large +circular hall, which is hung around with surely the worst pictures by +which a nation ever sought to glorify its own deeds. There are yards +of paintings at Versailles which are bad enough; but there is nothing +at Versailles comparable in villany to the huge daubs which are +preserved in this hall at the Capitol. It is strange that even +self-laudatory patriotism should desire the perpetuation of such +rubbish. When I was there the new dome was still in progress, and an +ugly column of woodwork, required for internal support and affording +a staircase to the top, stood in this hall. This of course was a +temporary and necessary evil; but even this was hung around with the +vilest of portraits. + +From the hall, turning to the left, if the entrance be made at the +front door, one goes to the new Chamber of Representatives, passing +through that which was the old chamber. This is now dedicated to the +exposition of various new figures by Crawford, and to the sale of +tarts and gingerbread,--of very bad tarts and gingerbread. Let that +old woman look to it, or let the House dismiss her. In fact this +chamber is now but a vestibule to a passage, a second hall as it +were, and thus thrown away. Changes probably will be made which will +bring it into some use, or some scheme of ornamentation. From this +a passage runs to the Representative Chamber, passing between those +tell-tale windows, which, looking to the right and left, proclaim the +tenuity of the building. The windows on one side, that looking to the +east or front, should, I think, be closed. The appearance, both from +the inside and from the outside, would be thus improved. + +The Representative Chamber itself--which of course answers to our +House of Commons--is a handsome, commodious room, admirably fitted +for the purposes required. It strikes one as rather low, but I doubt +if it were higher whether it would be better adapted for hearing. +Even at present it is not perfect in this respect as regards the +listeners in the gallery. It is a handsome, long chamber, lighted by +skylights from the roof, and is amply large enough for the number to +be accommodated. The Speaker sits opposite to the chief entrance, +his desk being fixed against the opposite wall. He is thus brought +nearer to the body of the men before him than is the case with our +Speaker. He sits at a marble table, and the clerks below him are also +accommodated with marble. Every representative has his own arm-chair, +and his own desk before it. This may be done for a house consisting +of about 240 members, but could hardly be contrived with us. These +desks are arranged in a semicircular form, or in a broad horseshoe, +and every member as he sits faces the Speaker. A score or so of +little boys are always running about the floor, ministering to the +members' wishes, carrying up petitions to the chair, bringing water +to long-winded legislators, delivering and carrying out letters, and +running with general messages. They do not seem to interrupt the +course of business, and yet they are the liveliest little boys I +ever saw. When a member claps his hands, indicating a desire for +attendance, three or four will jockey for the honour. On the whole, +I thought the little boys had a good time of it. + +But not so the Speaker. It seemed to me that the amount of work +falling upon the Speaker's shoulders was cruelly heavy. His voice was +always ringing in my ears, exactly as does the voice of the croupier +at a gambling-table who goes on declaring and explaining the results +of the game, and who generally does so in sharp, loud, ringing +tones, from which all interest in the proceeding itself seems +to be excluded. It was just so with the Speaker in the House of +Representatives. The debate was always full of interruptions; but +on every interruption the Speaker asked the gentleman interrupted +whether he would consent to be so treated. "The gentleman from +Indiana has the floor." "The gentleman from Ohio wishes to ask the +gentleman from Indiana a question." "The gentleman from Indiana gives +permission." "The gentleman from Ohio!"--these last words being a +summons to him of Ohio to get up and ask his question. "The gentleman +from Pennsylvania rises to order." "The gentleman from Pennsylvania +is in order." And then the House seems always to be voting, and the +Speaker is always putting the question. "The gentlemen who agree to +the amendment will say, Ay." Not a sound is heard. "The gentlemen who +oppose the amendment will say, No." Again not a sound. "The Ayes have +it," says the Speaker, and then he goes on again. All this he does +with amazing rapidity, and is always at it with the same hard, quick, +ringing, uninterested voice. The gentleman whom I saw in the chair +was very clever, and quite up to the task. But as for dignity--! +Perhaps it might be found that any great accession of dignity would +impede the celerity of the work to be done, and that a closer copy of +the British model might not on the whole increase the efficiency of +the American machine. + +When any matter of real interest occasioned a vote, the ayes and noes +would be given aloud; and then, if there were a doubt arising from +the volume of sound, the Speaker would declare that the "ayes" or the +"noes" would seem to have it! And upon this a poll would be demanded. +In such cases the Speaker calls on two members, who come forth +and stand fronting each other before the chair, making a gangway. +Through this the ayes walk like sheep, the tellers giving them an +accelerating poke when they fail to go on with rapidity. Thus they +are counted, and the noes are counted in the same way. It seemed +to me that it would be very possible in a dishonest legislator to +vote twice on any subject of great interest; but it may perhaps be +the case that there are no dishonest legislators in the House of +Representatives. + +According to a list which I obtained, the present number of members +is 173, and there are 63 vacancies occasioned by secession. New +York returns 33 members, Pennsylvania 25, Ohio 21, Virginia 13, +Massachusetts and Indiana 11, Tennessee and Kentucky 10, South +Carolina 6, and so on, till Delaware, Kansas, and Florida return only +1 each. When the constitution was framed, Pennsylvania returned 8, +and New York only 6; whereas Virginia returned 10, and South Carolina +5. From which may be gathered the relative rate of increase in +population of the Free-soil States and the Slave States. All these +States return two senators each to the other House, Kansas sending +as many as New York. The work in the House begins at 12 noon, and is +not often carried on late into the evening. Indeed this, I think, is +never done till towards the end of the session. + +The Senate House is in the opposite wing of the building, the +position of the one house answering exactly to that of the other. +It is somewhat smaller, but is, as a matter of course, much less +crowded. There are 34 States, and therefore 68 seats and 68 desks +only are required. These also are arranged in a horse-shoe form, +and face the President; but there was a sad array of empty chairs +when I was in Washington, nineteen or twenty seats being vacant in +consequence of secession. In this house the Vice-President of the +United States acts as President, but has by no means so hard a job +of work as his brother on the other side of the way. Mr. Hannibal +Hamlin, from Maine, now fills this chair. I was driven, while in +Washington, to observe something amounting almost to a peculiarity in +the Christian names of the gentlemen who were then administrating the +Government of the country. Mr. Abraham Lincoln was the President, Mr. +Hannibal Hamlin the Vice-President, Mr. Galusha Grow the Speaker of +the Representatives, Mr. Salmon Chase the Secretary of the Treasury, +Mr. Caleb Smith the Attorney-General, Mr. Simon Cameron the Secretary +at War, and Mr. Gideon Welles the Secretary of the Navy. + +In the Senate House, as in the other house, there are very commodious +galleries for strangers, running round the entire chambers, and these +galleries are open to all the world. As with all such places in the +States, a large portion of them is appropriated to ladies. But I came +at last to find that the word lady signified a female or a decently +dressed man. Any arrangement for classes is in America impossible; +the seats intended for gentlemen must as a matter of course be open +to all men; but by giving up to the rougher sex half the amount of +accommodation nominally devoted to ladies, the desirable division +is to a certain extent made. I generally found that I could obtain +admittance to the ladies' gallery if my coat were decent and I had +gloves with me. + +All the adjuncts of both these chambers are rich and in good keeping. +The staircases are of marble, and the outside passages and lobbies +are noble in size and in every way convenient. One knows well the +trouble of getting into the House of Lords and House of Commons, and +the want of comfort which attends one there; and an Englishman cannot +fail to make comparisons injurious to his own country. It would not, +perhaps, be possible to welcome all the world in London as is done in +Washington, but there can be no good reason why the space given to +the public with us should not equal that given in Washington. But, so +far are we from sheltering the public, that we have made our House of +Commons so small, that it will not even hold all its own members. + +I had an opportunity of being present at one of their field-days +in the Senate. Slidell and Mason had just then been sent from Fort +Warren across to England in the Rinaldo. And here I may as well say +what further there is for me to say about those two heroes. I was in +Boston when they were taken, and all Boston was then full of them. I +was at Washington when they were surrendered, and at Washington for +a time their names were the only household words in vogue. To me it +had, from the first, been a matter of certainty that England would +demand the restitution of the men. I had never attempted to argue the +matter on the legal points, but I felt, as though by instinct, that +it would be so. First of all there reached us, by telegram, from Cape +Race, rumours of what the press in England was saying;--rumours of a +meeting in Liverpool, and rumours of the feeling in London. And then +the papers followed, and we got our private letters. It was some days +before we knew what was actually the demand made by Lord Palmerston's +cabinet; and during this time, through the five or six days which +were thus passed, it was clear to be seen that the American feeling +was undergoing a great change--or if not the feeling, at any rate the +purpose. Men now talked of surrendering these Commissioners as though +it were a line of conduct which Mr. Seward might find convenient; and +then men went further, and said that Mr. Seward would find any other +line of conduct very inconvenient. The newspapers, one after another, +came round. That, under all the circumstances, the States Government +behaved well in the matter no one, I think, can deny; but the +newspapers, taken as a whole, were not very consistent and, I think, +not very dignified. They had declared with throats of brass that +these men should never be surrendered to perfidious Albion; but when +it came to be understood that in all probability they would be so +surrendered, they veered round without an excuse, and spoke of their +surrender as of a thing of course. And thus, in the course of about a +week, the whole current of men's minds was turned. For myself, on my +first arrival at Washington, I felt certain that there would be war, +and was preparing myself for a quick return to England; but from the +moment that the first whisper of England's message reached us, and +that I began to hear how it was received and what men said about it, +I knew that I need not hurry myself. One met a minister here, and a +senator there, and anon some wise diplomatic functionary. By none of +these grave men would any secret be divulged; none of them had any +secret ready for divulging. But it was to be read in every look of +the eye, in every touch of the hand, and in every fall of the foot of +each of them, that Mason and Slidell would go to England. + +Then we had, in all the fulness of diplomatic language, Lord +Russell's demand and Mr. Seward's answer. Lord Russell's demand was +worded in language so mild, was so devoid of threat, was so free +from anger, that at the first reading it seemed to ask for nothing. +It almost disappointed by its mildness. Mr. Seward's reply, on the +other hand, by its length of argumentation, by a certain sharpness of +diction to which that gentleman is addicted in his State papers, and +by a tone of satisfaction inherent through it all, seemed to demand +more than he conceded. But, in truth, Lord Russell had demanded +everything, and the United States Government had conceded everything. + +I have said that the American Government behaved well in its mode +of giving the men up, and I think that so much should be allowed to +them on a review of the whole affair. That Captain Wilkes had no +instructions to seize the two men is a known fact. He did seize them +and brought them into Boston harbour, to the great delight of his +countrymen. This delight I could understand, though of course I did +not share it. One of these men had been the parent of the Fugitive +Slave Law; the other had been great in fostering the success of +filibustering. Both of them were hot secessionists, and undoubtedly +rebels. No two men on the continent were more grievous by their +antecedents and present characters to all northern feeling. It is +impossible to deny that they were rebels against the Government of +their country. That Captain Wilkes was not on this account justified +in seizing them is now a matter of history, but that the people of +the loyal States should rejoice in their seizure was a matter of +course. Wilkes was received with an ovation, which as regarded him +was ill-judged and undeserved, but which in its spirit was natural. +Had the President's Government at that moment disowned the deed +done by Wilkes, and declared its intention of giving up the men +unasked, the clamour raised would have been very great, and perhaps +successful. We were told that the American lawyers were against +their doing so; and indeed there was such a shout of triumph that no +ministry in a country so democratic could have ventured to go at once +against it, and to do so without any external pressure. + +Then came the one ministerial blunder. The President put forth his +message, in which he was cunningly silent on the Slidell and Mason +affair; but to his message was appended, according to custom, the +report from Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. In this report +approval was expressed of the deed done by Captain Wilkes. Captain +Wilkes was thus in all respects indemnified, and the blame, if any, +was taken from his shoulders and put on to the shoulders of that +officer who was responsible for the Secretary's letter. It is true +that in that letter the Secretary declared that in case of any future +seizure the vessel seized must be taken into port, and so declared +in animadverting on the fact that Captain Wilkes had not brought the +"Trent" into port. But, nevertheless, Secretary Welles approved of +Captain Wilkes's conduct. He allowed the reasons to be good which +Wilkes had put forward for leaving the ship, and in all respects +indemnified the captain. Then the responsibility shifted itself to +Secretary Welles; but I think it must be clear that the President, in +sending forward that report, took that responsibility upon himself. +That he is not bound to send forward the reports of his Secretaries +as he receives them;--that he can disapprove them and require +alteration, was proved at the very time by the fact that he had in +this way condemned Secretary Cameron's report, and caused a portion +of it to be omitted. Secretary Cameron had unfortunately allowed his +entire report to be printed, and it appeared in a New York paper. +It contained a recommendation with reference to the slave question +most offensive to a part of the Cabinet, and to the majority of Mr. +Lincoln's party. This, by order of the President, was omitted in the +official way. It was certainly a pity that Mr. Welles's paragraph +respecting the "Trent" was not omitted also. The President was dumb +on the matter, and that being so the Secretary should have been dumb +also. + +But when the demand was made the States Government yielded at once, +and yielded without bluster. I cannot say I much admired Mr. Seward's +long letter. It was full of smart special pleading, and savoured +strongly, as Mr. Seward's productions always do, of the personal +author. Mr. Seward was making an effort to place a great State paper +on record, but the _ars celare artem_ was altogether wanting; and, +if I am not mistaken, he was without the art itself. I think he left +the matter very much where he found it. The men however were to be +surrendered, and the good policy consisted in this,--that no delay +was sought, no diplomatic ambiguities were put into request. It was +the opinion of very many that some two or three months might be +gained by correspondence, and that at the end of that time things +might stand on a different footing. If during that time the North +should gain any great success over the South, the States might be in +a position to disregard England's threats. No such game was played. +The illegality of the arrest was at once acknowledged, and the +men were given up,--with a tranquillity that certainly appeared +marvellous after all that had so lately occurred. + +Then came Mr. Sumner's field day. Mr. Charles Sumner is a senator +from Massachusetts, known as a very hot abolitionist and as having +been the victim of an attack made upon him in the Senate House by +Senator Brookes. He was also at the time of which I am writing +Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which position is +as near akin to that of a British minister in Parliament as can +be attained under the existing constitution of the States. It is +not similar, because such chairman is by no means bound to the +Government; but he has ministerial relations, and is supposed to be +specially conversant with all questions relating to foreign affairs. +It was understood that Mr. Sumner did not intend to find fault either +with England or with the Government of his own country as to its +management of this matter; or that, at least, such fault-finding was +not his special object, but that he was desirous to put forth views +which might lead to a final settlement of all difficulties with +reference to the right of international search. + +On such an occasion, a speaker gives himself very little chance of +making a favourable impression on his immediate hearers if he reads +his speech from a written manuscript. Mr. Sumner did so on this +occasion, and I must confess that I was not edified. It seemed to me +that he merely repeated, at greater length, the arguments which I had +heard fifty times during the last thirty or forty days. I am told +that the discourse is considered to be logical, and that it "reads" +well. As regards the gist of it, or that result which Mr. Sumner +thinks to be desirable, I fully agree with him, as I think will all +the civilized world before many years have passed. If international +law be what the lawyers say it is, international law must be altered +to suit the requirements of modern civilization. By those laws, as +they are construed, everything is to be done for two nations at war +with each other; but nothing is to be done for all the nations of the +world that can manage to maintain the peace. The belligerents are to +be treated with every delicacy, as we treat our heinous criminals; +but the poor neutrals are to be handled with unjust rigour, as we +handle our unfortunate witnesses in order that the murderer may, if +possible, be allowed to escape. Two men living in the same street +choose to pelt each other across the way with brickbats, and the +other inhabitants are denied the privileges of the footpath lest they +should interfere with the due prosecution of the quarrel! It is, I +suppose, the truth, that we English have insisted on this right of +search with more pertinacity than any other nation. Now in this case +of Slidell and Mason we have felt ourselves aggrieved, and have +resisted. Luckily for us there was no doubt of the illegality of the +mode of seizure in this instance; but who will say that if Captain +Wilkes had taken the "Trent" into the harbour of New York, in order +that the matter might have been adjudged there, England would have +been satisfied? Our grievance was, that our mail-packet was stopped +on the seas while doing its ordinary beneficent work. And our resolve +is, that our mail-packets shall not be so stopped with impunity. +As we were high-handed in old days in insisting on this right of +search, and as we are high-handed now in resisting a right of search, +it certainly behoves us to see that we be just in our modes of +proceeding. Would Captain Wilkes have been right according to the +existing law if he had carried the "Trent" away to New York? If so, +we ought not to be content with having escaped from such a trouble +merely through a mistake on his part. Lord Russell says that the +"Trent's" voyage was an innocent voyage. That is the fact that should +be established;--not only that the voyage was, in truth, innocent, +but that it should not be made out to be guilty by any international +law. Of its real innocency all thinking men must feel themselves +assured. But it is not only of the seizure that we complain, but of +the search also. An honest man is not to be handled by a policeman +while on his daily work, lest by chance a stolen watch should be +in his pocket. If international law did give such power to all +belligerents, international law must give it no longer. In the +beginning of these matters, as I take it, the object was when two +powerful nations were at war to allow the smaller fry of nations to +enjoy peace and quiet, and to avoid if possible the general scuffle. +Thence arose the position of a neutral. But it was clearly not fair +that any such nation, having proclaimed its neutrality, should, after +that, fetch and carry for either of the combatants to the prejudice +of the other. Hence came the right of search, in order that unjust +falsehood might be prevented. But the seas were not then bridged with +ships as they are now bridged, and the laws as written were, perhaps, +then practical and capable of execution. Now they are impracticable +and not capable of execution. It will not, however, do for us to +ignore them if they exist; and therefore they should be changed. It +is, I think, manifest that our own pretensions as to the right of +search must be modified after this. And now I trust I may finish my +book without again naming Messrs. Slidell and Mason. + +The working of the Senate bears little or no analogy to that of our +House of Lords. In the first place, the senator's tenure there is not +hereditary, nor is it for life. They are elected, and sit for six +years. Their election is not made by the people of their States, but +by the State legislature. The two Houses, for instance, of the State +of Massachusetts meet together and elect by their joint vote to the +vacant seat for their State. It is so arranged that an entirely new +senate is not elected every sixth year. Instead of this a third of +the number is elected every second year. It is a common thing for +senators to be re-elected, and thus to remain in the House for twelve +and eighteen years. In our Parliament the House of Commons has +greater political strength and wider political action than the House +of Lords; but in Congress the Senate counts for more than the House +of Representatives in general opinion. Money bills must originate in +the House of Representatives, but that is, I think, the only special +privilege attaching to the public purse which the lower House enjoys +over the upper. Amendments to such bills can be moved in the Senate; +and all such bills must pass the Senate before they become law. I am +inclined to think that individual members of the Senate work harder +than individual representatives. More is expected of them, and any +prolonged absence from duty would be more remarked in the Senate than +in the other House. In our Parliament this is reversed. The payment +made to members of the Senate is 3000 dollars, or L600, per annum, +and to a representative, L500 per annum. To this is added certain +mileage allowance for travelling backwards and forwards, between +their own State and the Capitol. A senator, therefore, from +California or Oregon has not altogether a bad place; but the halcyon +days of mileage allowances are, I believe, soon to be brought to an +end. It is quite within rule that the senator of to-day should be +the representative of to-morrow. Mr. Crittenden, who was senator +from Kentucky, is now a member of the Lower House from an electoral +district in that State. John Quincy Adams went into the House of +Representatives after he had been President of the United States. + +Divisions in the Senate do not take place as in the House of +Representatives. The ayes and noes are called for in the same way; +but if a poll be demanded, the clerk of the House calls out the names +of the different senators, and makes out lists of the votes according +to the separate answers given by the members. The mode is certainly +more dignified than that pursued in the other House, where during the +ceremony of voting the members look very much like sheep being passed +into their pens. + +I heard two or three debates in the House of Representatives, and +that one especially in which, as I have said before, a chapter was +read out of the book of Joshua. The manner in which the Creator's +name and the authority of His Word was bandied about the house on +that occasion, did not strike me favourably. The question originally +under debate was the relative power of the civil and military +authority. Congress had desired to declare its ascendancy over +military matters; but the army and the Executive generally had +demurred to this,--not with an absolute denial of the rights of +Congress, but with those civil and almost silent generalities with +which a really existing Power so well knows how to treat a nominal +Power. The ascendant wife seldom tells her husband in so many words +that his opinion in the house is to go for nothing; she merely +resolves that such shall be the case, and acts accordingly. An +observer could not but perceive that in those days Congress was +taking upon itself the part, not exactly of an obedient husband, but +of a husband vainly attempting to assert his supremacy. "I have got +to learn," said one gentleman after another, rising indignantly on +the floor, "that the military authority of our generals is above that +of this House." And then one gentleman relieved the difficulty of the +position by branching off into an eloquent discourse against slavery, +and by causing a chapter to be read out of the book of Joshua. + +On that occasion the gentleman's diversion seemed to have the effect +of relieving the House altogether from the embarrassment of the +original question; but it was becoming manifest, day by day, that +Congress was losing its ground, and that the army was becoming +indifferent to its thunders:--that the army was doing so, and +also that ministers were doing so. In the States, the President +and his ministers are not in fact subject to any parliamentary +responsibility. The President may be impeached, but the member of +an opposition does not always wish to have recourse to such an +extreme measure as impeachment. The ministers are not in the houses, +and cannot therefore personally answer questions. Different large +subjects, such as Foreign affairs, Financial affairs, and Army +matters, are referred to Standing Committees in both houses; and +these Committees have relations with the ministers. But they have no +constitutional power over the ministers; nor have they the much more +valuable privilege of badgering a minister hither and thither by +_viva voce_ questions on every point of his administration. The +minister sits safe in his office--safe there for the term of the +existing Presidency if he can keep well with the President; and +therefore, even under ordinary circumstances, does not care much for +the printed or written messages of Congress. But under circumstances +so little ordinary as those of 1861-62, while Washington was +surrounded by hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Congress was +absolutely impotent. Mr. Seward could snap his fingers at Congress, +and he did so. He could not snap his fingers at the army; but then he +could go with the army,--could keep the army on his side by remaining +on the same side with the army; and this, as it seemed, he resolved +to do. It must be understood that Mr. Seward was not Prime Minister. +The President of the United States has no Prime Minister,--or +hitherto has had none. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has usually +stood highest in the Cabinet, and Mr. Seward, as holding that +position, was not inclined to lessen its authority. He was gradually +assuming for that position the prerogatives of a Premier, and men +were beginning to talk of Mr. Seward's ministry. It may easily be +understood that at such a time the powers of Congress would be +undefined, and that ambitious members of Congress would rise and +assert on the floor, with that peculiar voice of indignation so +common in parliamentary debate, "that they had got to learn," &c., +&c., &c. It seemed to me that the lesson which they had yet to learn +was then in the process of being taught to them. They were anxious +to be told all about the mischance at Ball's Bluff, but nobody would +tell them anything about it. They wanted to know something of that +blockade on the Potomac; but such knowledge was not good for them. +"Pack them up in boxes, and send them home," one military gentleman +said to me. And I began to think that something of the kind would be +done, if they made themselves troublesome. I quote here the manner in +which their questions, respecting the affair at Ball's Bluff, were +answered by the Secretary of War. "The Speaker laid before the House +a letter from the Secretary at War, in which he says that he has the +honour to acknowledge the receipt of the resolution adopted on the +6th instant, to the effect that the answer of the department to the +resolution passed on the second day of the session, is not responsive +and satisfactory to the House, and requesting a further answer. The +Secretary has now to state that measures have been taken to ascertain +who is responsible for the disastrous movement at Ball's Bluff, but +that it is not compatible with the public interest to make known +those measures at the present time." + +In truth the days are evil for any Congress of debaters, when a great +army is in camp on every side of them. The people had called for the +army, and there it was. It was of younger birth than Congress, and +had thrown its elder brother considerably out of favour, as has been +done before by many a new-born baby. If Congress could amuse itself +with a few set speeches, and a field-day or two, such as those +afforded by Mr. Sumner, it might all be very well,--provided that +such speeches did not attack the army. Over and beyond this, let +them vote the supplies and have done with it. Was it probable that +General Maclellan should have time to answer questions about Ball's +Bluff,--and he with such a job of work on his hands? Congress could +of course vote what committees of military inquiry it might please, +and might ask questions without end; but we all know to what such +questions lead, when the questioner has no power to force an answer +by a penalty. If it might be possible to maintain the semblance of +respect for Congress, without too much embarrassment to military +secretaries, such semblance should be maintained; but if Congress +chose to make itself really disagreeable, then no semblance could be +kept up any longer. That, as far as I could judge, was the position +of Congress in the early months of 1862; and that, under existing +circumstances, was perhaps the only possible position that it could +fill. + +All this to me was very melancholy. The streets of Washington were +always full of soldiers. Mounted sentries stood at the corners of all +the streets with drawn sabres,--shivering in the cold and besmeared +with mud. A military law came out that civilians might not ride +quickly through the street. Military riders galloped over one at +every turn, splashing about through the mud, and reminding one not +unfrequently of John Gilpin. Why they always went so fast, destroying +their horses' feet on the rough stones, I could never learn. But I, +as a civilian, given, as Englishmen are, to trotting, and furnished +for the time with a nimble trotter, found myself harried from time +to time by muddy men with sabres, who would dash after me, rattling +their trappings, and bid me go at a slower pace. There is a building +in Washington, built by private munificence and devoted, according to +an inscription which it bears, "To the Arts." It has been turned into +an army clothing establishment. The streets of Washington, night and +day, were thronged with army waggons. All through the city military +huts and military tents were to be seen, pitched out among the mud +and in the desert places. Then there was the chosen locality of the +teamsters and their mules and horses--a wonderful world in itself; +and all within the city! Here horses and mules lived,--or died,--_sub +dio_, with no slightest apology for a stable over them, eating their +provender from off the waggons to which they were fastened. Here, +there, and everywhere large houses were occupied as the head-quarters +of some officer, or the bureau of some military official. At +Washington and round Washington the army was everything. While this +was so, is it to be conceived that Congress should ask questions +about military matters with success? + +All this, as I say, filled me with sorrow. I hate military +belongings, and am disgusted at seeing the great affairs of a nation +put out of their regular course. Congress to me is respectable. +Parliamentary debates, be they ever so prosy,--as with us, or even +so rowdy, as sometimes they have been with our cousins across the +water,--engage my sympathies. I bow inwardly before a Speaker's +chair, and look upon the elected representatives of any nation as the +choice men of the age. Those muddy, clattering dragoons, sitting at +the corners of the streets with dirty woollen comforters round their +ears, were to me hideous in the extreme. But there at Washington, at +the period of which I am writing, I was forced to acknowledge that +Congress was at a discount, and that the rough-shod generals were the +men of the day. "Pack them up and send them in boxes to their several +States." It would come to that, I thought, or to something like +that unless Congress would consent to be submissive. "I have yet to +learn--!" said indignant members, stamping with their feet on the +floor of the house. One would have said that by that time the lesson +might almost have been understood. + +Up to the period of this civil war Congress has certainly worked well +for the United States. It might be easy to pick holes in it;--to show +that some members have been corrupt, others quarrelsome, and others +again impracticable. But when we look at the circumstances under +which it has been from year to year elected,--when we remember +the position of the newly-populated States from which the members +have been sent, and the absence throughout the country of that old +traditionary class of Parliament men on whom we depend in England; +when we think how recent has been the elevation in life of the +majority of those who are and must be elected,--it is impossible +to deny them praise for intellect, patriotism, good sense, and +diligence. They began but sixty years ago, and for sixty years +Congress has fully answered the purpose for which it was established. +With no antecedents of grandeur, the nation, with its Congress, has +made itself one of the five great nations of the world. And what +living English politician will say even now, with all its troubles +thick upon it, that it is the smallest of the five? When I think of +this, and remember the position in Europe which an American has been +able to claim for himself, I cannot but acknowledge that Congress on +the whole has been conducted with prudence, wisdom, and patriotism. + +The question now to be asked is this,--Have the powers of Congress +been sufficient, or are they sufficient, for the continued +maintenance of free government in the States under the constitution? +I think that the powers given by the existing constitution to +Congress can no longer be held to be sufficient; and that if the +Union be maintained at all, it must be done by a closer assimilation +of its congressional system to that of our Parliament. But to +that matter I must allude again, when speaking of the existing +constitution of the States. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. + + +I have seen various essays purporting to describe the causes of this +civil war between the North and South; but they have generally been +written with the view of vindicating either one side or the other, +and have spoken rather of causes which should, according to the ideas +of their writers, have produced peace, than of those which did, in +the course of events, actually produce war. This has been essentially +the case with Mr. Everett, who in his lecture at New York, on the 4th +of July, 1860, recapitulated all the good things which the North has +done for the South, and who proved--if he has proved anything--that +the South should have cherished the North instead of hating it. And +this was very much the case also with Mr. Motley in his letter to +the "London Times." That letter is good in its way, as is everything +that comes from Mr. Motley, but it does not tell us why the war has +existed. Why is it that eight millions of people have desired to +separate themselves from a rich and mighty empire,--from an empire +which was apparently on its road to unprecedented success, and which +had already achieved wealth, consideration, power, and internal +well-being? + +One would be led to imagine from the essays of Mr. Everett and of Mr. +Motley, that slavery has had little or nothing to do with it. I must +acknowledge it to be my opinion that slavery in its various bearings +has been the single and necessary cause of the war;--that slavery +being there in the South, this war was only to be avoided by a +voluntary division,--secession voluntary both on the part of North +and South;--that in the event of such voluntary secession being not +asked for, or if asked for not conceded, revolution and civil war +became necessary,--were not to be avoided by any wisdom or care on +the part of the North. + +The arguments used by both the gentlemen I have named prove very +clearly that South Carolina and her sister States had no right to +secede under the constitution; that is to say, that it was not open +to them peaceably to take their departure, and to refuse further +allegiance to the President and Congress without a breach of the +laws by which they were bound. For a certain term of years, namely, +from 1781 to 1787, the different States endeavoured to make their +way in the world, simply leagued together by certain articles +of confederation. It was declared that each State retained its +sovereignty, freedom, and independence; and that the said States then +entered severally into a firm league of friendship with each other +for their common defence. There was no President, no Congress taking +the place of our Parliament, but simply a congress of delegates +or ambassadors, two or three from each State, who were to act in +accordance with the policy of their own individual States. It is +well that this should be thoroughly understood, not as bearing +on the question of the present war, but as showing that a loose +confederation, not subversive of the separate independence of the +States, and capable of being partially dissolved at the will of each +separate State, was tried, and was found to fail. South Carolina took +upon herself to act as she might have acted had that confederation +remained in force; but that confederation was an acknowledged +failure. National greatness could not be achieved under it, and +individual enterprise could not succeed under it. Then in lieu of +that, by the united consent of the thirteen States the present +constitution was drawn up and sanctioned, and to that every State +bound itself in allegiance. In that constitution no power of +secession is either named or presumed to exist. The individual +sovereignty of the States had, in the first instance, been thought +desirable. The young republicans hankered after the separate power +and separate name which each might then have achieved; but that dream +had been found vain,--and therefore the States, at the cost of some +fond wishes, agreed to seek together for national power, rather than +run the risks entailed upon separate existence. I append to this +volume the articles of confederation and the constitution of the +United States, as they who desire to look into this matter may be +anxious to examine them without reference to other volumes. The +latter alone is clear enough on the subject, but is strengthened by +the former in proving that under the latter no State could possess +the legal power of seceding. + +But they who created the constitution, who framed the clauses, and +gave to this terribly important work what wisdom they possessed, did +not presume to think that it could be final. The mode of altering the +constitution is arranged in the constitution. Such alterations must +be proposed either by two-thirds of both the houses of the general +Congress, or by the legislatures of two-thirds of the States; +and must, when so proposed, be ratified by the legislatures of +three-fourths of the States.--(Article V.) There can, I think, be no +doubt that any alteration so carried would be valid; even though that +alteration should go to the extent of excluding one or any number +of States from the Union. Any division so made would be made in +accordance with the constitution. + +South Carolina and the southern States no doubt felt that they would +not succeed in obtaining secession in this way, and therefore they +sought to obtain the separation which they wanted by revolution,--by +revolution and rebellion, as Naples has lately succeeded in her +attempt to change her political status; as Hungary is looking to do; +as Poland has been seeking to do any time since her subjection; as +the revolted colonies of Great Britain succeeded in doing in 1776, +whereby they created this great nation which is now undergoing all +the sorrows of a civil war. The name of secession claimed by the +South for this movement is a misnomer. If any part of a nationality +or empire ever rebelled against the government established on behalf +of the whole, South Carolina so rebelled when, on the 20th November, +1860, she put forth her ordinance of so-called secession; and the +other southern States joined in that rebellion when they followed +her lead. As to that fact, there cannot, I think, much longer be any +doubt in any mind. I insist on this especially, repeating perhaps +unnecessarily, opinions expressed in my first volume, because I still +see it stated by English writers that the secession ordinance of +South Carolina should have been accepted as a political act by the +government of the United States. It seems to me that no government +can in this way accept an act of rebellion without declaring its own +functions to be beyond its own power. + +But what if such rebellion be justifiable, or even reasonable? what +if the rebels have cause for their rebellion? For no one will now +deny that rebellion may be both reasonable and justifiable; or that +every subject in the land may be bound in duty to rebel. In such case +the government will be held to have brought about its own punishment +by its own fault. But as government is a wide affair, spreading +itself gradually, and growing in virtue or in vice from small +beginnings,--from seeds slow to produce their fruits,--it is +much easier to discern the incidence of the punishment than the +perpetration of the fault. Government goes astray by degrees, or sins +by the absence of that wisdom which should teach rulers how to make +progress, as progress is made by those whom they rule. The fault may +be absolutely negative and have spread itself over centuries; may +be, and generally has been, attributable to dull good men;--but not +the less does the punishment come at a blow. The rebellion exists +and cannot be put down,--will put down all that opposes it; but the +government is not the less bound to make its fight. That is the +punishment that comes on governing men or on a governing people, that +govern not well or not wisely. + +As Mr. Motley says in the paper to which I have alluded, "No man, on +either side of the Atlantic, with Anglo-Saxon blood in his veins, +will dispute the right of a people, or of any portion of a people, +to rise against oppression, to demand redress of grievances, and in +case of denial of justice to take up arms to vindicate the sacred +principle of liberty. Few Englishmen or Americans will deny that the +source of government is the consent of the governed, or that every +nation has the right to govern itself according to its will. When +the silent consent is changed to fierce remonstrance, revolution is +impending. The right of revolution is indisputable. It is written on +the whole record of our race. British and American history is made +up of rebellion and revolution. Hampden, Pym, and Oliver Cromwell; +Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, all were rebels." Then comes the +question whether South Carolina and the Gulf States had so suffered +as to make rebellion on their behalf justifiable or reasonable; or if +not, what cause had been strong enough to produce in them so strong +a desire for secession,--a desire which has existed for fully half +the term through which the United States has existed as a nation, +and so firm a resolve to rush into rebellion with the object of +accomplishing that which they deemed not to be accomplished on other +terms. + +It must, I think, be conceded that the Gulf States have not suffered +at all by their connection with the northern States; that in lieu +of any such suffering, they owe all their national greatness to the +northern States; that they have been lifted up by the commercial +energy of the Atlantic States and by the agricultural prosperity of +the western States, to a degree of national consideration and respect +through the world at large, which never could have belonged to them +standing alone. I will not trouble my readers with statistics which +few would care to follow, but let any man of ordinary every-day +knowledge turn over in his own mind his present existing ideas of +the wealth and commerce of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, +Pittsburg, and Cincinnati, and compare them with his ideas as to New +Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Richmond, and Memphis. I do +not name such towns as Baltimore and St. Louis, which stand in slave +States, but which have raised themselves to prosperity by northern +habits. If this be not sufficient, let him refer to population tables +and tables of shipping and tonnage. And of those southern towns +which I have named the commercial wealth is of northern creation. +The success of New Orleans as a city can be no more attributed to +Louisianians than can that of the Havana to the men of Cuba, or of +Calcutta to the natives of India. It has been a repetition of the old +story, told over and over again through every century since commerce +has flourished in the world; the tropics can produce,--but the men +from the North shall sow and reap, and garner and enjoy. As the +Creator's work has progressed, this privilege has extended itself to +regions further removed and still further from southern influences. +If we look to Europe, we see that this has been so in Greece, Italy, +Spain, France, and the Netherlands; in England and Scotland; in +Prussia and in Russia; and the Western world shows us the same story. +Where is now the glory of the Antilles? where the riches of Mexico, +and the power of Peru? They still produce sugar, guano, gold, cotton, +coffee, almost whatever we may ask them,--and will continue to do so +while held to labour under sufficient restraint; but where are their +men, where are their books, where are their learning, their art, +their enterprise? I say it with sad regret at the decadence of so +vast a population; but I do say that the southern States of America +have not been able to keep pace with their northern brethren;--that +they have fallen behind in the race, and feeling that the struggle is +too much for them, have therefore resolved to part. + +The reasons put forward by the South for secession have been trifling +almost beyond conception. Northern tariffs have been the first, +and perhaps foremost. Then there has been a plea that the national +exchequer has paid certain bounties to New England fishermen, +of which the South has paid its share,--getting no part of such +bounty in return. There is also a complaint as to the navigation +laws,--meaning, I believe, that the laws of the States increase +the cost of coast traffic by forbidding foreign vessels to engage in +the trade, thereby increasing also the price of goods and confining +the benefit to the North, which carries on the coasting trade of +the country, and doing only injury to the South, which has none +of it. Then last, but not least, comes that grievance as to the +Fugitive Slave Law. The law of the land as a whole,--the law of the +nation,--requires the rendition from free States of all fugitive +slaves. But the free States will not obey this law. They even pass +State laws in opposition to it. "Catch your own slaves," they say, +"and we will not hinder you; at any rate we will not hinder you +officially. Of non-official hindrance you must take your chance. But +we absolutely decline to employ our officers to catch your slaves." +That list comprises, as I take it, the amount of southern official +grievances. Southern people will tell you privately of others. They +will say that they cannot sleep happy in their beds, fearing lest +insurrection should be roused among their slaves. They will tell you +of domestic comfort invaded by northern falsehood. They will explain +to you how false has been Mrs. Beecher Stowe. Ladies will fill your +ears and your hearts too with tales of the daily efforts they make +for the comfort of their "people," and of the ruin to those efforts +which arises from the malice of the abolitionists. To all this you +make some answer with your tongue that is hardly true,--for in such +a matter courtesy forbids the plain truth. But your heart within +answers truly, "Madam,--dear madam, your sorrow is great; but that +sorrow is the necessary result of your position." + +As to those official reasons, in what fewest words I can use I will +endeavour to show that they come to nothing. The tariff--and a +monstrous tariff it then was--was the ground put forward by South +Carolina for secession, when General Jackson was President, and Mr. +Calhoun was the hero of the South. Calhoun bound himself and his +State to take certain steps towards secession at a certain day if +that tariff were not abolished. The tariff was so absurd that Jackson +and his Government were forced to abandon it,--would have abandoned +it without any threat from Calhoun; but under that threat it was +necessary that Calhoun should be defied. General Jackson proposed +a compromise tariff, which was odious to Calhoun,--not on its own +behalf, for it yielded nearly all that was asked, but as being +subversive of his desire for secession. The President, however, +not only insisted on his compromise, but declared his purpose of +preventing its passage into law unless Calhoun himself, as senator, +would vote for it. And he also declared his purpose, not, we may +presume, officially, of hanging Calhoun if he took that step towards +secession which he had bound himself to take in the event of the +tariff not being repealed. As a result of all this Calhoun voted for +the compromise, and secession for the time was beaten down. That was +in 1832, and may be regarded as the commencement of the secession +movement. The tariff was then a convenient reason, a ground to be +assigned with a colour of justice, because it was a tariff admitted +to be bad. But the tariff has been modified again and again since +that; and the tariff existing when South Carolina seceded in 1860 had +been carried by votes from South Carolina. The absurd Morrill tariff +could not have caused secession, for it was passed without a struggle +in the collapse of Congress occasioned by secession. + +The bounty to fishermen was given to create sailors, so that a +marine might be provided for the nation. I need hardly show that +the national benefit would accrue to the whole nation for whose +protection such sailors were needed. Such a system of bounties may +be bad, but if so it was bad for the whole nation. It did not affect +South Carolina otherwise than it affected Illinois, Pennsylvania, or +even New York. + +The navigation laws may also have been bad. According to my thinking +such protective laws are bad; but they created no special hardship +on the South. By any such a theory of complaint all sections of all +nations have ground of complaint against any other section which +receives special protection under any law. The drinkers of beer in +England should secede because they pay a tax, whereas the consumers +of paper pay none. The navigation laws of the States are no doubt +injurious to the mercantile interests of the States. I at least have +no doubt on the subject. But no one will think that secession is +justified by the existence of a law of questionable expediency. Bad +laws will go by the board if properly handled by those whom they +pinch, as the navigation laws went by the board with us in England. + +As to that Fugitive Slave Law, it should be explained that the +grievance has not arisen from the loss of slaves. I have heard it +stated that South Carolina, up to the time of the secession, had +never lost a slave in this way--that is, by northern opposition to +the Fugitive Slave Law; and that the total number of slaves escaping +successfully into the northern States, and there remaining through +the non-operation of this law, did not amount to five in the year. +It has not been a question of property but of feeling. It has been a +political point, and the South has conceived--and probably conceived +truly--that this resolution on the part of northern States to defy +the law with reference to slaves, even though in itself it might +not be immediately injurious to southern property, was an insertion +of the narrow end of the wedge. It was an action taken against +slavery,--an action taken by men of the North against their +fellow-countrymen in the South. Under such circumstances the sooner +such countrymen should cease to be their fellows the better it would +be for them. That, I take it, was the argument of the South; or at +any rate that was its feeling. + +I have said that the reasons given for secession have been trifling, +and among them have so estimated this matter of the Fugitive Slave +Law. I mean to assert that the ground actually put forward is +trifling;--the loss, namely, of slaves to which the South has been +subjected. But the true reason pointed at in this--the conviction, +namely, that the North would not leave slavery alone, and would +not allow it to remain as a settled institution--was by no means +trifling. It has been this conviction on the part of the South, that +the North would not live in amity with slavery, would continue to +fight it under this banner or under that, would still condemn it as +disgraceful to man and rebuke it as impious before God, which has +produced rebellion and civil war--and will ultimately produce that +division for which the South is fighting, and against which the +North is fighting; and which, when accomplished, will give the North +new wings, and will leave the South without political greatness or +commercial success. + +Under such circumstances I cannot think that rebellion on the part +of the South was justified by wrongs endured or made reasonable +by the prospect of wrongs to be inflicted. It is disagreeable, that +having to live with a wife who is always rebuking one for some +special fault; but the outside world will not grant a divorce on that +account, especially if the outside world is well aware that the fault +so rebuked is of daily occurrence. "If you do not choose to be called +a drunkard by your wife," the outside world will say, "it will be +well that you should cease to drink." Ah! but that habit of drinking +when once acquired cannot easily be laid aside. The brain will not +work, the organs of the body will not perform their functions, the +blood will not run. The drunkard must drink till he dies. All that +may be a good ground for divorce, the outside world will say; but +the plea should be put in by the sober wife, not by the intemperate +husband. But what if the husband takes himself off without any +divorce and takes with him also his wife's property, her earnings, +that on which he has lived and his children? It may be a good bargain +still for her, the outside world will say; but she, if she be a woman +of spirit, will not willingly put up with such wrongs. The South +has been the husband drunk with slavery, and the North has been the +ill-used wife. + +Rebellion, as I have said, is often justifiable, but it is, I think, +never justifiable on the part of a paid servant of that Government +against which it is raised. We must at any rate feel that this is +true of men in high places,--as regards those men to whom by reason +of their offices it should specially belong to put down rebellion. +Had Washington been the Governor of Virginia, had Cromwell been a +minister of Charles, had Garibaldi held a marshal's baton under the +Emperor of Austria or the King of Naples, those men would have been +traitors as well as rebels. Treason and rebellion may be made one +under the law, but the mind will always draw the distinction. I, +if I rebel against the Crown, am not on that account necessarily a +traitor. A betrayal of trust is, I take it, necessary to treason. +I am not aware that Jefferson Davis is a traitor; but that Buchanan +was a traitor admits, I think, of no doubt. Under him and with his +connivance, the rebellion was allowed to make its way. Under him and +by his officers arms and ships, and men and money, were sent away +from those points at which it was known that they would be needed +if it were intended to put down the coming rebellion, and to those +points at which it was known that they would be needed if it were +intended to foster the coming rebellion. But Mr. Buchanan had no +eager feeling in favour of secession. He was not of that stuff of +which are made Davis and Toombs and Slidell. But treason was easier +to him than loyalty. Remonstrance was made to him, pointing out the +misfortunes which his action, or want of action, would bring upon the +country. "Not in my time," he answered. "It will not be in my time." +So that he might escape unscathed out of the fire, this chief ruler +of a nation of thirty millions of men was content to allow treason +and rebellion to work their way! I venture to say so much here as +showing how impossible it was that Mr. Lincoln's government, on its +coming into office, should have given to the South,--not what the +South had asked, for the South had not asked,--but what the South had +taken; what the South had tried to filch. Had the South waited for +secession till Mr. Lincoln had been in his chair, I could understand +that England should sympathize with her. For myself I cannot agree to +that scuttling of the ship by the captain on the day which was to see +the transfer of his command to another officer. + +The southern States were driven into rebellion by no wrongs inflicted +on them; but their desire for secession is not on that account matter +for astonishment. It would have been surprising had they not desired +secession. Secession of one kind, a very practical secession, had +already been forced upon them by circumstances. They had become +a separate people, dissevered from the North by habits, morals, +institutions, pursuits, and every conceivable difference in their +modes of thought and action. They still spoke the same language, as +do Austria and Prussia; but beyond that tie of language they had +no bond but that of a meagre political union in their Congress at +Washington. Slavery, as it had been expelled from the North, and as +it had come to be welcomed in the South, had raised such a wall of +difference, that true political union was out of the question. It +would be juster, perhaps, to say that those physical characteristics +of the South which had induced this welcoming of slavery, and those +other characteristics of the North which had induced its expulsion, +were the true causes of the difference. For years and years this +has been felt by both, and the fight has been going on. It has been +continued for thirty years, and almost always to the detriment of +the South. In 1845 Florida and Texas were admitted into the Union as +slave States. I think that no State had then been admitted, as a free +State, since Michigan, in 1836. In 1846 Iowa was admitted as a free +State, and from that day to this Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, +Oregon, and Kansas have been brought into the Union; all as free +States. The annexation of another slave State to the existing Union +had become, I imagine, impossible--unless such object were gained by +the admission of Texas. We all remember that fight about Kansas, and +what sort of a fight it was! Kansas lies alongside of Missouri, a +slave State, and is contiguous to no other State. If the free-soil +party could, in the days of Pierce and Buchanan, carry the day in +Kansas, it is not likely that they would be beaten on any new ground +under such a President as Lincoln. We have all heard in Europe how +southern men have ruled in the White House, nearly from the days of +Washington downwards; or if not southern men, northern men, such as +Pierce and Buchanan, with southern politics; and therefore we have +been taught to think that the South has been politically the winning +party. They have, in truth, been the losing party as regards national +power. But what they have so lost they have hitherto recovered by +political address and individual statecraft. The leading men of the +South have seen their position, and have gone to their work with the +exercise of all their energies. They organized the Democrat party so +as to include the leaders among the northern politicians. They never +begrudged to these assistants a full share of the good things of +official life. They have been aided by the fanatical abolitionism of +the North by which the Republican party has been divided into two +sections. It has been fashionable to be a Democrat, that is, to hold +southern politics, and unfashionable to be a Republican, or to hold +anti-southern politics. In that way the South has lived and struggled +on against the growing will of the population; but at last that will +became too strong, and when Mr. Lincoln was elected, the South knew +that its day was over. + +It is not surprising that the South should have desired secession. It +is not surprising that it should have prepared for it. Since the days +of Mr. Calhoun its leaders have always understood its position with +a fair amount of political accuracy. Its only chance of political +life lay in prolonged ascendancy at Washington. The swelling +crowds of Germans, by whom the western States were being filled, +enlisted themselves to a man in the ranks of abolition. What was +the acquisition of Texas against such hosts as these? An evil day +was coming on the southern politicians, and it behoved them to be +prepared. As a separate nation,--a nation trusting to cotton, having +in their hands, as they imagined, a monopoly of the staple of English +manufacture, with a tariff of their own, and those rabid curses on +the source of all their wealth no longer ringing in their ears, what +might they not do as a separate nation? But as a part of the Union, +they were too weak to hold their own if once their political finesse +should fail them. That day came upon them, not unexpected, in 1860, +and therefore they cut the cable. + +And all this has come from slavery. It is hard enough, for how could +the South have escaped slavery? How, at least, could the South have +escaped slavery any time during these last thirty years? And is it, +moreover, so certain that slavery is an unmitigated evil, opposed +to God's will, and producing all the sorrows which have ever been +produced by tyranny and wrong? It is here, after all, that one comes +to the difficult question. Here is the knot which the fingers of men +cannot open, and which admits of no sudden cutting with the knife. I +have likened the slave-holding States to the drunken husband, and in +so doing have pronounced judgment against them. As regards the state +of the drunken man, his unfitness for partnership with any decent, +diligent, well-to-do wife, his ruined condition, and shattered +prospects, the simile, I think, holds good. But I refrain from +saying, that as the fault was originally with the drunkard in that he +became such, so also has the fault been with the slave States. At any +rate I refrain from so saying here, on this page. That the position +of a slave-owner is terribly prejudicial, not to the slave of whom I +do not here speak, but to the owner;--of so much at any rate I feel +assured. That the position is therefore criminal and damnable, I am +not now disposed to take upon myself to assert. + +The question of slavery in America cannot be handled fully and fairly +by any one who is afraid to go back upon the subject, and take its +whole history since one man first claimed and exercised the right of +forcing labour from another man. I certainly am afraid of any such +task; but I believe that there has been no period yet, since the +world's work began, when such a practice has not prevailed in a large +portion, probably in the largest portion, of the world's work-fields. +As civilization has made its progress, it has been the duty and +delight, as it has also been the interest of the men at the top of +affairs, not to lighten the work of the men below, but so to teach +them that they should recognize the necessity of working without +coercion. Emancipation of serfs and thralls, of bondsmen and slaves, +has always meant this,--that men having been so taught, should then +work without coercion. As men become educated and aware of the nature +of the tenure on which they hold their life, they learn the fact that +work is a necessity for them, and that it is better to work without +coercion than with it. When men have learned this they are fit for +emancipation, but they are hardly fit till they have learned so much. + +In talking or writing of slaves, we always now think of the negro +slave. Of us Englishmen it must at any rate be acknowledged that we +have done what in us lay to induce him to recognize this necessity +for labour. At any rate we acted on the presumption that he would do +so, and gave him his liberty throughout all our lands at a cost which +has never yet been reckoned up in pounds, shillings, and pence. The +cost never can be reckoned up, nor can the gain which we achieved in +purging ourselves from the degradation and demoralization of such +employment. We come into court with clean hands, having done all that +lay with us to do to put down slavery both at home and abroad. But +when we enfranchised the negroes, we did so with the intention, at +least, that they should work as free men. Their share of the bargain +in that respect they have declined to keep, wherever starvation has +not been the result of such resolve on their part; and from the +date of our emancipation, seeing the position which the negroes now +hold with us, the southern States of America have learned to regard +slavery as a permanent institution, and have taught themselves to +regard it as a blessing, and not as a curse. + +Negroes were first taken over to America because the white man +could not work under the tropical heats, and because the native +Indian would not work. The latter people has been, or soon will be, +exterminated,--polished off the face of creation, as the Americans +say,--which fate must, I should say, in the long run attend all +non-working people. As the soil of the world is required for +increasing population, the non-working people must go. And so the +Indians have gone. The negroes under compulsion did work, and work +well; and under their hands vast regions of the western tropics +became fertile gardens. The fact that they were carried up into +northern regions which from their nature did not require such aid, +that slavery prevailed in New York and Massachusetts, does not +militate against my argument. The exact limits of any great movement +will not be bounded by its purpose. The heated wax which you drop +on your letter spreads itself beyond the necessities of your seal. +That these negroes would not have come to the western world without +compulsion, or having come, would not have worked without compulsion, +is, I imagine, acknowledged by all. That they have multiplied in the +western world and have there become a race happier, at any rate in +all the circumstances of their life, than their still untamed kinsmen +in Africa, must also be acknowledged. Who, then, can dare to wish +that all that has been done by the negro immigration should have +remained undone? + +The name of slave is odious to me. If I know myself I would not own +a negro though he could sweat gold on my behoof. I glory in that +bold leap in the dark which England took with regard to her own West +Indian slaves. But I do not see the less clearly the difficulty of +that position in which the southern States have been placed; and I +will not call them wicked, impious, and abominable, because they now +hold by slavery, as other nations have held by it at some period of +their career. It is their misfortune that they must do so now,--now, +when so large a portion of the world has thrown off the system, +spurning as base and profitless all labour that is not free. It is +their misfortune, for henceforth they must stand alone, with small +rank among the nations, whereas their brethren of the North will +still "flame in the forehead of the morning sky." + +When the present constitution of the United States was written,--the +merit of which must probably be given mainly to Madison and Hamilton, +Madison finding the French democratic element, and Hamilton the +English conservative element,--this question of slavery was +doubtless a great trouble. The word itself is not mentioned in +the constitution. It speaks not of a slave, but of a "person held +to service or labour." It neither sanctions nor forbids slavery. +It assumes no power in the matter of slavery; and under it, at +the present moment, all Congress voting together, with the full +consent of the legislatures of thirty-three States, could not +constitutionally put down slavery in the remaining thirty-fourth +State. In fact the constitution ignored the subject. + +But nevertheless Washington, and Jefferson from whom Madison received +his inspiration, were opposed to slavery. I do not know that +Washington ever took much action in the matter, but his expressed +opinion is on record. But Jefferson did so throughout his life. +Before the declaration of independence he endeavoured to make slavery +illegal in Virginia. In this he failed, but long afterwards, when +the United States was a nation, he succeeded in carrying a law by +which the further importation of slaves into any of the States was +prohibited after a certain year--1820. When this law was passed, the +framers of it considered that the gradual abolition of slavery would +be secured. Up to that period the negro population in the States had +not been self-maintained. As now in Cuba, the numbers had been kept +up by new importations, and it was calculated that the race, when +not recruited from Africa, would die out. That this calculation was +wrong we now know, and the breeding-grounds of Virginia have been the +result. + +At that time there were no cotton-fields. Alabama and Mississippi +were outlying territories. Louisiana had been recently purchased, but +was not yet incorporated as a State. Florida still belonged to Spain, +and was all but unpopulated. Of Texas no man had yet heard. Of the +slave States, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia were alone +wedded to slavery. Then the matter might have been managed. But under +the constitution as it had been framed, and with the existing powers +of the separate States, there was not even then open any way by which +slavery could be abolished other than by the separate action of the +States; nor has there been any such way opened since. With slavery +these southern States have grown and become fertile. The planters +have thriven, and the cotton-fields have spread themselves. And then +came emancipation in the British islands. Under such circumstances +and with such a lesson, could it be expected that the southern States +should learn to love abolition? + +It is vain to say that slavery has not caused secession, and that +slavery has not caused the war. That, and that only, has been the +real cause of this conflict, though other small collateral issues may +now be put forward to bear the blame. Those other issues have arisen +from this question of slavery, and are incidental to it and a part of +it. Massachusetts, as we all know, is democratic in its tendencies, +but South Carolina is essentially aristocratic. This difference +has come of slavery. A slave country, which has progressed far in +slavery, must be aristocratic in its nature,--aristocratic and +patriarchal. A large slave-owner from Georgia may call himself a +democrat,--may think that he reveres republican institutions, and +may talk with American horror of the thrones of Europe; but he must +in his heart be an aristocrat. We, in England, are apt to speak of +republican institutions, and of universal suffrage which is perhaps +the chief of them, as belonging equally to all the States. In South +Carolina there is not and has not been any such thing. The electors +for the President there are chosen not by the people, but by the +legislature; and the votes for the legislature are limited by a high +property qualification. A high property qualification is required for +a member of the House of Representatives in South Carolina;--four +hundred freehold acres of land and ten negroes is one qualification. +Five hundred pounds clear of debt is another qualification;--for, +where a sum of money is thus named, it is given in English money. +Russia and England are not more unlike in their political and social +feelings than are the real slave States and the real free-soil +States. The gentlemen from one and from the other side of the line +have met together on neutral ground, and have discussed political +matters without flying frequently at each other's throats, while the +great question on which they differed was allowed to slumber. But the +awakening has been coming by degrees, and now the South had felt that +it was come. Old John Brown, who did his best to create a servile +insurrection at Harper's Ferry, has been canonized through the North +and West, to the amazement and horror of the South. The decision in +the "Dred Scott" case, given by the Chief Justice of the Supreme +Court of the United States, has been received with shouts of +execration through the North and West. The southern gentry have been +Uncle-Tommed into madness. It is no light thing to be told daily +by your fellow-citizens, by your fellow-representatives, by your +fellow-senators, that you are guilty of the one damning sin that +cannot be forgiven. All this they could partly moderate, partly +rebuke, and partly bear as long as political power remained in their +hands; but they have gradually felt that that was going, and were +prepared to cut the rope and run as soon as it was gone. + +Such, according to my ideas, have been the causes of the war. But I +cannot defend the South. As long as they could be successful in their +schemes for holding the political power of the nation, they were +prepared to hold by the nation. Immediately those schemes failed, +they were prepared to throw the nation overboard. In this there +has undoubtedly been treachery as well as rebellion. Had these +politicians been honest,--though the political growth of Washington +has hardly admitted of political honesty,--but had these politicians +been even ordinarily respectable in their dishonesty, they would +have claimed secession openly before Congress, while yet their own +President was at the White House. Congress would not have acceded. +Congress itself could not have acceded under the constitution; but a +way would have been found, had the southern States been persistent in +their demand. A way, indeed, has been found; but it has lain through +fire and water, through blood and ruin, through treason and theft, +and the downfall of national greatness. Secession will, I think, be +accomplished, and the southern Confederation of States will stand +something higher in the world than Mexico and the republics of +Central America. Her cotton monopoly will have vanished, and her +wealth will have been wasted. + +I think that history will agree with me in saying that the northern +States had no alternative but war. What concession could they make? +Could they promise to hold their peace about slavery? And had they +so promised, would the South have believed them? They might have +conceded secession; that is, they might have given all that would +have been demanded. But what individual chooses to yield to such +demands; and if not an individual,--then what people will do so? +But in truth they could not have yielded all that was demanded. Had +secession been granted to South Carolina and Georgia, Virginia would +have been coerced to join those States by the nature of her property, +and with Virginia Maryland would have gone, and Washington, the +capital. What may be the future line of division between the North +and the South I will not pretend to say; but that line will probably +be dictated by the North. It may still be hoped that Missouri, +Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland will go with the North, and be +rescued from slavery. But had secession been yielded, had the +prestige of success fallen to the lot of the South, those States must +have become southern. + +While on this subject of slavery--for in discussing the cause of the +war, slavery is the subject that must be discussed--I cannot forbear +to say a few words about the negroes of the North American States. +The republican party of the North is divided into two sections, of +which one may be called abolitionist, and the other non-abolitionist. +Mr. Lincoln's government presumes itself to belong to the latter, +though its tendencies towards abolition are very strong. The +abolition party is growing in strength daily. It is but a short time +since Wendell Phillips could not lecture in Boston without a guard of +police. Now, at this moment of my writing, he is a popular hero. The +very men who, five years since, were accustomed to make speeches, +strong as words could frame them, against abolition, are now turning +round, and if not preaching abolition, are patting the backs of those +who do so. I heard one of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet declare old John +Brown to be a hero and a martyr. All the Protestant Germans are +abolitionists,--and they have become so strong a political element +in the country that many now declare that no future President can be +elected without their aid. The object is declared boldly. No long +political scheme is asked for, but instant abolition is wanted; +abolition to be declared while yet the war is raging. Let the slaves +of all rebels be declared free; and all slave-owners in the seceding +States are rebels! + +One cannot but ask what abolition means, and to what it would lead. +Any ordinance of abolition now pronounced would not effect the +emancipation of the slaves, but might probably effect a servile +insurrection. I will not accuse those who are preaching this crusade +of any desire for so fearful a scourge on the land. They probably +calculate that an edict of abolition once given would be so much done +towards the ultimate winning of the battle. They are making their +hay while their sun shines. But if they could emancipate those four +million slaves, in what way would they then treat them? How would +they feed them? In what way would they treat the ruined owners of the +slaves, and the acres of land which would lie uncultivated? Of all +subjects with which a man can be called on to deal, it is the most +difficult. But a New England abolitionist talks of it as though no +more were required than an open path for his humanitarian energies. +"I could arrange it all to-morrow morning," a gentleman said to me, +who is well known for his zeal in this cause! + +Arrange it all to-morrow morning,--abolition of slavery having +become a fact during the night! I should not envy that gentleman his +morning's work. It was bad enough with us, but what were our numbers +compared with those of the southern States? We paid a price for the +slaves, but no price is to be paid in this case. The value of the +property would probably be lowly estimated at L100 a piece for men, +women, and children, or four hundred million pounds for the whole +population. They form the wealth of the South; and if they were +bought, what should be done with them? They are like children. Every +slave-owner in the country,--every man who has had ought to do with +slaves,--will tell the same story. In Maryland and Delaware are men +who hate slavery, who would be only too happy to enfranchise their +slaves; but the negroes who have been slaves are not fit for freedom. +In many cases, practically, they cannot be enfranchised. Give them +their liberty, starting them well in the world at what expense you +please, and at the end of six months they will come back upon your +hands for the means of support. Everything must be done for them. +They expect food and clothes, and instruction as to every simple act +of life, as do children. The negro domestic servant is handy at his +own work; no servant more so; but he cannot go beyond that. He does +not comprehend the object and purport of continued industry. If he +have money he will play with it,--will amuse himself with it. If +he have none, he will amuse himself without it. His work is like a +schoolboy's task; he knows it must be done, but never comprehends +that the doing of it is the very end and essence of his life. He is a +child in all things, and the extent of prudential wisdom to which he +ever attains is to disdain emancipation, and cling to the security +of his bondage. It is true enough that slavery has been a curse. +Whatever may have been its effect on the negroes, it has been a +deadly curse upon the white masters. + +The preaching of abolition during the war is to me either the +deadliest of sins or the vainest of follies. Its only immediate +result possible would be servile insurrection. That is so manifestly +atrocious,--a wish for it would be so hellish, that I do not presume +the preachers of abolition to entertain it. But if that be not meant, +it must be intended that an act of emancipation should be carried +throughout the slave States,--either in their separation from the +North, or after their subjection and consequent reunion with the +North. As regards the States while in secession, the North cannot +operate upon their slaves any more than England can operate on +the slaves of Cuba. But if a reunion is to be a precursor of +emancipation, surely that reunion should be first effected. A +decision in the northern and western mind on such a subject cannot +assist in obtaining that reunion,--but must militate against the +practicability of such an object. This is so well understood, that +Mr. Lincoln and his Government do not dare to call themselves +abolitionists.* + + *President Lincoln has proposed a plan for the emancipation of + slaves in the border States, and for compensation to the owners. + His doing so proves that he regards present emancipation in the + Gulf States as quite out of the question. It also proves that he + looks forward to the recovery of the border States for the North, + but that he does not look forward to the recovery of the Gulf + States. + +Abolition, in truth, is a political cry. It is the banner of defiance +opposed to secession. As the differences between the North and +South have grown with years, and have swelled to the proportions of +national antipathy, southern nullification has amplified itself into +secession, and northern free-soil principles have burst into this +growth of abolition. Men have not calculated the results. Charming +pictures are drawn for you of the negro in a state of Utopian bliss, +owning his own hoe and eating his own hog; in a paradise, where +everything is bought and sold, except his wife, his little ones, and +himself. But the enfranchised negro has always thrown away his hoe, +has eaten any man's hog but his own,--and has too often sold his +daughter for a dollar when any such market has been open to him. + +I confess that this cry of abolition has been made peculiarly +displeasing to me by the fact that the northern abolitionist is by +no means willing to give even to the negro who is already free that +position in the world which alone might tend to raise him in the +scale of human beings,--if anything can so raise him and make him fit +for freedom. The abolitionists hold that the negro is the white man's +equal. I do not. I see, or think that I see, that the negro is the +white man's inferior through laws of nature. That he is not mentally +fit to cope with white men,--I speak of the full-blooded negro,--and +that he must fill a position simply servile. But the abolitionist +declares him to be the white man's equal. But yet, when he has him at +his elbow, he treats him with a scorn which even the negro can hardly +endure. I will give him political equality, but not social equality, +says the abolitionist. But even in this he is untrue. A black man may +vote in New York, but he cannot vote under the same circumstances as +a white man. He is subjected to qualifications which in truth debar +him from the poll. A white man votes by manhood suffrage, providing +he has been for one year an inhabitant of his State; but a man of +colour must have been for three years a citizen of the State, and +must own a property qualification of L50 free of debt. But political +equality is not what such men want, nor indeed is it social equality. +It is social tolerance and social sympathy; and these are denied to +the negro. An American abolitionist would not sit at table with a +negro. He might do so in England at the house of an English duchess; +but in his own country the proposal of such a companion would be +an insult to him. He will not sit with him in a public carriage if +he can avoid it. In New York I have seen special street-cars for +coloured people. The abolitionist is struck with horror when he +thinks that a man and a brother should be a slave; but when the man +and the brother has been made free, he is regarded with loathing and +contempt. All this I cannot see with equanimity. There is falsehood +in it from the beginning to the end. The slave as a rule is well +treated,--gets all he wants and almost all he desires. The free negro +as a rule is ill treated, and does not get that consideration which +alone might put him in the worldly position for which his advocate +declares him to be fit. It is false throughout,--this preaching. The +negro is not the white man's equal by nature. But to the free negro +in the northern States this inequality is increased by the white +man's hardness to him. + +In a former book which I wrote some few years since, I expressed an +opinion as to the probable destiny of this race in the West Indies. +I will not now go over that question again. I then divided the +inhabitants of those islands into three classes,--the white, the +black, and the coloured, taking a nomenclature which I found there +prevailing. By coloured men I alluded to mulattoes, and all those of +mixed European and African blood. The word "coloured," in the States, +seems to apply to the whole negro race, whether full-blooded or +half-blooded. I allude to this now because I wish to explain that, in +speaking of what I conceive to be the intellectual inferiority of the +negro race, I allude to those of pure negro descent,--or of descent +so nearly pure as to make the negro element manifestly predominant. +In the West Indies, where I had more opportunity of studying the +subject, I always believed myself able to tell a negro from a +coloured man. Indeed the classes are to a great degree distinct +there, the greater portion of the retail trade of the country being +in the hands of the coloured people. But in the States I have been +able to make no such distinction. One sees generally neither the rich +yellow of the West Indian mulatto, nor the deep oily black of the +West Indian negro. The prevailing hue is a dry, dingy brown,--almost +dusty in its dryness. I have observed but little difference made +between the negro and the half-caste,--and no difference in the +actual treatment. I have never met in American society any man or +woman in whose veins there can have been presumed to be any taint of +African blood. In Jamaica they are daily to be found in society. + +Every Englishman probably looks forward to the accomplishment of +abolition of slavery at some future day. I feel as sure of it as I do +of the final judgment. When or how it shall come I will not attempt +to foretell. The mode which seems to promise the surest success +and the least present or future inconvenience, would be an edict +enfranchising all female children born after a certain date, and all +their children. Under such an arrangement the negro population would +probably die out slowly,--very slowly. What might then be the fate of +the cotton-fields of the Gulf States, who shall dare to say? It may +be that coolies from India and from China will then have taken the +place of the negro there, as they probably will have done also in +Guiana and the West Indies. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WASHINGTON TO ST. LOUIS. + + +Though I had felt Washington to be disagreeable as a city, yet I was +almost sorry to leave it when the day of my departure came. I had +allowed myself a month for my sojourn in the capital, and I had +stayed a month to the day. Then came the trouble of packing up, +the necessity of calling on a long list of acquaintances one after +another, the feeling that bad as Washington might be, I might be +going to places that were worse, a conviction that I should get +beyond the reach of my letters, and a sort of affection which I had +acquired for my rooms. My landlord, being a coloured man, told me +that he was sorry I was going. Would I not remain? Would I come back +to him? Had I been comfortable? Only for so and so or so and so, he +would have done better for me. No white American citizen, occupying +the position of landlord, would have condescended to such comfortable +words. I knew the man did not in truth want me to stay, as a lady +and gentleman were waiting to go in the moment I went out; but I did +not the less value the assurance. One hungers and thirsts after such +civil words among American citizens of this class. The clerks and +managers at hotels, the officials at railway stations, the cashiers +at banks, the women in the shops;--ah! they are the worst of all. An +American woman who is bound by her position to serve you,--who is +paid in some shape to supply your wants, whether to sell you a bit of +soap or bring you a towel in your bedroom at an hotel,--is, I think, +of all human creatures, the most insolent. I certainly had a feeling +of regret at parting with my coloured friend,--and some regret also +as regards a few that were white. + +As I drove down Pennsylvania Avenue, through the slush and mud, and +saw, perhaps for the last time, those wretchedly dirty horse sentries +who had refused to allow me to trot through the streets, I almost +wished that I could see more of them. How absurd they looked, with +a whole kit of rattletraps strapped on their horses' backs behind +them,--blankets, coats, canteens, coils of rope, and, always at the +top of everything else, a tin pot! No doubt these things are all +necessary to a mounted sentry, or they would not have been there; but +it always seemed as though the horse had been loaded gipsy-fashion, +in a manner that I may perhaps best describe as higgledy-piggledy, +and that there was a want of military precision in the packing. The +man would have looked more graceful, and the soldier more warlike, +had the pannikin been made to assume some rigidly fixed position +instead of dangling among the ropes. The drawn sabre, too, never +consorted well with the dirty outside woollen wrapper which generally +hung loose from the man's neck. Heaven knows, I did not begrudge him +his comforter in that cold weather, or even his long, uncombed shock +of hair; but I think he might have been made more spruce, and I am +sure that he could not have looked more uncomfortable. As I went, +however, I felt for him a sort of affection, and wished in my heart +of hearts that he might soon be enabled to return to some more +congenial employment. + +I went out by the Capitol, and saw that also, as I then believed, +for the last time. With all its faults it is a great building, and, +though unfinished, is effective; its very size and pretension give it +a certain majesty. What will be the fate of that vast pile, and of +those other costly public edifices at Washington, should the South +succeed wholly in their present enterprise? If Virginia should ever +become a part of the southern republic, Washington cannot remain the +capital of the northern republic. In such case it would be almost +better to let Maryland go also, so that the future destiny of that +unfortunate city may not be a source of trouble, and a stumbling +block of opprobrium. Even if Virginia be saved, its position will be +most unfortunate. + +I fancy that the railroads in those days must have been doing a very +prosperous business. From New York to Philadelphia, thence on to +Baltimore, and again to Washington, I had found the cars full; so +full that sundry passengers could not find seats. Now, on my return +to Baltimore, they were again crowded. The stations were all crowded. +Luggage-trains were going in and out as fast as the rails could carry +them. Among the passengers almost half were soldiers. I presume that +these were men going on furlough, or on special occasions; for the +regiments were of course not received by ordinary passenger trains. +About this time a return was called for by Congress of all the moneys +paid by the government, on account of the army, to the lines between +New York and Washington. Whether or no it was ever furnished I did +not hear; but it was openly stated that the colonels of regiments +received large gratuities from certain railway companies for the +regiments passing over their lines. Charges of a similar nature +were made against officers, contractors, quartermasters, paymasters, +generals, and cabinet ministers. I am not prepared to say that any +of these men had dirty hands. It was not for me to make inquiries on +such matters. But the continuance and universality of the accusations +were dreadful. When everybody is suspected of being dishonest, +dishonesty almost ceases to be regarded as disgraceful. + +I will allude to a charge made against one member of the Cabinet, +because the circumstances of the case were all acknowledged and +proved. This gentleman employed his wife's brother-in-law to buy +ships, and the agent so employed pocketed about L20,000 by the +transaction in six months. The excuse made was that this profit was +in accordance with the usual practice of the ship-dealing trade, and +that it was paid by the owners who sold, and not by the Government +which bought. But in so vast an agency the ordinary rate of profit on +such business became an enormous sum; and the gentleman who made the +plea must surely have understood that that L20,000 was in fact paid +by the government. It is the purchaser, and not the seller, who in +fact pays all such fees. The question is this,--Should the government +have paid so vast a sum for one man's work for six months? And if +so, was it well that that sum should go into the pocket of a near +relative of the Minister whose special business it was to protect the +government? + +American private soldiers are not pleasant fellow-travellers. They +are loud and noisy, and swear quite as much as the army could +possibly have sworn in Flanders. They are, moreover, very dirty; and +each man, with his long, thick great-coat, takes up more space than +is intended to be allotted to him. Of course I felt that if I chose +to travel in a country while it had such a piece of business on its +hands, I could not expect that everything should be found in exact +order. The matter for wonder, perhaps, was that the ordinary affairs +of life were so little disarranged, and that any travelling at all +was practicable. Nevertheless the fact remains that American private +soldiers are not agreeable fellow-travellers. + +It was my present intention to go due west across the country into +Missouri, skirting, as it were, the line of the war which had now +extended itself from the Atlantic across into Kansas. There were at +this time three main armies,--that of the Potomac, as the army of +Virginia was called, of which Maclellan held the command; that of +Kentucky, under General Buell, who was stationed at Louisville on +the Ohio; and the army on the Mississippi, which had been under +Fremont, and of which General Halleck now held the command. To these +were opposed the three rebel armies of Beauregard, in Virginia; of +Johnston, on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee; and of Price, in +Missouri. There was also a fourth army in Kansas, west of Missouri, +under General Hunter; and while I was in Washington another general, +supposed by some to be the "coming man," was sent down to Kansas to +participate in General Hunter's command. This was General Jim Lane, +who resigned a seat in the Senate in order that he might undertake +this military duty. When he reached Kansas, having on his route made +sundry violent abolition speeches, and proclaimed his intention +of sweeping slavery out of the south-western States, he came to +loggerheads with his superior officer respecting their relative +positions. + +On my arrival at Baltimore, I found the place knee-deep in mud and +slush and half-melted snow. It was then raining hard,--raining dirt, +not water, as it sometimes does. Worse weather for soldiers out in +tents could not be imagined,--nor for men who were not soldiers, +but who nevertheless were compelled to leave their houses. I only +remained at Baltimore one day, and then started again, leaving there +the greater part of my baggage. I had a vague hope,--a hope which +I hardly hoped to realize,--that I might be able to get through to +the South. At any rate I made myself ready for the chance by making +my travelling impediments as light as possible, and started from +Baltimore, prepared to endure all the discomfort which lightness +of baggage entails. My route lay over the Alleghanies by Pittsburg +and Cincinnati, and my first stopping-place was at Harrisburg, the +political capital of Pennsylvania. There is nothing special at +Harrisburg to arrest any traveller; but the local legislature of +the State was then sitting, and I was desirous of seeing the Senate +and Representatives of at any rate one State, during its period of +vitality. + +In Pennsylvania the General Assembly, as the joint legislature is +called, sits every year, commencing their work early in January, and +continuing till it be finished. The usual period of sitting seems to +be about ten weeks. In the majority of States, the legislature only +sits every other year. In this State it sits every year, and the +representatives are elected annually. The senators are elected for +three years, a third of the body being chosen each year. The two +chambers were ugly, convenient rooms, arranged very much after the +fashion of the halls of Congress at Washington. Each member had his +own desk, and his own chair. They were placed in the shape of a +horse-shoe, facing the chairman, before whom sat three clerks. In +neither house did I hear any set speech. The voices of the Speaker +and of the clerks of the houses were heard more frequently than +those of the members; and the business seemed to be done in a dull, +serviceable, methodical manner, likely to be useful to the country, +and very uninteresting to the gentlemen engaged. Indeed at Washington +also, in Congress, it seemed to me that there was much less of set +speeches than in our House of Commons. With us there are certain +men whom it seems impossible to put down, and by whom the time of +Parliament is occupied from night to night, with advantage to no one +and with satisfaction to none but themselves. I do not think that the +evil prevails to the same extent in America, either in Congress or in +the State legislatures. As regards Washington, this good result may +be assisted by a salutary practice which, as I was assured, prevails +there. A member gets his speech printed at the Government cost, and +sends it down free by post to his constituents, without troubling +either the house with hearing it, or himself with speaking it. I +cannot but think that the practice might be copied with success on +our side of the water. + +The appearance of the members of the legislature of Pennsylvania did +not impress me very favourably. I do not know why we should wish a +legislator to be neat in his dress, and comely, in some degree, in +his personal appearance. There is no good reason, perhaps, why they +should have cleaner shirts than their outside brethren, or have been +more particular in the use of soap and water, and brush and comb. +But I have an idea that if ever our own Parliament becomes dirty, it +will lose its prestige; and I cannot but think that the Parliament +of Pennsylvania would gain an accession of dignity by some slightly +increased devotion to the Graces. I saw in the two houses but one +gentleman, a senator, who looked like a Quaker; but even he was a +very untidy Quaker. + +I paid my respects to the Governor, and found him briskly employed +in arranging the appointments of officers. All the regimental +appointments to the volunteer regiments,--and that is practically +to the whole body of the army,*--are made by the State in which the +regiments are mustered. When the affair commenced, the captains and +lieutenants were chosen by the men; but it was found that this would +not do. When the skeleton of a State militia only was required, such +an arrangement was popular and not essentially injurious; but now +that war had become a reality, and that volunteers were required to +obey discipline, some other mode of promotion was found necessary. +As far as I could understand, the appointments were in the hands of +the State Governor, who however was expected in the selection of +the superior officers to be guided by the expressed wishes of the +regiment, when no objection existed to such a choice. In the present +instance the Governor's course was very thorny. Certain unfinished +regiments were in the act of being amalgamated;--two perfect +regiments being made up from perhaps five imperfect regiments, and +so on. But though the privates had not been forthcoming to the full +number for each expected regiment, there had been no such dearth +of officers, and consequently the present operation consisted in +reducing their number. + + *The army at this time consisted nominally of 660,000 men, of + whom only 20,000 were regulars. + +Nothing can be much uglier than the State House at Harrisburg, but +it commands a magnificent view of one of the valleys into which the +Alleghany mountains is broken. Harrisburg is immediately under the +range, probably at its finest point, and the railway running west +from the town to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Chicago passes right +over the chain. The line has been magnificently engineered, and the +scenery is very grand. I went over the Alleghanies in mid-winter when +they were covered with snow, but even when so seen they were very +fine. The view down the valley from Altoona, a point near the summit, +must in summer be excessively lovely. I stopped at Altoona one night +with the object of getting about among the hills, and making the best +of the winter view; but I found it impossible to walk. The snow had +become frozen and was like glass. I could not progress a mile in any +way. With infinite labour I climbed to the top of one little hill, +and when there became aware that the descent would be very much more +difficult. I did get down, but should not choose to describe the +manner in which I accomplished the descent. + +In running down the mountains to Pittsburg an accident occurred which +in any other country would have thrown the engine off the line, and +have reduced the carriages behind the engine to a heap of ruins. But +here it had no other effect than that of delaying us for three or +four hours. The tire of one of the heavy driving wheels flew off, and +in the shock the body of the wheel itself was broken, one spoke and a +portion of the circumference of the wheel was carried away, and the +steam-chamber was ripped open. Nevertheless the train was pulled up, +neither the engine nor any of the carriages got off the line, and +the men in charge of the train seemed to think very lightly of the +matter. I was amused to see how little was made of the affair by +any of the passengers. In England a delay of three hours would in +itself produce a great amount of grumbling, or at least many signs +of discomfort and temporary unhappiness. But here no one said a word. +Some of the younger men got out and looked at the ruined wheel; but +most of the passengers kept their seats, chewed their tobacco, and +went to sleep. In all such matters an American is much more patient +than an Englishman. To sit quiet, without speech, and ruminate in +some contorted position of body comes to him by nature. On this +occasion I did not hear a word of complaint--nor yet a word of +surprise or thankfulness that the accident had been attended with no +serious result. "I have got a furlough for ten days," one soldier +said to me. "And I have missed every connection all through from +Washington here. I shall have just time to turn round and go back +when I get home." But he did not seem to be in any way dissatisfied. +He had not referred to his relatives when he spoke of "missing his +connections," but to his want of good fortune as regarded railway +travelling. He had reached Baltimore too late for the train on to +Harrisburg, and Harrisburg too late for the train on to Pittsburg. +Now he must again reach Pittsburg too late for his further journey. +But nevertheless he seemed to be well pleased with his position. + +Pittsburg is the Merthyr-Tydvil of Pennsylvania,--or perhaps I should +better describe it as an amalgamation of Swansea, Merthyr-Tydvil, and +South Shields. It is without exception the blackest place which I +ever saw. The three English towns which I have named are very dirty, +but all their combined soot and grease and dinginess do not equal +that of Pittsburg. As regards scenery it is beautifully situated, +being at the foot of the Alleghany mountains, and at the juncture +of the two rivers Monongahela and Alleghany. Here, at the town, +they come together and form the river Ohio. Nothing can be more +picturesque than the site; for the spurs of the mountains come down +close round the town, and the rivers are broad and swift, and can +be seen for miles from heights which may be reached in a short walk. +Even the filth and wondrous blackness of the place are picturesque +when looked down upon from above. The tops of the churches are +visible, and some of the larger buildings may be partially traced +through the thick, brown, settled smoke. But the city itself is +buried in a dense cloud. The atmosphere was especially heavy when +I was there, and the effect was probably increased by the general +darkness of the weather. The Monongahela is crossed by a fine bridge, +and on the other side the ground rises at once, almost with the +rapidity of a precipice; so that a commanding view is obtained down +upon the town and the two rivers and the different bridges, from a +height immediately above them. I was never more in love with smoke +and dirt than when I stood here and watched the darkness of night +close in upon the floating soot which hovered over the housetops of +the city. I cannot say that I saw the sun set, for there was no sun. +I should say that the sun never shone at Pittsburg,--as foreigners +who visit London in November declare that the sun never shines there. + +Walking along the river-side I counted thirty-two steamers, all +beached upon the shore with their bows towards the land,--large +boats, capable probably of carrying from one to two hundred +passengers each, and about 300 tons of merchandise. On inquiry I +found that many of these were not now at work. They were resting +idle, the trade down the Mississippi below St. Louis having been +cut off by the war. Many of them, however, were still running, +the passage down the river being open to Wheeling in Virginia, to +Portsmouth, Cincinnati and the whole of South Ohio, to Louisville +in Kentucky, and to Cairo in Illinois, where the Ohio joins the +Mississippi. The amount of traffic carried on by these boats while +the country was at peace within itself was very great, and conclusive +as to the increasing prosperity of the people. It seems that +everybody travels in America, and that nothing is thought of +distance. A young man will step into a car and sit beside you, with +that easy, careless air which is common to a railway passenger +in England who is passing from one station to the next; and on +conversing with him you will find that he is going seven or eight +hundred miles. He is supplied with fresh newspapers three or four +times a day as he passes by the towns at which they are published; he +eats a large assortment of gum-drops and apples, and is quite as much +at home as in his own house. On board the river boats it is the same +with him, with this exception, that when there he can get whisky when +he wants it. He knows nothing of the ennui of travelling, and never +seems to long for the end of his journey, as travellers do with us. +Should his boat come to grief upon the river, and lie by for a day or +a night, it does not in the least disconcert him. He seats himself +upon three chairs, takes a bite of tobacco, thrusts his hands into +his trousers pockets and revels in an elysium of his own. + +I was told that the stockholders in these boats were in a bad way at +the present time. There were no dividends going. The same story was +repeated as to many and many an investment. Where the war created +business, as it had done on some of the main lines of railroad and +in some special towns, money was passing very freely; but away from +this, ruin seemed to have fallen on the enterprise of the country. +Men were not broken-hearted, nor were they even melancholy; but they +were simply ruined. That is nothing in the States, so long as the +ruined man has the means left to him of supplying his daily wants +till he can start himself again in life. It is almost the normal +condition of the American man in business; and therefore I am +inclined to think that when this war is over, and things begin to +settle themselves into new grooves, commerce will recover herself +more quickly there than she would do among any other people. It is so +common a thing to hear of an enterprise that has never paid a dollar +of interest on the original outlay,--of hotels, canals, railroads, +banks, blocks of houses, &c., that never paid even in the happy days +of peace,--that one is tempted to disregard the absence of dividends, +and to believe that such a trifling accident will not act as any +check on future speculation. In no country has pecuniary ruin been +so common as in the States; but then in no country is pecuniary ruin +so little ruinous. "We are a recuperative people," a west-country +gentleman once said to me. I doubted the propriety of his word, but +I acknowledged the truth of his assertion. + +Pittsburg and Alleghany, which latter is a town similar in its nature +to Pittsburg on the other side of the river of the same name, regard +themselves as places apart; but they are in effect one and the same +city. They live under the same blanket of soot, which is woven by the +joint efforts of the two places. Their united population is 135,000, +of which Alleghany owns about 50,000. The industry of the towns is of +that sort which arises from a union of coal and iron in the vicinity. +The Pennsylvanian coalfields are the most prolific in the Union; +and Pittsburg is therefore great, exactly as Merthyr-Tydvil and +Birmingham are great. But the foundry-work at Pittsburg is more +nearly allied to the heavy, rough works of the Welsh coal metropolis +than to the finish and polish of Birmingham. + +"Why cannot you consume your own smoke?" I asked a gentleman there. +"Fuel is so cheap that it would not pay," he answered. His idea of +the advantage of consuming smoke was confined to the question of its +paying as a simple operation in itself. The consequent cleanliness +and improvement in the atmosphere had not entered into his +calculations. Any such result might be a fortuitous benefit, but was +not of sufficient importance to make any effort in that direction +expedient on its own account. "Coal was burned," he said, "in the +foundries at something less than two dollars a ton; while that was +the case, it could not answer the purpose of any iron-founder to put +up an apparatus for the consumption of smoke." I did not pursue the +argument any further, as I perceived that we were looking at the +matter from two different points of view. + +Everything in the hotel was black; not black to the eye, for the eye +teaches itself to discriminate colours even when loaded with dirt, +but black to the touch. On coming out of a tub of water my foot took +an impress from the carpet exactly as it would have done had I trod +barefooted on a path laid with soot. I thought that I was turning +negro upwards, till I put my wet hand upon the carpet, and found that +the result was the same. And yet the carpet was green to the eye,--a +dull, dingy green, but still green. "You shouldn't damp your feet," +a man said to me, to whom I mentioned the catastrophe. Certainly +Pittsburg is the dirtiest place I ever saw, but it is, as I said +before, very picturesque in its dirt when looked at from above the +blanket. + +From Pittsburg I went on by train to Cincinnati, and was soon in the +State of Ohio. I confess that I have never felt any great regard for +Pennsylvania. It has always had in my estimation a low character for +commercial honesty, and a certain flavour of pretentious hypocrisy. +This probably has been much owing to the acerbity and pungency of +Sydney Smith's witty denunciations against the drab-coloured State. +It is noted for repudiation of its own debts, and for sharpness in +exaction of its own bargains. It has been always smart in banking. It +has given Buchanan as a President to the country, and Cameron as a +Secretary at War to the Government! When the battle of Bull's Run was +to be fought, Pennsylvanian soldiers were the men who, on that day, +threw down their arms because the three months' term for which they +had been enlisted was then expired! Pennsylvania does not in my mind +stand on a par with Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, +or Virginia. We are apt to connect the name of Benjamin Franklin +with Pennsylvania, but Franklin was a Boston man. Nevertheless, +Pennsylvania is rich and prosperous. Indeed it bears all those marks +which Quakers generally leave behind them. + +I had some little personal feeling in visiting Cincinnati, because my +mother had lived there for some time, and had there been concerned in +a commercial enterprise, by which no one, I believe, made any great +sum of money. Between thirty and forty years ago she built a bazaar +in Cincinnati, which I was assured by the present owner of the house, +was at the time of its erection considered to be the great building +of the town. It has been sadly eclipsed now, and by no means rears +its head proudly among the great blocks around it. It had become +a "Physico-medical Institute" when I was there, and was under +the dominion of a quack doctor on one side, and of a college of +rights-of-women female medical professors on the other. "I believe, +sir, no man or woman ever yet made a dollar in that building; and as +for rent, I don't even expect it." Such was the account given of the +unfortunate bazaar by the present proprietor. + +Cincinnati has long been known as a great town,--conspicuous among +all towns for the number of hogs which are there killed, salted, and +packed. It is the great hog metropolis of the western States; but +Cincinnati has not grown with the rapidity of other towns. It has +now 170,000 inhabitants, but then it got an early start. St. Louis, +which is west of it again, near the confluence of the Missouri and +Mississippi, has gone ahead of it. Cincinnati stands on the Ohio +river, separated by a ferry from Kentucky, which is a slave State. +Ohio itself is a free-soil State. When the time comes for arranging +the line of division, if such time shall ever come, it will be very +hard to say where northern feeling ends and where southern wishes +commence. Newport and Covington, which are in Kentucky, are suburbs +of Cincinnati; and yet in these places slavery is rife. The domestic +servants are mostly slaves, though it is essential that those so kept +should be known as slaves who will not run away. It is understood +that a slave who escapes into Ohio will not be caught and given up by +the intervention of the Ohio police; and from Covington or Newport +any slave can escape into Ohio with ease. But when that division +takes place, no river like the Ohio can form the boundary between +the divided nations. Such rivers are the highways, round which in +this country people have clustered themselves. A river here is not +a natural barrier, but a connecting street. It would be as well to +make a railway a division, or the centre line of a city a national +boundary. Kentucky and Ohio States are joined together by the Ohio +river, with Cincinnati on one side and Louisville on the other; and +I do not think that man's act can upset these ties of nature. But +between Kentucky and Tennessee there is no such bond of union. There +a mathematical line has been simply drawn, a continuation of that +line which divides Virginia from North Carolina, to which two latter +States Kentucky and Tennessee belonged when the thirteen original +States first formed themselves into a union. But that mathematical +line has offered no peculiar advantages to population. No great towns +cluster there, and no strong social interests would be dissevered +should Kentucky throw in her lot with the North, and Tennessee with +the South; but Kentucky owns a quarter of a million of slaves, and +those slaves must either be emancipated or removed before such a +junction can be firmly settled. + +The great business of Cincinnati is hog-killing now, as it used to +be in the old days of which I have so often heard. It seems to be an +established fact, that in this portion of the world the porcine genus +are all hogs. One never hears of a pig. With us a trade in hogs and +pigs is subject to some little contumely. There is a feeling, which +has perhaps never been expressed in words, but which certainly +exists, that these animals are not so honourable in their bearings +as sheep and oxen. It is a prejudice which by no means exists in +Cincinnati. There hog killing and salting and packing are very +honourable, and the great men in the trade are the merchant princes +of the city. I went to see the performance, feeling it to be a duty +to inspect everywhere that which I found to be of most importance; +but I will not describe it. There were a crowd of men operating, +and I was told that the point of honour was to "put through" a hog +a minute. It must be understood that the animal enters upon the +ceremony alive, and comes out in that cleanly, disembowelled guise in +which it may sometimes be seen hanging up previous to the operation +of the pork-butcher's knife. To one special man was appointed a +performance which seemed to be specially disagreeable, so that he +appeared despicable in my eyes; but when on inquiry I learned that he +earned five dollars, or a pound sterling, a day, my judgment as to +his position was reversed. And after all what matters the ugly nature +of such an occupation when a man is used to it? + +Cincinnati is like all other American towns, with second, third, and +fourth streets, seventh, eighth, and ninth streets, and so on. Then +the cross-streets are named chiefly from trees. Chesnut, walnut, +locust, &c. I do not know whence has come this fancy for naming +streets after trees in the States, but it is very general. The +town is well built, with good fronts to many of the houses, with +large shops and larger stores;--of course also with an enormous +hotel, which has never paid anything like a proper dividend to the +speculator who built it. It is always the same story. But these towns +shame our provincial towns by their breadth and grandeur. I am afraid +that speculators with us are trammelled by an "ignorant impatience of +ruin." I should not myself like to live in Cincinnati or in any of +these towns. They are slow, dingy, and uninteresting; but they all +possess an air of substantial, civic dignity. It must however be +remembered that the Americans live much more in towns than we do. +All with us that are rich and aristocratic and luxurious live in the +country, frequenting the metropolis for only a portion of the year. +But all that are rich and aristocratic and luxurious in the States +live in the towns. Our provincial towns are not generally chosen as +the residences of our higher classes. + +Cincinnati has 170,000 inhabitants, and there are 14,000 children +at the free schools,--which is about one in twelve of the whole +population. This number gives the average of scholars throughout +the year ended 30th June, 1861. But there are other schools in +Cincinnati,--parish schools and private schools, and it is stated to +me that there were in all 32,000 children attending school in the +city throughout the year. The education at the State schools is very +good. Thirty-four teachers are employed, at an average salary of L92 +each, ranging from L260 to L60 per annum. It is in this matter of +education that the cities of the free States of America have done so +much for the civilization and welfare of their population. This fact +cannot be repeated in their praise too often. Those who have the +management of affairs, who are at the top of the tree, are desirous +of giving to all an opportunity of raising themselves in the scale of +human beings. I dislike universal suffrage; I dislike vote by ballot; +I dislike above all things the tyranny of democracy. But I do like +the political feeling--for it is a political feeling--which induces +every educated American to lend a hand to the education of his +fellow-citizens. It shows, if nothing else does so, a germ of truth +in that doctrine of equality. It is a doctrine to be forgiven when +he who preaches it is in truth striving to raise others to his own +level;--though utterly unpardonable when the preacher would pull down +others to his level. + +Leaving Cincinnati I again entered a slave State, namely, Kentucky. +When the war broke out Kentucky took upon itself to say that it would +be neutral, as if neutrality in such a position could by any means +have been possible! Neutrality on the borders of secession, on +the battle-field of the coming contest, was of course impossible. +Tennessee, to the south, had joined the South by a regular secession +ordinance. Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana to the north were of course +true to the Union. Under these circumstances it became necessary that +Kentucky should choose her side. With the exception of the little +State of Delaware, in which from her position secesssion would have +been impossible, Kentucky was, I think, less inclined to rebellion, +more desirous of standing by the North, than any other of the slave +States. She did all she could, however, to put off the evil day of so +evil a choice. Abolition within her borders was held to be abominable +as strongly as it was so held in Georgia. She had no sympathy and +could have none with the teachings and preachings of Massachusetts. +But she did not wish to belong to a Confederacy of which the northern +States were to be the declared enemy, and be the border State of the +South under such circumstances. She did all she could for personal +neutrality. She made that effort for general reconciliation of which +I have spoken as the Crittenden compromise. But compromises and +reconciliation were not as yet possible, and therefore it was +necessary that she should choose her part. Her Governor declared +for secession; and at first also her legislature was inclined to +follow the Governor. But no overt act of secession by the State +was committed, and at last it was decided that Kentucky should be +declared to be loyal. It was in fact divided. Those on the southern +border joined the secessionists, whereas the greater portion of the +State, containing Frankfort the capital and the would-be secessionist +Governor who lived there, joined the North. Men in fact became +unionists or secessionists, not by their own conviction, but through +the necessity of their positions; and Kentucky, through the necessity +of her position, became one of the scenes of civil war. + +I must confess that the difficulty of the position of the whole +country seems to me to have been under-estimated in England. In +common life it is not easy to arrange the circumstances of a divorce +between man and wife, all whose belongings and associations have for +many years been in common. Their children, their money, their house, +their friends, their secrets, have been joint property and have +formed bonds of union. But yet such quarrels may arise, such mutual +antipathy, such acerbity and even ill-usage, that all who know them +admit that a separation is needed. So it is here in the States. +Free-soil and slave-soil could, while both were young and unused to +power, go on together,--not without many jars and unhappy bickerings; +but they did go on together. But now they must part; and how shall +the parting be made? With which side shall go this child, and who +shall remain in possession of that pleasant homestead? Putting +secession aside, there were in the United States two distinct +political doctrines, of which the extremes were opposed to each other +as pole is opposed to pole. We have no such variance of creed, no +such radical difference as to the essential rules of life between +parties in our country. We have no such cause for personal rancour +in our Parliament as has existed for some years past in both Houses +of Congress. These two extreme parties were the slave-owners of the +South and the abolitionists of the North and West. Fifty years ago +the former regarded the institution of slavery as a necessity of +their position,--generally as an evil necessity,--and generally also +as a custom to be removed in the course of years. Gradually they have +learned to look upon slavery as good in itself, and to believe that +it has been the source of their wealth and the strength of their +position. They have declared it to be a blessing inalienable,--that +should remain among them for ever,--as an inheritance not to be +touched, and not to be spoken of with hard words. Fifty years ago +the abolitionists of the North differed only in opinion from the +slave-owners of the South in hoping for a speedier end to this stain +upon the nation; and in thinking that some action should be taken +towards the final emancipation of the bondsmen. But they also have +progressed; and as the southern masters have called the institution +blessed, they have called it accursed. Their numbers have increased, +and with their numbers their power and their violence. In this way +two parties have been formed who could not look on each other without +hatred. An intermediate doctrine has been held by men who were nearer +in their sympathies to the slave-owners than to the abolitionists; +but who were not disposed to justify slavery as a thing apart. These +men have been aware that slavery has existed in accordance with the +constitution of their country, and have been willing to attach the +stain which accompanies the institution to the individual State +which entertains it, and not to the national Government, by which +the question has been constitutionally ignored. The men who have +participated in the Government have naturally been inclined towards +the middle doctrine; but as the two extremes have retreated further +from each other, the power of this middle-class of politicians has +decreased. Mr. Lincoln, though he does not now declare himself an +abolitionist, was elected by the abolitionists; and when, as a +consequence of that election, secession was threatened, no step which +he could have taken would have satisfied the South which had opposed +him, and been at the same time true to the North which had chosen +him. But it was possible that his Government might save Maryland, +Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. As Radicals in England become +simple Whigs when they are admitted into public offices, so did Mr. +Lincoln with his government become anti-abolitionist when he entered +on his functions. Had he combated secession with emancipation of +the slaves, no slave State would or could have held by the Union. +Abolition for a lecturer may be a telling subject. It is easy to +bring down rounds of applause by tales of the wrongs of bondage. But +to men in office, abolition was too stern a reality. It signified +servile insurrection, absolute ruin to all southern slave-owners, and +the absolute enmity of every slave State. + +But that task of steering between the two has been very difficult. I +fear that the task of so steering with success is almost impossible. +In England it is thought that Mr. Lincoln might have maintained the +Union by compromising matters with the South,--or if not so, that he +might have maintained peace by yielding to the South. But no such +power was in his hands. While we were blaming him for opposition to +all southern terms, his own friends in the North were saying that +all principle and truth was abandoned for the sake of such States as +Kentucky and Missouri. "Virginia is gone; Maryland cannot go. And +slavery is endured and the new virtue of Washington is made to tamper +with the evil one, in order that a show of loyalty may be preserved +in one or two States which after all are not truly loyal!" That is +the accusation made against the government by the abolitionists; and +that made by us on the other side is the reverse. I believe that +Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to fight, and that he was right +also not to fight with abolition as his battle-cry. That he may be +forced by his own friends into that cry, is, I fear, still possible. +Kentucky at any rate did not secede in bulk. She still sent her +senators to Congress, and allowed herself to be reckoned among +the stars in the American firmament. But she could not escape the +presence of the war. Did she remain loyal or did she secede, that was +equally her fate. + +The day before I entered Kentucky a battle was fought in that State, +which gave to the northern arms their first actual victory. It was at +a place called Mill Spring, near Somerset, towards the south of the +State. General Zollicoffer, with a Confederate army, numbering, it +was supposed, some eight thousand men, had advanced upon a smaller +Federal force, commanded by General Thomas, and had been himself +killed, while his army was cut to pieces and dispersed; the cannon +of the Confederates were taken, and their camp seized and destroyed. +Their rout was complete; but in this instance again the advancing +party had been beaten, as had, I believe, been the case in all the +actions hitherto fought throughout the war. Here, however, had been +an actual victory, and it was not surprising that in Kentucky loyal +men should rejoice greatly, and begin to hope that the Confederates +would be beaten out of the State. Unfortunately, however, General +Zollicoffer's army had only been an offshoot from the main rebel army +in Kentucky. Buell, commanding the Federal troops at Louisville, and +Sydney Johnston, the Confederate General, at Bowling Green, as yet +remained opposite to each other, and the work was still to be done. + +I visited the little towns of Lexington and Frankfort, in Kentucky. +At the former I found in the hotel to which I went seventy-five +teamsters belonging to the army. They were hanging about the great +hall when I entered, and clustering round the stove in the middle +of the chamber;--a dirty, rough, quaint set of men, clothed in a +wonderful variety of garbs, but not disorderly or loud. The landlord +apologized for their presence, alleging that other accommodation +could not be found for them in the town. He received, he said, a +dollar a day for feeding them, and for supplying them with a place in +which they could lie down. It did not pay him,--but what could he do? +Such an apology from an American landlord was in itself a surprising +fact. Such high functionaries are, as a rule, men inclined to tell +a traveller that if he does not like the guests among whom he finds +himself, he may go elsewhere. But this landlord had as yet filled the +place for not more than two or three weeks, and was unused to the +dignity of his position. While I was at supper, the seventy-five +teamsters were summoned into the common eating-room by a loud gong, +and sat down to their meal at the public table. They were very dirty; +I doubt whether I ever saw dirtier men; but they were orderly and +well-behaved, and but for their extreme dirt might have passed as the +ordinary occupants of a well-filled hotel in the West. Such men, in +the States, are less clumsy with their knives and forks, less astray +in an unused position, more intelligent in adapting themselves to a +new life than are Englishmen of the same rank. It is always the same +story. With us there is no level of society. Men stand on a long +staircase, but the crowd congregates near the bottom, and the lower +steps are very broad. In America men stand upon a common platform, +but the platform is raised above the ground, though it does not +approach in height the top of our staircase. If we take the average +altitude in the two countries, we shall find that the American heads +are the more elevated of the two. I conceived rather an affection for +those dirty teamsters; they answered me civilly when I spoke to them, +and sat in quietness, smoking their pipes, with a dull and dirty, but +orderly demeanour. + +The country about Lexington is called the Blue Grass Region, and +boasts itself as of peculiar fecundity in the matter of pasturage. +Why the grass is called blue, and or in what way or at what period +it becomes blue, I did not learn; but the country is very lovely and +very fertile. Between Lexington and Frankfort a large stock farm, +extending over three thousand acres, is kept by a gentleman, who +is very well known as a breeder of horses, cattle, and sheep. He +has spent much money on it, and is making for himself a Kentucky +elysium. He was kind enough to entertain me for a while, and showed +me something of country life in Kentucky. A farm in that part of the +State depends, and must depend, chiefly on slave-labour. The slaves +are a material part of the estate, and as they are regarded by the +law as real property--being actually adstricti glebae--an inheritor +of land has no alternative but to keep them. A gentleman in Kentucky +does not sell his slaves. To do so is considered to be low and +mean, and is opposed to the aristocratic traditions of the country. +A man who does so willingly, puts himself beyond the pale of +good-fellowship with his neighbours. A sale of slaves is regarded +as a sign almost of bankruptcy. If a man cannot pay his debts, his +creditors can step in and sell his slaves; but he does not himself +make the sale. When a man owns more slaves than he needs, he hires +them out by the year; and when he requires more than he owns, he +takes them on hire by the year. Care is taken in such hirings not to +remove a married man away from his home. The price paid for a negro's +labour at the time of my visit was about a hundred dollars, or twenty +pounds, for the year; but this price was then extremely low in +consequence of the war disturbances. The usual price had been about +fifty or sixty per cent. above this. The man who takes the negro on +hire feeds him, clothes him, provides him with a bed, and supplies +him with medical attendance. I went into some of their cottages on +the estate which I visited, and was not in the least surprised to +find them preferable in size, furniture, and all material comforts +to the dwellings of most of our own agricultural labourers. Any +comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky slave and an +English ditcher and delver would be preposterous. The Kentucky slave +never wants for clothing fitted to the weather. He eats meat twice +a day, and has three good meals; he knows no limit but his own +appetite; his work is light; he has many varieties of amusement; +he has instant medical assistance at all periods of necessity for +himself, his wife, and his children. Of course he pays no rent, fears +no baker, and knows no hunger. I would not have it supposed that +I conceive slavery with all these comforts to be equal to freedom +without them; nor do I conceive that the negro can be made equal to +the white man. But in discussing the condition of the negro, it is +necessary that we should understand what are the advantages of which +abolition would deprive him, and in what condition he has been placed +by the daily receipt of such advantages. If a negro slave wants new +shoes, he asks for them, and receives them, with the undoubting +simplicity of a child. Such a state of things has its picturesquely +patriarchal side; but what would be the state of such a man if he +were emancipated to-morrow? + +The natural beauty of the place which I was visiting was very great. +The trees were fine and well-scattered over the large, park-like +pastures, and the ground was broken on every side into hills. There +was perhaps too much timber, but my friend seemed to think that that +fault would find a natural remedy only too quickly. "I do not like to +cut down trees if I can help it," he said. After that I need not say +that my host was quite as much an Englishman as an American. To the +purely American farmer a tree is simply an enemy to be trodden under +foot, and buried underground, or reduced to ashes and thrown to the +winds with what most economical despatch may be possible. If water +had been added to the landscape here it would have been perfect, +regarding it as ordinary English park-scenery. But the little rivers +at this place have a dirty trick of burying themselves under the +ground. They go down suddenly into holes, disappearing from the upper +air, and then come up again at the distance of perhaps half a mile. +Unfortunately their periods of seclusion are more prolonged than +those of their upper-air distance. There were three or four such +ascents and descents about the place. + +My host was a breeder of race-horses, and had imported sires from +England; of sheep also, and had imported famous rams; of cattle too, +and was great in bulls. He was very loud in praise of Kentucky and +its attractions, if only this war could be brought to an end. But I +could not obtain from him an assurance that the speculation in which +he was engaged had been profitable. Ornamental farming in England +is a very pretty amusement for a wealthy man, but I fancy,--without +intending any slight on Mr. Mechi,--that the amusement is expensive. +I believe that the same thing may be said of it in a slave State. + +Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky, and is as quietly dull a little +town as I ever entered. It is on the river Kentucky, and as the +grounds about it on every side rise in wooded hills, it is a very +pretty place. In January it was very pretty, but in summer it must +be lovely. I was taken up to the cemetery there by a path along the +river, and am inclined to say that it is the sweetest resting-place +for the dead that I have ever visited. Daniel Boone lies there. +He was the first white man who settled in Kentucky; or rather, +perhaps, the first who entered Kentucky with a view to a white man's +settlement. Such frontier men as was Daniel Boone never remained long +contented with the spots they opened. As soon as he had left his mark +in that territory he went again further west over the big rivers into +Missouri, and there he died. But the men of Kentucky are proud of +Daniel Boone, and so they have buried him in the loveliest spot they +could select, immediately over the river. Frankfort is worth a visit, +if only that this grave and graveyard may be seen. The legislature of +the State was not sitting when I was there, and the grass was growing +in the streets. + +Louisville is the commercial city of the State, and stands on the +Ohio. It is another great town, like all the others, built with high +stores, and great houses and stone-faced blocks. I have no doubt that +all the building speculations have been failures, and that the men +engaged in them were all ruined. But there, as the result of their +labour, stands a fair great city on the southern banks of the Ohio. +Here General Buell held his head-quarters, but his army lay at a +distance. On my return from the West I visited one of the camps of +this army, and will speak of it as I speak of my backward journey. I +had already at this time begun to conceive an opinion that the armies +in Kentucky and in Missouri would do at any rate as much for the +northern cause as that of the Potomac, of which so much more had been +heard in England. + +While I was at Louisville the Ohio was flooded. It had begun to rise +when I was at Cincinnati, and since then had gone on increasing +hourly, rising inch by inch up into the towns upon its bank. I +visited two suburbs of Louisville, both of which were submerged, as +to the streets and ground-floors of the houses. At Shipping Port, +one of these suburbs, I saw the women and children clustering in the +up-stairs room, while the men were going about in punts and wherries, +collecting drift wood from the river for their winter's firing. In +some places bedding and furniture had been brought over to the high +ground, and the women were sitting, guarding their little property. +That village, amidst the waters, was a sad sight to see; but I heard +no complaints. There was no tearing of hair and no gnashing of teeth; +no bitter tears or moans of sorrow. The men who were not at work +in the boats stood loafing about in clusters, looking at the still +rising river; but each seemed to be personally indifferent to the +matter. When the house of an American is carried down the river, he +builds himself another;--as he would get himself a new coat when his +old coat became unserviceable. But he never laments or moans for such +a loss. Surely there is no other people so passive under personal +misfortune! + +Going from Louisville up to St. Louis, I crossed the Ohio river and +passed through parts of Indiana and of Illinois, and striking the +Mississippi opposite St. Louis, crossed that river also, and then +entered the State of Missouri. The Ohio was, as I have said, flooded, +and we went over it at night. The boat had been moored at some +unaccustomed place. There was no light. The road was deep in mud up +to the axle-tree, and was crowded with waggons and carts, which in +the darkness of the night seemed to have stuck there. But the man +drove his four horses through it all, and into the ferry-boat, over +its side. There were three or four such omnibuses, and as many +waggons, as to each of which I predicted in my own mind some fatal +catastrophe. But they were all driven on to the boat in the dark, +the horses mixing in through each other in a chaos which would have +altogether incapacitated any English coachman. And then the vessel +laboured across the flood, going sideways, and hardly keeping her +own against the stream. But we did get over, and were all driven +out again, up to the railway station in safety. On reaching the +Mississippi about the middle of the next day, we found it frozen +over, or rather covered from side to side with blocks of ice which +had forced its way down the river, so that the steam ferry could not +reach its proper landing. I do not think that we in England would +have attempted the feat of carrying over horses and carriages under +stress of such circumstances. But it was done here. Huge plankings +were laid down over the ice, and omnibuses and waggons were driven +on. In getting out again, these vehicles, each with four horses, had +to be twisted about, and driven in and across the vessel, and turned +in spaces to look at which would have broken the heart of an English +coachman. And then with a spring they were driven up a bank as steep +as a ladder! Ah me! under what mistaken illusions have I not laboured +all the days of my youth, in supposing that no man could drive four +horses well but an English stage-coachman? I have seen performances +in America,--and in Italy and France also, but above all in +America,--which would have made the hair of any English professional +driver stand on end. + +And in this way I entered St. Louis. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MISSOURI. + + +Missouri is a slave State lying to the west of the Mississippi and to +the north of Arkansas. It forms a portion of the territory ceded by +France to the United States in 1803. Indeed, it is difficult to say +how large a portion of the continent of North America is supposed to +be included in that territory. It contains the States of Louisiana, +Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas, as also the present Indian territory; +but it also is said to have contained all the land lying back from +them to the Rocky Mountains, Utah, Nebraska, and Dacotah, and forms +no doubt the widest dominion ever ceded by one nationality to +another. + +Missouri lies exactly north of the old Missouri compromise line, +that is, 36 30 north. When the Missouri compromise was made it was +arranged that Missouri should be a slave State, but that no other +State north of the 36 30 line should ever become slave soil. Kentucky +and Virginia, as also of course Maryland and Delaware, four of the +old slave States, were already north of that line; but the compromise +was intended to prevent the advance of slavery in the north-west. The +compromise has been since annulled, on the ground, I believe, that +Congress had not constitutionally the power to declare that any soil +should be free, or that any should be slave soil. That is a question +to be decided by the States themselves, as each individual State may +please. So the compromise was repealed. But slavery has not on that +account advanced. The battle has been fought in Kansas, and after a +long and terrible struggle, Kansas has come out of the fight as a +free State. Kansas is in the same parallel of latitude as Virginia, +and stretches west as far as the Rocky Mountains. + +When the census of the population of Missouri was taken in 1860, the +slaves amounted to 10 per cent. of the whole number. In the Gulf +States the slave population is about 45 per cent. of the whole. In +the three border States of Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland, the +slaves amount to 30 per cent. of the whole population. From these +figures it will be seen that Missouri, which is comparatively a new +slave State, has not gone a-head with slavery as the old slave States +have done, although from its position and climate, lying as far south +as Virginia, it might seem to have had the same reasons for doing so. +I think there is every reason to believe that slavery will die out in +Missouri. The institution is not popular with the people generally; +and as white labour becomes abundant,--and before the war it was +becoming abundant,--men recognize the fact that the white man's +labour is the more profitable. The heat in this State, in midsummer, +is very great, especially in the valleys of the rivers. At St. Louis, +on the Mississippi, it reaches commonly to 90 degrees, and very +frequently goes above that. The nights moreover are nearly as hot as +the days; but this great heat does not last for any very long period, +and it seems that white men are able to work throughout the year. If +correspondingly severe weather in winter affords any compensation to +the white man for what of heat he endures during the summer, I can +testify that such compensation is to be found in Missouri. When I was +there we were afflicted with a combination of snow, sleet, frost, and +wind, with a mixture of ice and mud, that makes me regard Missouri as +the most inclement land into which I ever penetrated. + +St. Louis, on the Mississippi, is the great town of Missouri, and is +considered by the Missourians to be the star of the West. It is not +to be beaten in population, wealth, or natural advantages by any +other city so far west; but it has not increased with such rapidity +as Chicago, which is considerably to the north of it on Lake +Michigan. Of the great western cities I regard Chicago as the most +remarkable, seeing that St. Louis was a large town before Chicago had +been founded. + +The population of St. Louis is 170,000. Of this number only 2000 are +slaves. I was told that a large proportion of the slaves of Missouri +are employed near the Missouri river in breaking hemp. The growth of +hemp is very profitably carried on in that valley, and the labour +attached to it is one which white men do not like to encounter. +Slaves are not generally employed in St. Louis for domestic service, +as is done almost universally in the towns of Kentucky. This work +is chiefly in the hands of Irish and Germans. Considerably above +one-third of the population of the whole city is made up of these two +nationalities. So much is confessed; but if I were to form an opinion +from the language I heard in the streets of the town, I should say +that nearly every man was either an Irishman or a German. + +St. Louis has none of the aspects of a slave city. I cannot say that +I found it an attractive place, but then I did not visit it at an +attractive time. The war had disturbed everything, given a special +colour of its own to men's thoughts and words, and destroyed all +interest except that which might proceed from itself. The town is +well built, with good shops, straight streets, never-ending rows of +excellent houses, and every sign of commercial wealth and domestic +comfort,--of commercial wealth and domestic comfort in the past, for +there was no present appearance either of comfort or of wealth. The +new hotel here was to be bigger than all the hotels of all other +towns. It is built, and is an enormous pile, and would be handsome +but for a terribly ambitious Grecian doorway. It is built, as far +as the walls and roof are concerned, but in all other respects is +unfinished. I was told that the shares of the original stockholders +were now worth nothing. A shareholder, who so told me, seemed to +regard this as the ordinary course of business. + +The great glory of the town is the "levee," as it is called, or the +long river beach up to which the steamers are brought with their bows +to the shore. It is an esplanade looking on to the river, not built +with quays or wharves, as would be the case with us, but with a +sloping bank running down to the water. In the good days of peace a +hundred vessels were to be seen here, each with its double funnels. +The line of them seemed to be never ending even when I was there, but +then a very large proportion of them were lying idle. They resemble +huge wooden houses, apparently of frail architecture, floating upon +the water. Each has its double row of balconies running round it, and +the lower or ground floor is open throughout. The upper stories are +propped and supported on ugly sticks and ricketty-looking beams; so +that the first appearance does not convey any great idea of security +to a stranger. They are always painted white and the paint is +always very dirty. When they begin to move, they moan and groan in +melancholy tones which are subversive of all comfort; and as they +continue on their courses they puff and bluster, and are for ever +threatening to burst and shatter themselves to pieces. There they lie +in a continuous line nearly a mile in length along the levee of St. +Louis, dirty, dingy, and now, alas, mute. They have ceased to groan +and puff, and if this war be continued for six months longer, will +become rotten and useless as they lie. + +They boast at St. Louis that they command 46,000 miles of navigable +river water, counting the great rivers up and down from that place. +These rivers are chiefly the Mississippi, the Missouri and Ohio which +fall into the Mississippi near St. Louis, the Platte and Kansas +rivers--tributaries of the Missouri, the Illinois, and the Wisconsin. +All these are open to steamers, and all of them traverse regions rich +in corn, in coal, in metals, or in timber. These ready-made highways +of the world centre, as it were, at St. Louis, and make it the depot +of the carrying trade of all that vast country. Minnesota is 1500 +miles above New Orleans, but the wheat of Minnesota can be brought +down the whole distance without change of the vessel in which it is +first deposited. It would seem to be impossible that a country so +blessed should not become rich. It must be remembered that these +rivers flow through lands that have never yet been surpassed in +natural fertility. Of all countries in the world one would say that +the States of America should have been the last to curse themselves +with a war; but now the curse has fallen upon them with a double +vengeance. It would seem that they could never be great in war: their +very institutions forbid it; their enormous distances forbid it; the +price of labour forbids it; and it is forbidden also by the career of +industry and expansion which has been given to them. But the curse of +fighting has come upon them, and they are showing themselves to be +as eager in the works of war as they have shown themselves capable +in the works of peace. Men and angels must weep as they behold the +things that are being done, as they watch the ruin that has come and +is still coming, as they look on commerce killed and agriculture +suspended. No sight so sad has come upon the earth in our days. +They were a great people; feeding the world, adding daily to the +mechanical appliances of mankind, increasing in population beyond all +measures of such increase hitherto known, and extending education +as fast as they extended their numbers. Poverty had as yet found no +place among them, and hunger was an evil of which they had read, but +were themselves ignorant. Each man among their crowds had a right +to be proud of his manhood. To read and write,--I am speaking here +of the North,--was as common as to eat and drink. To work was no +disgrace, and the wages of work were plentiful. To live without work +was the lot of none. What blessing above these blessings was needed +to make a people great and happy? And now a stranger visiting them +would declare that they are wallowing in a very slough of despond. +The only trade open is the trade of war. The axe of the woodsman is +at rest; the plough is idle; the artificer has closed his shop. The +roar of the foundry is still heard because cannon are needed, and +the river of molten iron comes out as an implement of death. The +stone-cutter's hammer and the mason's trowel are never heard. The +gold of the country is hiding itself as though it had returned to its +mother-earth, and the infancy of a paper currency has been commenced. +Sick soldiers, who have never seen a battlefield, are dying by +hundreds in the squalid dirt of their unaccustomed camps. Men and +women talk of war, and of war only. Newspapers full of the war +are alone read. A contract for war stores,--too often a dishonest +contract,--is the one path open for commercial enterprise. The +young man must go to the war or he is disgraced. The war swallows +everything, and as yet has failed to produce even such bitter fruits +as victory or glory. Must it not be said that a curse has fallen upon +the land? + +And yet I still hope that it may ultimately be for good. Through +water and fire must a nation be cleansed of its faults. It has been +so with all nations, though the phases of their trials have been +different. It did not seem to be well with us in Cromwell's early +days; nor was it well with us afterwards in those disgraceful years +of the later Stuarts. We know how France was bathed in blood in her +effort to rid herself of her painted sepulchre of an ancient throne; +how Germany was made desolate, in order that Prussia might become a +nation. Ireland was poor and wretched, till her famine came. Men said +it was a curse, but that curse has been her greatest blessing. And so +will it be here in the West. I could not but weep in spirit as I saw +the wretchedness around me,--the squalid misery of the soldiers, the +inefficiency of their officers, the bickerings of their rulers, the +noise and threats, the dirt and ruin, the terrible dishonesty of +those who were trusted! These are things which made a man wish that +he were anywhere but there. But I do believe that God is still over +all, and that everything is working for good. These things are the +fire and water through which this nation must pass. The course of +this people had been too straight, and their ways had been too +pleasant. That which to others had been ever difficult had been made +easy for them. Bread and meat had come to them as things of course, +and they hardly remembered to be thankful. "We ourselves have done +it," they declared aloud. "We are not as other men. We are gods upon +the earth. Whose arm shall be long enough to stay us, or whose bolt +shall be strong enough to strike us?" + +Now they are stricken sore, and the bolt is from their own bow. Their +own hands have raised the barrier that has stayed them. They have +stumbled in their running, and are lying hurt upon the ground; while +they who have heard their boastings turn upon them with ridicule, and +laugh at them in their discomforture. They are rolling in the mire, +and cannot take the hand of any man to help them. Though the hand +of the bystander may be stretched to them, his face is scornful and +his voice full of reproaches. Who has not known that hour of misery +when in the sullenness of the heart all help has been refused, and +misfortune has been made welcome to do her worst? So is it now with +those once United States. The man who can see without inward tears +the self-inflicted wounds of that American people can hardly have +within his bosom the tenderness of an Englishman's heart. + +But the strong runner will rise again to his feet, even though he +be stunned by his fall. He will rise again, and will have learned +something by his sorrow. His anger will pass away, and he will again +brace himself for his work. What great race has ever been won by any +man, or by any nation, without some such fall during its course? Have +we not all declared that some check to that career was necessary? +Men in their pursuit of intelligence had forgotten to be honest; in +struggling for greatness they had discarded purity. The nation has +been great, but the statesmen of the nation have been little. Men +have hardly been ambitious to govern, but they have coveted the wages +of governors. Corruption has crept into high places,--into places +that should have been high,--till of all holes and corners in the +land they have become the lowest. No public man has been trusted for +ordinary honesty. It is not by foreign voices, by English newspapers +or in French pamphlets, that the corruption of American politicians +has been exposed, but by American voices and by the American press. +It is to be heard on every side. Ministers of the cabinet, senators, +representatives, State legislatures, officers of the army, officials +of the navy, contractors of every grade,--all who are presumed to +touch, or to have the power of touching public money, are thus +accused. For years it has been so. The word politician has stunk +in men's nostrils. When I first visited New York, some three years +since, I was warned not to know a man, because he was a "politician." +We in England define a man of a certain class as a black-leg. How has +it come about that in American ears the word politician has come to +bear a similar signification? + +The material growth of the States has been so quick, that the +political growth has not been able to keep pace with it. In commerce, +in education, in all municipal arrangements, in mechanical skill, and +also in professional ability, the country has stalked on with amazing +rapidity; but in the art of governing, in all political management +and detail, it has made no advance. The merchants of our country and +of that country have for many years met on terms of perfect equality, +but it has never been so with their statesmen and our statesmen, with +their diplomatists and our diplomatists. Lombard Street and Wall +Street can do business with each other on equal footing, but it is +not so between Downing Street and the State-office at Washington. The +science of statesmanship has yet to be learned in the States,--and +certainly the highest lesson of that science, which teaches that +honesty is the best policy. + +I trust that the war will have left such a lesson behind it. If it +do so, let the cost in money be what it may, that money will not +have been wasted. If the American people can learn the necessity +of employing their best men for their highest work,--if they +can recognize these honest men and trust them when they are so +recognized,--then they may become as great in politics as they have +become great in commerce and in social institutions. + +St. Louis, and indeed the whole State of Missouri, was at the time of +my visit under martial law. General Halleck was in command, holding +his head-quarters at St. Louis, and carrying out, at any rate as +far as the city was concerned, what orders he chose to issue. I +am disposed to think that, situated as Missouri then was, martial +law was the best law. No other law could have had force in a town +surrounded by soldiers, and in which half of the inhabitants were +loyal to the existing Government, and half of them were in favour of +rebellion. The necessity for such power is terrible, and the power +itself in the hands of one man must be full of danger; but even that +is better than anarchy. I will not accuse General Halleck of abusing +his power, seeing that it is hard to determine what is the abuse of +such power and what its proper use. When we were at St. Louis a tax +was being gathered of L100 a head from certain men presumed to be +secessionists, and as the money was not of course very readily paid, +the furniture of these suspected secessionists was being sold by +auction. No doubt such a measure was by them regarded as a great +abuse. One gentleman informed me that, in addition to this, certain +houses of his had been taken by the Government at a fixed rent, and +that the payment of the rent was now refused unless he would take +the oath of allegiance. He no doubt thought that an abuse of power! +But the worst abuse of such power comes not at first, but with long +usage. + +Up to the time however at which I was at St. Louis, martial law had +chiefly been used in closing grog-shops and administering the oath of +allegiance to suspected secessionists. Something also had been done +in the way of raising money by selling the property of convicted +secessionists; and while I was there eight men were condemned to be +shot for destroying railway bridges. "But will they be shot?" I asked +of one of the officers. "Oh, yes. It will be done quietly, and no one +will know anything about it. We shall get used to that kind of thing +presently." And the inhabitants of Missouri were becoming used to +martial law. It is surprising how quickly a people can reconcile +themselves to altered circumstances, when the change comes upon them +without the necessity of any expressed opinion on their own part. +Personal freedom has been considered as necessary to the American +of the States as the air he breathes. Had any suggestion been made +to him of a suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, of a +censorship of the press, or of martial law, the American would +have declared his willingness to die on the floor of the House of +Representatives, and have proclaimed with ten million voices his +inability to live under circumstances so subversive of his rights as +a man. And he would have thoroughly believed the truth of his own +assertions. Had a chance been given of an argument on the matter, of +stump speeches, and caucus meetings, these things could never have +been done. But as it is, Americans are, I think, rather proud of the +suspension of the habeas corpus. They point with gratification to the +uniformly loyal tone of the newspapers, remarking that any editor who +should dare to give even a secession squeak, would immediately find +himself shut up. And now nothing but good is spoken of martial law. I +thought it a nuisance when I was prevented by soldiers from trotting +my horse down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, but I was assured +by Americans that such restrictions were very serviceable in a +community. At St. Louis martial law was quite popular. Why should not +General Halleck be as well able to say what was good for the people +as any law or any lawyer? He had no interest in the injury of the +State, but every interest in its preservation. "But what," I asked, +"would be the effect were he to tell you to put out all your fires +at eight o'clock?" "If he were so to order, we should do it; but we +know that he will not." But who does know to what General Halleck or +other generals may come; or how soon a curfew-bell may be ringing in +American towns? The winning of liberty is long and tedious, but the +losing it is a downhill easy journey. + +It was here, in St. Louis, that General Fremont had held his military +court. He was a great man here during those hundred days through +which his command lasted. He lived in a great house, had a bodyguard, +was inaccessible as a great man should be, and fared sumptuously +every day. He fortified the city,--or rather, he began to do so. +He constructed barracks here, and instituted military prisons. The +fortifications have been discontinued as useless, but the barracks +and the prisons remain. In the latter there were 1200 secessionist +soldiers who had been taken in the State of Missouri. "Why are they +not exchanged?" I asked. "Because they are not exactly soldiers," +I was informed. "The secessionists do not acknowledge them." "Then +would it not be cheaper to let them go?" "No," said my informant; +"because in that case we should have to catch them again." And so the +1200 remain in their wretched prison,--thinned from week to week and +from day to day by prison disease and prison death. + +I went out twice to Benton barracks, as the camp of wooden huts was +called, which General Fremont had erected near the fair-ground of the +city. This fair-ground, I was told, had been a pleasant place. It had +been constructed for the recreation of the city, and for the purpose +of periodical agricultural exhibitions. There is still in it a pretty +ornamented cottage, and in the little garden a solitary Cupid stood +dismayed by the dirt and ruin around him. In the fair-green are the +round buildings intended for show cattle and agricultural implements, +but now given up to cavalry horses and Parrott guns. But Benton +barracks are outside the fair-green. Here on an open space, some +half-mile in length, two long rows of wooden sheds have been built, +opposite to each other, and behind them are other sheds used for +stabling and cooking-places. Those in front are divided, not into +separate huts, but into chambers capable of containing nearly two +hundred men each. They were surrounded on the inside by great wooden +trays, in three tiers,--and on each tray four men were supposed to +sleep. I went into one or two while the crowd of soldiers was in +them, but found it inexpedient to stay there long. The stench of +those places was foul beyond description. Never in my life before had +I been in a place so horrid to the eyes and nose as Benton barracks. +The path along the front outside was deep in mud. The whole space +between the two rows of sheds was one field of mud, so slippery that +the foot could not stand. Inside and outside every spot was deep +in mud. The soldiers were mud-stained from foot to sole. These +volunteer soldiers are in their nature dirty, as must be all men +brought together in numerous bodies without special appliances for +cleanliness, or control and discipline as to their personal habits. +But the dirt of the men in the Benton barracks surpassed any dirt +that I had hitherto seen. Nor could it have been otherwise with them. +They were surrounded by a sea of mud, and the foul hovels in which +they were made to sleep and live were fetid with stench and reeking +with filth. I had at this time been joined by another Englishman, +and we went through this place together. When we inquired as to the +health of the men, we heard the saddest tales,--of three hundred men +gone out of one regiment, of whole companies that had perished, of +hospitals crowded with fevered patients. Measles had been the great +scourge of the soldiers here,--as it had also been in the army of the +Potomac. I shall not soon forget my visits to Benton barracks. It may +be that our own soldiers were as badly treated in the Crimea; or that +French soldiers were treated worse on their march into Russia. It +may be that dirt, and wretchedness, disease and listless idleness, +a descent from manhood to habits lower than those of the beasts, +are necessary in warfare. I have sometimes thought that it is so; +but I am no military critic and will not say. This I say,--that the +degradation of men to the state in which I saw the American soldiers +in Benton barracks, is disgraceful to humanity. + +General Halleck was at this time commanding in Missouri, and was +himself stationed at St. Louis; but his active measures against the +rebels were going on to the right and to the left. On the left shore +of the Mississippi, at Cairo, in Illinois, a fleet of gun-boats was +being prepared to go down the river, and on the right an army was +advancing against Springfield, in the south-western district of +Missouri, with the object of dislodging Price, the rebel guerilla +leader there, and, if possible, of catching him. Price had been the +opponent of poor General Lyon who was killed at Wilson's Creek, near +Springfield, and of General Fremont, who during his hundred days +had failed to drive him out of the State. This duty had now been +intrusted to General Curtis, who had for some time been holding his +head-quarters at Rolla, halfway between St. Louis and Springfield. +Fremont had built a fort at Rolla, and it had become a military +station. Over 10,000 men had been there at one time, and now General +Curtis was to advance from Rolla against Price with something +above that number of men. Many of them, however, had already gone +on, and others were daily being sent up from St. Louis. Under +these circumstances my friend and I, fortified with a letter of +introduction to General Curtis, resolved to go and see the army at +Rolla. + +On our way down by the railway we encountered a young German officer, +an aide-de-camp of the Federals, and under his auspices we saw Rolla +to advantage. Our companions in the railway were chiefly soldiers +and teamsters. The car was crowded and filled with tobacco smoke, +apple peel, and foul air. In these cars during the winter there +is always a large lighted stove, a stove that might cook all the +dinners for a French hotel, and no window is ever opened. Among our +fellow-travellers there was here and there a west-country Missouri +farmer going down, under the protection of the advancing army, +to look after the remains of his chattels,--wild, dark, uncouth, +savage-looking men. One such hero I specially remember, as to whom +the only natural remark would be that one would not like to meet him +alone on a dark night. He was burly and big, unwashed and rough, +with a black beard, shorn some two months since. He had sharp, angry +eyes, and sat silent, picking his teeth with a bowie knife. I met him +afterwards at the Rolla hotel, and found that he was a gentleman of +property near Springfield. He was mild and meek as a sucking dove, +asked my advice as to the state of his affairs, and merely guessed +that things had been pretty rough with him. Things had been pretty +rough with him. The rebels had come upon his land. House, fences, +stock, and crop were all gone. His homestead had been made a ruin, +and his farm had been turned into a wilderness. Everything was gone. +He had carried his wife and children off to Illinois, and had now +returned, hoping that he might get on in the wake of the army till +he could see the debris of his property. But even he did not seem +disturbed. He did not bemoan himself or curse his fate. "Things were +pretty rough," he said; and that was all that he did say. + +It was dark when we got into Rolla. Everything had been covered with +snow, and everywhere the snow was frozen. We had heard that there +was an hotel, and that possibly we might get a bedroom there. We +were first taken to a wooden building, which we were told was the +head-quarters of the army, and in one room we found a colonel with +a lot of soldiers loafing about, and in another a provost-marshal +attended by a newspaper correspondent. We were received with open +arms, and a suggestion was at once made that we were no doubt +picking up news for European newspapers. "Air you a son of the Mrs. +Trollope?" said the correspondent. "Then, sir, you are an accession +to Rolla." Upon which I was made to sit down, and invited to "loaf +about" at the head-quarters as long as I might remain at Rolla. +Shortly, however, there came on a violent discussion about waggons. +A general had come in and wanted all the colonel's waggons, but the +colonel swore that he had none, declared how bitterly he was impeded +with sick men, and became indignant and reproachful. It was Brutus +and Cassius again; and as we felt ourselves in the way, and anxious +moreover to ascertain what might be the nature of the Rolla hotel, we +took up our heavy portmanteaux--for they were heavy--and with a guide +to show us the way, started off through the dark and over the hill up +to our inn. I shall never forget that walk. It was up hill and down +hill, with an occasional half-frozen stream across it. My friend +was impeded with an enormous cloak lined with fur, which in itself +was a burden for a coalheaver. Our guide, who was a clerk out of +the colonel's office, carried an umbrella and a small dressing-bag, +but we ourselves manfully shouldered our portmanteaux. Sydney Smith +declared that an Englishman only wasted his time in training himself +for gymnastic aptitudes, seeing that for a shilling he could always +hire a porter. Had Sydney Smith ever been at Rolla he would have +written differently. I could tell at great length how I fell on my +face in the icy snow, how my friend stuck in the frozen mud when +he essayed to jump the stream, and how our guide walked on easily +in advance, encouraging us with his voice from a distance. Why is +it that a stout Englishman bordering on fifty finds himself in +such a predicament as that? No Frenchman, no Italian, no German, +would so place himself, unless under the stress of insurmountable +circumstances. No American would do so under any circumstances. As I +slipped about on the ice and groaned with that terrible fardle on my +back, burdened with a dozen shirts, and a suit of dress clothes, and +three pair of boots, and four or five thick volumes, and a set of +maps, and a box of cigars, and a washing-tub, I confessed to myself +that I was a fool. What was I doing in such a galley as that? Why had +I brought all that useless lumber down to Rolla? Why had I come to +Rolla, with no certain hope even of shelter for a night? But we did +reach the hotel; we did get a room between us with two bedsteads. +And, pondering over the matter in my mind, since that evening, I have +been inclined to think that the stout Englishman is in the right of +it. No American of my age and weight will ever go through what I went +through then; but I am not sure that he does not in his accustomed +career go through worse things even than that. However, if I go to +Rolla again during the war, I will at any rate leave the books behind +me. + +What a night we spent in that inn! They who know America will be +aware that in all hotels there is a free admixture of different +classes. The traveller in Europe may sit down to dinner with his +tailor and shoemaker; but if so, his tailor and shoemaker have +dressed themselves as he dresses, and are prepared to carry +themselves according to a certain standard, which in exterior does +not differ from his own. In the large Eastern cities of the States, +such as Boston, New York, and Washington, a similar practice of life +is gradually becoming prevalent. There are various hotels for various +classes, and the ordinary traveller does not find himself at the same +table with a butcher fresh from the shambles. But in the West there +are no distinctions whatever. "A man's a man for a' that" in the +West, let the "a' that" comprise what it may of coarse attire and +unsophisticated manners. One soon gets used to it. In that inn +at Rolla was a public room, heated in the middle by a stove, and +round that we soon found ourselves seated in a company of soldiers, +farmers, labourers, and teamsters. But there was among them a +general;--not a fighting, or would-be fighting general of the present +time, but one of the old-fashioned local generals,--men who held, +or had once held, some fabulous generalship in the State militia. +There we sat, cheek by jowl with our new friends, till nearly twelve +o'clock, talking politics and discussing the war. The General was +a stanch Unionist, having, according to his own showing, suffered +dreadful things from secessionist persecutors since the rebellion +commenced. As a matter of course everybody present was for the Union. +In such a place one rarely encounters any difference of opinion. +The General was very eager about the war, advocating the immediate +abolition of slavery, not as a means of improving the condition +of the southern slaves, but on the ground that it would ruin the +southern masters. We all sat by, edging in a word now and then, but +the General was the talker of the evening. He was very wrathy, and +swore at every other word. "It was pretty well time," he said, "to +crush out this rebellion, and by ---- it must and should be crushed +out; General Jim Lane was the man to do it, and by ---- General Jim +Lane would do it!" and so on. In all such conversations the time for +action has always just come, and also the expected man. But the time +passes by as other weeks and months have passed before it, and the +new General is found to be no more successful than his brethren. Our +friend was very angry against England. "When we've polished off these +accursed rebels, I guess we'll take a turn at you. You had your turn +when you made us give up Mason and Slidell, and we'll have our turn +by-and-by." But in spite of his dislike to our nation he invited us +warmly to come and see him at his home on the Missouri river. It +was, according to his showing, a new Eden,--a Paradise upon earth. +He seemed to think that we might perhaps desire to buy a location, +and explained to us how readily we could make our fortunes. But he +admitted in the course of his eulogiums that it would be as much as +his life was worth for him to ride out five miles from his own house. +In the meantime the teamsters greased their boots, the soldiers +snored, those who were wet took off their shoes and stockings, +hanging them to dry round the stove, and the western farmers chewed +tobacco in silence and ruminated. At such a house all the guests go +in to their meals together. A gong is sounded on a sudden, close +behind your ears; accustomed as you may probably be to the sound you +jump up from your chair in the agony of the crash, and by the time +that you have collected your thoughts the whole crowd is off in a +general stampede into the eating room. You may as well join them; if +you hesitate as to feeding with so rough a lot of men, you will have +to sit down afterwards with the women and children of the family, and +your lot will then be worse. Among such classes in the western States +the men are always better than the women. The men are dirty and +civil, the women are dirty and uncivil. + +On the following day we visited the camp, going out in an ambulance +and returning on horseback. We were accompanied by the General's +aide-de-camp, and also, to our great gratification, by the General's +daughter. There had been a hard frost for some nights, but though +the cold was very great there was always heat enough in the middle +of the day to turn the surface of the ground into glutinous mud; +consequently we had all the roughness induced by frost, but none of +the usually attendant cleanliness. Indeed, it seemed that in these +parts nothing was so dirty as frost. The mud stuck like paste and +encompassed everything. We heard that morning that from sixty to +seventy baggage-waggons had "broken through," as they called it, and +stuck fast near a river in their endeavour to make their way on to +Lebanon. We encountered two generals of brigade, General Siegel, a +German, and General Ashboth, an Hungarian, both of whom were waiting +till the weather should allow them to advance. They were extremely +courteous, and warmly invited us to go on with them to Lebanon and +Springfield, promising to us such accommodation as they might be able +to obtain for themselves. I was much tempted to accept the offer; but +I found that day after day might pass before any forward movement +was commenced, and that it might be weeks before Springfield or even +Lebanon could be reached. It was my wish, moreover, to see what I +could of the people, rather than to scrutinize the ways of the army. +We dined at the tent of General Ashboth, and afterwards rode his +horses through the camp back to Rolla. I was greatly taken with this +Hungarian gentleman. He was a tall, thin, gaunt man of fifty, a +pure-blooded Magyar as I was told, who had come from his own country +with Kossuth to America. His camp circumstances were not very +luxurious, nor was his table very richly spread; but he received us +with the ease and courtesy of a gentleman. He showed us his sword, +his rifle, his pistols, his chargers, and daguerreotype of a friend +he had loved in his own country. They were all the treasures that he +carried with him,--over and above a chess-board and a set of chessmen +which sorely tempted me to accompany him in his march. + +In my next chapter, which will, I trust, be very short, I purport to +say a few words as to what I saw of the American army, and therefore +I will not now describe the regiments which we visited. The tents +were all encompassed by snow, and the ground on which they stood was +a bed of mud; but yet the soldiers out here were not so wretchedly +forlorn, or apparently so miserably uncomfortable, as those at Benton +barracks. I did not encounter that horrid sickly stench, nor were +the men so pale and wobegone. On the following day we returned to St. +Louis, bringing back with us our friend the German aide-de-camp. I +stayed two days longer in that city, and then I thought that I had +seen enough of Missouri;--enough of Missouri at any rate under the +present circumstances of frost and secession. As regards the people +of the West, I must say that they were not such as I expected to +find them. With the Northerns we are all more or less intimately +acquainted. Those Americans whom we meet in our own country, or on +the Continent, are generally from the North, or if not so they have +that type of American manners which has become familiar to us. They +are talkative, intelligent, inclined to be social, though frequently +not sympathetically social with ourselves; somewhat _soi-disant_, +but almost invariably companionable. As the traveller goes southward +into Maryland and Washington, the type is not altered to any great +extent. The hard intelligence of the Yankee gives place gradually +to the softer, and perhaps more polished manner of the Southern. But +the change thus experienced is not so great as is that between the +American of the western and the American of the Atlantic States. +In the West I found the men gloomy and silent,--I might almost say +sullen. A dozen of them will sit for hours round a stove, speechless. +They chew tobacco and ruminate. They are not offended if you speak to +them, but they are not pleased. They answer with monosyllables, or, +if it be practicable, with a gesture of the head. They care nothing +for the graces,--or shall I say, for the decencies of life? They are +essentially a dirty people. Dirt, untidiness, and noise, seem in +nowise to afflict them. Things are constantly done before your eyes, +which should be done and might be done behind your back. No doubt we +daily come into the closest contact with matters which, if we saw +all that appertains to them, would cause us to shake and shudder. In +other countries we do not see all this, but in the western States we +do. I have eaten in Bedouin tents, and have been ministered to by +Turks and Arabs. I have sojourned in the hotels of old Spain and of +Spanish America. I have lived in Connaught, and have taken up my +quarters with monks of different nations. I have, as it were, been +educated to dirt, and taken out my degree in outward abominations. +But my education had not reached a point which would enable me to +live at my ease in the western States. A man or woman who can do that +may be said to have graduated in the highest honours, and to have +become absolutely invulnerable, either through the sense of touch, +or by the eye, or by the nose. Indifference to appearances is there +a matter of pride. A foul shirt is a flag of triumph. A craving for +soap and water is as the wail of the weak and the confession of +cowardice. This indifference is carried into all their affairs, or +rather this manifestation of indifference. A few pages back, I spoke +of a man whose furniture had been sold to pay a heavy tax raised +on him specially as a secessionist; the same man had also been +refused the payment of rent due to him by the Government, unless he +would take a false oath. I may presume that he was ruined in his +circumstances by the strong hand of the northern army. But he seemed +in nowise to be unhappy about his ruin. He spoke with some scorn of +the martial law in Missouri, but I felt that it was esteemed a small +matter by him that his furniture was seized and sold. No men love +money with more eager love than these western men, but they bear +the loss of it as an Indian bears his torture at the stake. They +are energetic in trade, speculating deeply whenever speculation is +possible; but nevertheless they are slow in motion, loving to loaf +about. They are slow in speech, preferring to sit in silence, with +the tobacco between their teeth. They drink, but are seldom drunk +to the eye; they begin at it early in the morning, and take it in a +solemn, sullen, ugly manner, standing always at a bar; swallowing +their spirits, and saying nothing as they swallow it. They drink +often, and to great excess; but they carry it off without noise, +sitting down and ruminating over it with the everlasting cud within +their jaws. I believe that a stranger might go into the West, and +passing from hotel to hotel through a dozen of them, might sit +for hours at each in the large everlasting public hall, and never +have a word addressed to him. No stranger should travel in the +western States, or indeed in any of the States, without letters of +introduction. It is the custom of the country, and they are easily +procured. Without them everything is barren; for men do not travel in +the States of America as they do in Europe, to see scenery and visit +the marvels of old cities which are open to all the world. The social +and political life of the Americans must constitute the interest +of the traveller, and to these he can hardly make his way without +introductions. + +I cannot part with the West without saying in its favour that there +is a certain manliness about its men, which gives them a dignity +of their own. It is shown in that very indifference of which I +have spoken. Whatever turns up the man is still there,--still +unsophisticated and still unbroken. It has seemed to me that no +race of men requires less outward assistance than these pioneers of +civilization. They rarely amuse themselves. Food, newspapers, and +brandy-smashes suffice for life; and while these last, whatever +may occur, the man is still there in his manhood. The fury of the +mob does not shake him, nor the stern countenance of his present +martial tyrant. Alas! I cannot stick to my text by calling him a +just man. Intelligence, energy, and endurance are his virtues. Dirt, +dishonesty, and morning drinks are his vices. + +All native American women are intelligent. It seems to be their +birthright. In the eastern cities they have, in their upper classes, +superadded womanly grace to this intelligence, and consequently +they are charming as companions. They are beautiful also, and, as +I believe, lack nothing that a lover can desire in his love. But I +cannot fancy myself much in love with a western lady, or rather with +a lady in the West. They are as sharp as nails, but then they are +also as hard. They know, doubtless, all that they ought to know, but +then they know so much more than they ought to know. They are tyrants +to their parents, and never practise the virtue of obedience till +they have half-grown-up daughters of their own. They have faith in +the destiny of their country, if in nothing else; but they believe +that that destiny is to be worked out by the spirit and talent of the +young women. I confess that for me Eve would have had no charms had +she not recognized Adam as her lord. I can forgive her in that she +tempted him to eat the apple. Had she come from the West country she +would have ordered him to make his meal, and then I could not have +forgiven her. + +St. Louis should be, and still will be, a town of great wealth. To no +city can have been given more means of riches. I have spoken of the +enormous mileage of water-communication of which she is the centre. +The country around her produces Indian corn, wheat, grasses, hemp, +and tobacco. Coal is dug even within the boundaries of the city, and +iron-mines are worked at a distance from it of a hundred miles. The +iron is so pure, that it is broken off in solid blocks, almost free +from alloy; and as the metal stands up on the earth's surface in the +guise almost of a gigantic metal pillar, instead of lying low within +its bowels, it is worked at a cheap rate, and with great certainty. +Nevertheless, at the present moment, the iron-works of Pilot Knob, as +the place is called, do not pay. As far as I could learn, nothing did +pay, except government contracts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD. + + +To whatever period of life my days may be prolonged, I do not think +that I shall ever forget Cairo. I do not mean Grand Cairo, which is +also memorable in its way, and a place not to be forgotten,--but +Cairo in the State of Illinois, which by native Americans is always +called Caaro. An idea is prevalent in the States, and I think I have +heard the same broached in England, that a popular British author had +Cairo, State of Illinois, in his eye when under the name of Eden he +depicted a chosen, happy spot on the Mississippi river, and told us +how certain English emigrants fixed themselves in that locality, and +there made light of those little ills of life which are incident to +humanity even in the garden of the valley of the Mississippi. But I +doubt whether that author ever visited Cairo in mid-winter, and I +am sure that he never visited Cairo when Cairo was the seat of an +American army. Had he done so, his love of truth would have forbidden +him to presume that even Mark Tapley could have enjoyed himself in +such an Eden. + +I had no wish myself to go to Cairo, having heard it but +indifferently spoken of by all men; but my friend with whom I was +travelling was peremptory in the matter. He had heard of gun-boats +and mortar-boats, of forts built upon the river, of Columbiads, +Dahlgrens, and Parrotts, of all the pomps and circumstance of +glorious war, and entertained an idea that Cairo was the nucleus or +pivot of all really strategetic movements in this terrible national +struggle. Under such circumstances I was as it were forced to go to +Cairo, and bore myself, under the circumstances, as much like Mark +Tapley as my nature would permit. I was not jolly while I was there +certainly, but I did not absolutely break down and perish in its mud. + +Cairo is the southern terminus of the Illinois central railway. There +is but one daily arrival there, namely, at half-past four in the +morning, and but one despatch, which is at half-past three in the +morning. Everything is thus done to assist that view of life which +Mark Tapley took when he resolved to ascertain under what possible +worst circumstances of existence he could still maintain his jovial +character. Why anybody should ever arrive at Cairo at half-past four +A.M., I cannot understand. The departure at any hour is easy of +comprehension. The place is situated exactly at the point at which +the Ohio and the Mississippi meet, and is, I should say, merely +guessing on the matter, some ten or twelve feet lower than the +winter level of the two rivers. This gives it naturally a depressed +appearance, which must have much aided Mark Tapley in his endeavours. +Who were the founders of Cairo I have never ascertained. They are +probably buried fathoms deep in the mud, and their names will no +doubt remain a mystery to the latest ages. They were brought thither, +I presume, by the apparent water privileges of the place; but the +water privileges have been too much for them, and by the excess of +their powers have succeeded in drowning all the capital of the early +Cairovians, and in throwing a wet blanket of thick, moist, glutinous +dirt over all their energies. + +The free State of Illinois runs down far south between the slave +States of Kentucky to the east, and of Missouri to the west, and is +the most southern point of the continuous free-soil territory of the +Northern States. This point of it is a part of a district called +Egypt, which is as fertile as the old country from whence it has +borrowed a name; but it suffers under those afflictions which are +common to all newly-settled lands which owe their fertility to the +vicinity of great rivers. Fever and ague universally prevail. Men and +women grow up with their lantern faces like spectres. The children +are prematurely old; and the earth which is so fruitful is hideous in +its fertility. Cairo and its immediate neighbourhood must, I suppose, +have been subject to yearly inundation before it was "settled up." +At present it is guarded on the shores of each river by high mud +banks, built so as to protect the point of land. These are called +the levees, and do perform their duty by keeping out the body of the +waters. The shore between the banks is, I believe, never above breast +deep with the inundation; and from the circumstances of the place, +and the soft, half-liquid nature of the soil, this inundation +generally takes the shape of mud instead of water. + +Here, at the very point, has been built a town. Whether the town +existed during Mr. Tapley's time I have not been able to learn. At +the period of my visit, it was falling quickly into ruin; indeed I +think I may pronounce it to have been on its last legs. At that +moment a galvanic motion had been pumped into it by the war movements +of General Halleck, but the true bearings of the town, as a town, +were not less plainly to be read on that account. Every street was +absolutely impassable from mud. I mean that in walking down the +middle of any street in Cairo a moderately framed man would soon +stick fast and not be able to move. The houses are generally built +at considerable intervals and rarely face each other, and along one +side of each street a plank boarding was laid, on which the mud had +accumulated only up to one's ankles. I walked all over Cairo with +big boots, and with my trousers tucked up to my knees; but at the +crossings I found considerable danger, and occasionally had my doubts +as to the possibility of progress. I was alone in my work, and saw +no one else making any such attempt. A few only were moving about, +and they moved in wretched carts, each drawn by two miserable, +floundering horses. These carts were always empty, but were presumed +to be engaged in some way on military service. No faces looked out +at the windows of the houses, no forms stood in the doorways. A few +shops were open, but only in the drinking shops did I see customers. +In these silent, muddy men were sitting,--not with drink before them, +as men sit with us,--but with the cud within their jaws, ruminating. +Their drinking is always done on foot. They stand silent at a bar, +with two small glasses before them. Out of one they swallow the +whisky, and from the other they take a gulp of water, as though to +rinse their mouths. After that, they again sit down and ruminate. It +was thus that men enjoyed themselves at Cairo. + +I cannot tell what was the existing population of Cairo. I asked one +resident; but he only shook his head and said that the place was +about "played out." And a miserable play it must have been. I tried +to walk round the point on the levees, but I found that the mud +was so deep and slippery on that which protected the town from the +Mississippi, that I could not move on it. On the other, which forms +the bank of the Ohio, the railway runs, and here was gathered all +the life and movement of the place. But the life was galvanic in its +nature, created by a war-galvanism of which the shocks were almost +neutralized by mud. + +As Cairo is of all towns in America the most desolate, so is its +hotel the most forlorn and wretched. Not that it lacked custom. It +was so full that no room was to be had on our first entry from the +railway cars at five A.M., and we were reduced to the necessity of +washing our hands and faces in the public wash-room. When I entered +it the barber and his assistants were asleep there, and four or five +citizens from the railway were busy at the basins. There is a fixed +resolution in these places that you shall be drenched with dirt and +drowned in abominations, which is overpowering to a mind less strong +than Mark Tapley's. The filth is paraded and made to go as far as +possible. The stranger is spared none of the elements of nastiness. +I remember how an old woman once stood over me in my youth, forcing +me to swallow the gritty dregs of her terrible medicine-cup. The +treatment I received in the hotel at Cairo reminded me of that old +woman. In that room I did not dare to brush my teeth lest I should +give offence; and I saw at once that I was regarded with suspicion +when I used my own comb instead of that provided for the public. + +At length we got a room, one room for the two. I had become +so depressed in spirits that I did not dare to object to this +arrangement. My friend could not complain much, even to me, feeling +that these miseries had been produced by his own obstinacy. "It is a +new phase of life," he said. That, at any rate, was true. If nothing +more be necessary for pleasurable excitement than a new phase of +life, I would recommend all who require pleasurable excitement to +go to Cairo. They will certainly find a new phase of life. But do +not let them remain too long, or they may find something beyond a +new phase of life. Within a week of that time my friend was taking +quinine, looking hollow about the eyes, and whispering to me of fever +and ague. To say that there was nothing eatable or drinkable in +that hotel, would be to tell that which will be understood without +telling. My friend, however, was a cautious man, carrying with him +comfortable tin pots, hermetically sealed, from Fortnum & Mason's; +and on the second day of our sojourn we were invited by two officers +to join their dinner at a Cairo eating-house. We ploughed our way +gallantly through the mud to a little shanty, at the door of which we +were peremptorily demanded by the landlord to scrub ourselves before +we entered with the stump of an old broom. This we did, producing on +our nether persons the appearance of bread which has been carefully +spread with treacle by an economic housekeeper. And the proprietor +was right, for had we not done so, the treacle would have run off +through the whole house. But after this we fared royally. Squirrel +soup and prairie chickens regaled us. One of our new friends had +laden his pockets with champagne and brandy; the other with glasses +and a corkscrew; and as the bottle went round, I began to feel +something of the spirit of Mark Tapley in my soul. + +But our visit to Cairo had been made rather with reference to its +present warlike character, than with any eye to the natural beauties +of the place. A large force of men had been collected there, and also +a fleet of gun-boats. We had come there fortified with letters to +generals and commodores, and were prepared to go through a large +amount of military inspection. But the bird had flown before our +arrival; or rather the body and wings of the bird, leaving behind +only a draggled tail and a few of its feathers. There were only a +thousand soldiers at Cairo when we were there;--that is, a thousand +stationed in the Cairo sheds. Two regiments passed through the place +during the time, getting out of one steamer on to another, or passing +from the railway into boats. One of these regiments passed before me +down the slope of the river-bank, and the men as a body seemed to +be healthy. Very many were drunk, and all were mud-clogged up to +their shoulders and very caps. In other respects they appeared to +be in good order. It must be understood that these soldiers, the +volunteers, had never been made subject to any discipline as to +cleanliness. They wore their hair long. Their hats or caps, though +all made in some military form and with some military appendance, +were various and ill-assorted. They all were covered with loose, +thick, blue-gray great-coats, which no doubt were warm and wholesome, +but which from their looseness and colour seemed to be peculiarly +susceptible of receiving and showing a very large amount of mud. +Their boots were always good; but each man was shod as he liked. +Many wore heavy over-boots coming up the leg;--boots of excellent +manufacture, and from their cost, if for no other reason, quite out +of the reach of an English soldier; boots in which a man would be +not at all unfortunate to find himself hunting; but from these, or +from their high-lows, shoes, or whatever they might wear, the mud +had never been even scraped. These men were all warmly clothed, but +clothed apparently with an endeavour to contract as much mud as might +be possible. + +The generals and commodores were gone up the Ohio river and up the +Tennessee in an expedition with gun-boats, which turned out to be +successful, and of which we have all read in the daily history of +this war. They had departed the day before our arrival, and though +we still found at Cairo a squadron of gun-boats,--if gun-boats go in +squadrons,--the bulk of the army had been moved. There was left there +one regiment and one colonel, who kindly described to us the battles +he had fought, and gave us permission to see everything that was to +be seen. Four of these gun-boats were still lying in the Ohio, close +under the terminus of the railway with their flat, ugly noses against +the muddy bank, and we were shown over two of them. They certainly +seemed to be formidable weapons for river warfare, and to have been +"got up quite irrespective of expense." So much, indeed, may be said +for the Americans throughout the war. They cannot be accused of +parsimony. The largest of these vessels, called the "Benton," had +cost L36,000. These boats are made with sides sloping inwards, at an +angle of 45 degrees. The iron is two-and-a-half inches thick, and +it has not, I believe, been calculated that this will resist cannon +shot of great weight, should it be struck in a direct line. But the +angle of the sides of the boat makes it improbable that any such +shot should strike them; and the iron, bedded as it is upon oak, is +supposed to be sufficient to turn a shot that does not hit it in a +direct line. The boats are also roofed in with iron, and the pilots +who steer the vessel stand encased, as it were, under an iron cupola. +I imagine that these boats are well calculated for the river service, +for which they have been built. Six or seven of them had gone up the +Tennessee river the day before we reached Cairo, and while we were +there they succeeded in knocking down Fort Henry, and in carrying +off the soldiers stationed there and the officer in command. One of +the boats, however, had been penetrated by a shot which made its +way into the boiler, and the men on deck, six, I think, in number, +were scalded to death by the escaping steam. The two pilots up in +the cupola were destroyed in this terrible manner. As they were +altogether closed in by the iron roof and sides, there was no escape +for the steam. The boats, however, were well made and very powerfully +armed, and will, probably, succeed in driving the secessionist armies +away from the great river banks. By what machinery the secessionist +armies are to be followed into the interior is altogether another +question. + +But there was also another fleet at Cairo, and we were informed that +we were just in time to see the first essay made at testing the +utility of this armada. It consisted of no less than thirty-eight +mortar-boats, each of which had cost L1700. These mortar-boats were +broad, flat-bottomed rafts, each constructed with a deck raised +three feet above the bottom. They were protected by high iron sides, +supposed to be proof against rifle balls, and when supplied had been +furnished each with a little boat, a rope, and four rough sweeps or +oars. They had no other furniture or belongings, and were to be moved +either by steam tugs or by the use of the long oars which were sent +with them. It was intended that one 13-inch mortar, of enormous +weight, should be put upon each, that these mortars should be fired +with twenty-three pounds of powder, and that the shell thrown should, +at a distance of three miles, fall with absolute precision into any +devoted town which the rebels might hold on the river banks. The +grandeur of the idea is almost sublime. So large an amount of powder +had, I imagine, never then been used for the single charge in any +instrument of war; and when we were told that thirty-eight of them +were to play at once on a city, and that they could be used with +absolute precision, it seemed as though the fate of Sodom and +Gomorrah could not be worse than the fate of that city. Could any +city be safe when such implements of war were about upon the waters? + +But when we came to inspect the mortar-boats, our misgivings as +to any future destination for this fleet were relieved, and our +admiration was given to the smartness of the contractor who had +secured to himself the job of building them. In the first place they +had all leaked till the spaces between the bottoms and the decks were +filled with water. This space had been intended for ammunition, but +now seemed hardly to be fitted for that purpose. The officer who was +about to test them by putting a mortar into one and by firing it off +with twenty-three pounds of powder, had the water pumped out of a +selected raft, and we were towed by a steam-tug from their moorings a +mile up the river, down to the spot where the mortar lay ready to be +lifted in by a derrick. But as we turned on the river, the tug-boat +which had brought us down, was unable to hold us up against the force +of the stream. A second tug-boat was at hand, and with one on each +side we were just able, in half-an-hour, to recover the 100 yards +which we had lost down the river. The pressure against the stream +was so great, owing partly to the weight of the raft, and partly to +the fact that its flat head buried itself in the water, that it was +almost immoveable against the stream, although the mortar was not yet +on it. + +It soon became manifest that no trial could be made on that day, +and so we were obliged to leave Cairo without having witnessed the +firing of the great gun. My belief is that very little evil to the +enemy will result from those mortar-boats, and that they cannot be +used with much effect. Since that time they have been used on the +Mississippi, but as yet we do not know with what result. Island +No. 10 has been taken, but I do not know that the mortar-boats +contributed much to that success. The enormous cost of moving them +against the stream of the river is in itself a barrier to their use. +When we saw them--and then they were quite new--many of the rivets +were already gone. The small boats had been stolen from some of them, +and the ropes and oars from others. There they lay, thirty-eight in +number, up against the mud-banks of the Ohio, under the boughs of the +half-clad, melancholy forest trees, as sad a spectacle of reckless +prodigality as the eye ever beheld. But the contractor who made them +no doubt was a smart man. + +This armada was moored on the Ohio against the low, reedy bank, a +mile above the levee, where the old unchanged forest of nature came +down to the very edge of the river, and mixed itself with the shallow +overflowing waters. I am wrong in saying that it lay under the boughs +of the trees, for such trees do not spread themselves out with broad +branches. They stand thickly together, broken, stunted, spongy +with rot, straight and ugly, with ragged tops and shattered arms, +seemingly decayed, but still ever renewing themselves with the +rapid moist life of luxuriant forest vegetation. Nothing to my eyes +is sadder than the monotonous desolation of such scenery. We, in +England, when we read and speak of the primeval forests of America, +are apt to form pictures in our minds of woodland glades, with +spreading oaks and green mossy turf beneath,--of scenes than which +nothing that God has given us is more charming. But these forests +are not after that fashion; they offer no allurement to the lover, +no solace to the melancholy man of thought. The ground is deep with +mud, or overflown with water. The soil and the river have no defined +margins. Each tree, though full of the forms of life, has all the +appearance of death. Even to the outward eye they seem to be laden +with ague, fever, sudden chills, and pestilential malaria. + +When we first visited the spot we were alone, and we walked across +from the railway line to the place at which the boats were moored. +They lay in treble rank along the shore, and immediately above them +an old steam-boat was fastened against the bank. Her back was broken, +and she was given up to ruin,--placed there that she might rot +quietly into her watery grave. It was mid-winter, and every tree +was covered with frozen sleet and small particles of snow which had +drizzled through the air; for the snow had not fallen in hearty, +honest flakes. The ground beneath our feet was crisp with frost, but +traitorous in its crispness; not frozen manfully so as to bear a +man's weight, but ready at every point to let him through into the +fat, glutinous mud below. I never saw a sadder picture, or one which +did more to awaken pity for those whose fate had fixed their abodes +in such a locality. And yet there was a beauty about it too,--a +melancholy, death-like beauty. The disordered ruin and confused decay +of the forest was all gemmed with particles of ice. The eye reaching +through the thin underwood could form for itself picturesque shapes +and solitary bowers of broken wood, which were bright with the opaque +brightness of the hoar-frost. The great river ran noiselessly along, +rapid, but still with an apparent lethargy in its waters. The ground +beneath our feet was fertile beyond compare, but as yet fertile to +death rather than to life. Where we then trod man had not yet come +with his axe and his plough; but the railroad was close to us, and +within a mile of the spot thousands of dollars had been spent in +raising a city which was to have been rich with the united wealth of +the rivers and the land. Hitherto fever and ague, mud and malaria, +had been too strong for man, and the dollars had been spent in vain. +The day, however, will come when this promontory between the two +great rivers will be a fit abode for industry. Men will settle there, +wandering down from the North and East, and toil sadly, and leave +their bones among the mud. Thin, pale-faced, joyless mothers will +come there, and grow old before their time; and sickly children will +be born, struggling up with wan faces to their sad life's labour. +But the work will go on, for it is God's work; and the earth will be +prepared for the people, and the fat rottenness of the still living +forest will be made to give forth its riches. + +We found that two days at Cairo were quite enough for us. We had +seen the gun-boats and the mortar-boats, and gone through the sheds +of the soldiers. The latter were bad, comfortless, damp, and cold; +and certain quarters of the officers, into which we were hospitably +taken, were wretched abodes enough; but the sheds of Cairo did not +stink like those of Benton barracks at St. Louis, nor had illness +been prevalent there to the same degree. I do not know why this +should have been so, but such was the result of my observation. The +locality of Benton barracks must, from its nature, have been the more +healthy, but it had become by art the foulest place I ever visited. +Throughout the army it seemed to be the fact, that the men under +canvas were more comfortable, in better spirits, and also in better +health than those who were lodged in sheds. We had inspected the +Cairo army and the Cairo navy, and had also seen all that Cairo had +to show us of its own. We were thoroughly disgusted with the hotel, +and retired on the second night to bed, giving positive orders that +we might be called at half-past two, with reference to that terrible +start to be made at half-past three. As a matter of course we kept +dozing and waking till past one, in our fear lest neglect on the part +of the watcher should entail on us another day at this place; of +course we went fast asleep about the time at which we should have +roused ourselves; and of course we were called just fifteen minutes +before the train started. Everybody knows how these things always go. +And then the pair of us, jumping out of bed in that wretched chamber, +went through the mockery of washing and packing which always takes +place on such occasions;--a mockery indeed of washing, for there was +but one basin between us! And a mockery also of packing, for I left +my hair-brushes behind me! Cairo was avenged in that I had declined +to avail myself of the privileges of free citizenship which had been +offered to me in that barber's shop. And then, while we were in our +agony, pulling at the straps of our portmanteaux and swearing at the +faithlessness of the boots, up came the clerk of the hotel--the great +man from behind the bar--and scolded us prodigiously for our delay. +"Called! We had been called an hour ago!" Which statement, however, +was decidedly untrue, as we remarked, not with extreme patience. "We +should certainly be late," he said; "it would take us five minutes to +reach the train, and the cars would be off in four." Nobody who has +not experienced them can understand the agonies of such moments,--of +such moments as regards travelling in general; but none who have not +been at Cairo can understand the extreme agony produced by the threat +of a prolonged sojourn in that city. At last we were out of the +house, rushing through the mud, slush, and half-melted snow, along +the wooden track to the railway, laden with bags and coats, and +deafened by that melancholy, wailing sound, as though of a huge polar +she-bear in the pangs of travail upon an iceberg, which proceeds +from an American railway-engine before it commences its work. How +we slipped and stumbled, and splashed and swore, rushing along in +the dark night, with buttons loose, and our clothes half on! And how +pitilessly we were treated! We gained our cars, and even succeeded in +bringing with us our luggage; but we did not do so with the sympathy, +but amidst the derision of the bystanders. And then the seats were +all full, and we found that there was a lower depth even in the +terrible deep of a railway train in a western State. There was a +second-class carriage, prepared, I presume, for those who esteemed +themselves too dirty for association with the aristocracy of Cairo; +and into this we flung ourselves. Even this was a joy to us, for we +were being carried away from Eden. We had acknowledged ourselves to +be no fitting colleagues for Mark Tapley, and would have been glad +to escape from Cairo even had we worked our way out of the place +as assistant-stokers to the engine-driver. Poor Cairo! unfortunate +Cairo! "It is about played out!" said its citizen to me. But in truth +the play was commenced a little too soon. Those players have played +out; but another set will yet have their innings, and make a score +that shall perhaps be talked of far and wide in the western world. + +We were still bent upon army inspection, and with this purpose went +back from Cairo to Louisville in Kentucky. I had passed through +Louisville before, as told in my last chapter, but had not gone south +from Louisville towards the Green River, and had seen nothing of +General Buell's soldiers. I should have mentioned before that when we +were at St. Louis, we asked General Halleck, the officer in command +of the northern army of Missouri, whether he could allow us to pass +through his lines to the South. This he assured us he was forbidden +to do, at the same time offering us every facility in his power for +such an expedition if we could obtain the consent of Mr. Seward, +who at that time had apparently succeeded in engrossing into his +own hands, for the moment, supreme authority in all matters of +Government. Before leaving Washington we had determined not to ask +Mr. Seward, having but little hope of obtaining his permission, and +being unwilling to encounter his refusal. Before going to General +Halleck we had considered the question of visiting the land of Dixie +without permission from any of the men in authority. I ascertained +that this might easily have been done from Kentucky to Tennessee, +but that it could only be done on foot. There are very few available +roads running North and South through these States. The railways came +before roads; and even where the railways are far asunder, almost +all the traffic of the country takes itself to them, preferring a +long circuitous conveyance with steam, to short distances without. +Consequently such roads as there are run laterally to the railways, +meeting them at this point or that, and thus maintaining the +communication of the country. Now the railways were of course in the +hands of the armies. The few direct roads leading from North to South +were in the same condition, and the bye-roads were impassable from +mud. The frontier of the North therefore, though very extended, +was not very easily to be passed, unless, as I have said before, +by men on foot. For myself I confess that I was anxious to go +South; but not to do so without my coats and trousers, or shirts +and pocket-handkerchiefs. The readiest way of getting across the +line,--and the way which was I believe the most frequently used,--was +from below Baltimore in Maryland by boat across the Potomac. But in +this there was a considerable danger of being taken, and I had no +desire to become a state-prisoner in the hands of Mr. Seward under +circumstances which would have justified our Minister in asking for +my release only as a matter of favour. Therefore when at St. Louis, +I gave up all hopes of seeing "Dixie" during my present stay in +America. I presume it to be generally known that Dixie is the negro's +heaven, and that the southern slave States, in which it is presumed +that they have found a Paradise, have since the beginning of the war +been so named. + +We remained a few days at Louisville, and were greatly struck with +the natural beauty of the country around it. Indeed, as far as I was +enabled to see, Kentucky has superior attractions as a place of rural +residence for an English gentleman, to any other State in the Union. +There is nothing of landscape there equal to the banks of the upper +Mississippi, or to some parts of the Hudson river. It has none of +the wild grandeur of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, nor does +it break itself into valleys equal to those of the Alleghanies in +Pennsylvania. But all those are beauties for the tourist rather +than for the resident. In Kentucky the land lies in knolls and soft +sloping hills. The trees stand apart, forming forest openings. The +herbage is rich, and the soil, though not fertile like the prairies +of Illinois, or the river bottoms of the Mississippi and its +tributaries, is good, steadfast, wholesome farming ground. It is a +fine country for a resident gentleman farmer, and in its outward +aspect reminds me more of England in its rural aspects, than any +other State which I visited. Round Louisville there are beautiful +sites for houses, of which advantage in some instances has been +taken. But, nevertheless, Louisville though a well-built, handsome +city, is not now a thriving city. I liked it because the hotel was +above par, and because the country round it was good for walking; +but it has not advanced as Cincinnati and St. Louis have advanced. +And yet its position on the Ohio is favourable, and it is well +circumstanced as regards the wants of its own State. But it is not +a free-soil city. Nor indeed is St. Louis; but St. Louis is tending +that way, and has but little to do with the "domestic institution." +At the hotels in Cincinnati and St. Louis you are served by white +men, and are very badly served. At Louisville the ministration is by +black men, "bound to labour." The difference in the comfort is very +great. The white servants are noisy, dirty, forgetful, indifferent, +and sometimes impudent. The negroes are the very reverse of all this; +you cannot hurry them; but in all other respects,--and perhaps even +in that respect also,--they are good servants. This is the work for +which they seem to have been intended. But nevertheless where they +are, life and energy seem to languish, and prosperity cannot make any +true advance. They are symbols of the luxury of the white men who +employ them, and as such are signs of decay and emblems of decreasing +power. They are good labourers themselves, but their very presence +makes labour dishonourable. That Kentucky will speedily rid herself +of the institution I believe firmly. When she has so done, the +commercial city of that State may perhaps go a-head again like her +sisters. + +At this very time the Federal army was commencing that series of +active movements in Kentucky and through Tennessee which led to such +important results, and gave to the North the first solid victories +which they had gained since the contest began. On the 19th of January +one wing of General Buell's army, under General Thomas, had defeated +the secessionists near Somerset, in the south-eastern district of +Kentucky, under General Zollicoffer, who was there killed. But in +that action the attack was made by Zollicoffer and the secessionists. +When we were at Louisville we heard of the success of that gun-boat +expedition up the Tennessee river by which Fort Henry was taken. Fort +Henry had been built by the Confederates on the Tennessee,--exactly +on the confines of the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. They had +also another fort, Fort Donnelson, on the Cumberland river, which at +that point runs parallel to the Tennessee, and is there distant +from it but a very few miles. Both these rivers run into the Ohio. +Nashville, which is the capital of Tennessee, is higher up on the +Cumberland; and it was now intended to send the gun-boats down the +Tennessee back into the Ohio, and thence up the Cumberland, there to +attack Fort Donnelson, and afterwards to assist General Buell's army +in making its way down to Nashville. The gun-boats were attached to +General Halleck's army, and received their directions from St. Louis. +General Buell's head-quarters were at Louisville, and his advanced +position was on the Green River, on the line of the railway from +Louisville to Nashville. The secessionists had destroyed the railway +bridge over the Green River, and were now lying at Bowling Green, +between the Green River and Nashville. This place it was understood +that they had fortified. + +Matters were in this position when we got a military pass to go down +by the railway to the army on the Green River,--for the railway was +open to no one without a military pass;--and we started, trusting +that Providence would supply us with rations and quarters. An officer +attached to General Buell's staff, with whom however our acquaintance +was of the very slightest, had telegraphed down to say that we were +coming. I cannot say that I expected much from the message, seeing +that it simply amounted to a very thin introduction to a general +officer to whom we were strangers even by name, from a gentleman to +whom we had brought a note from another gentleman whose acquaintance +we had chanced to pick up on the road. We manifestly had no right to +expect much; but to us, expecting very little, very much was given. +General Johnson was the officer to whose care we were confided, he +being a brigadier under General M'Cook, who commanded the advance. +We were met by an aide-de-camp and saddle-horses, and soon found +ourselves in the General's tent, or rather in a shanty formed of +solid upright wooden logs, driven into the ground with the bark still +on, and having the interstices filled in with clay. This was roofed +with canvas, and altogether made a very eligible military residence. +The General slept in a big box about nine feet long and four broad +which occupied one end of the shanty, and he seemed in all his +fixings to be as comfortably put up as any gentleman might be when +out on such a picnic as this. We arrived in time for dinner, which +was brought in, table and all, by two negroes. The party was made up +by a doctor, who carved, and two of the staff, and a very nice dinner +we had. In half-an-hour we were intimate with the whole party, and +as familiar with the things around us as though we had been living +in tents all our lives. Indeed I had by this time been so often in +the tents of the northern army, that I almost felt entitled to make +myself at home. It has seemed to me that an Englishman has always +been made welcome in these camps. There has been and is at this +moment a terribly bitter feeling among Americans against England, and +I have heard this expressed quite as loudly by men in the army as by +civilians; but I think I may say that this has never been brought to +bear upon individual intercourse. Certainly we have said some very +sharp things of them,--words which, whether true or false, whether +deserved or undeserved, must have been offensive to them. I have +known this feeling of offence to amount almost to an agony of anger. +But nevertheless I have never seen any falling off in the hospitality +and courtesy generally shown by a civilized people to passing +visitors. I have argued the matter of England's course throughout +the war, till I have been hoarse with asseverating the rectitude of +her conduct and her national unselfishness. I have met very strong +opponents on the subject, and have been coerced into loud strains of +voice; but I never yet met one American who was personally uncivil +to me as an Englishman, or who seemed to be made personally angry by +my remarks. I found no coldness in that hospitality to which as a +stranger I was entitled, because of the national ill-feeling which +circumstances have engendered. And while on this subject I will +remark, that when travelling I have found it expedient to let +those with whom I might chance to talk know at once that I was an +Englishman. In fault of such knowledge things would be said which +could not but be disagreeable to me; but not even from any rough +western enthusiast in a railway carriage have I ever heard a word +spoken insolently to England, after I had made my nationality known. +I have learned that Wellington was beaten at Waterloo; that Lord +Palmerston was so unpopular that he could not walk alone in the +streets; that the House of Commons was an acknowledged failure; that +starvation was the normal condition of the British people, and that +the Queen was a bloodthirsty tyrant. But these assertions were not +made with the intention that they should be heard by an Englishman. +To us as a nation they are at the present moment unjust almost beyond +belief; but I do not think that the feeling has ever taken the guise +of personal discourtesy. + +We spent two days in the camp close upon the Green River, and I do +not know that I enjoyed any days of my trip more thoroughly than I +did these. In truth for the last month, since I had left Washington, +my life had not been one of enjoyment. I had been rolling in mud +and had been damp with filth. Camp Wood, as they called this +military settlement on the Green River, was also muddy; but we were +excellently well-mounted; the weather was very cold, but peculiarly +fine, and the soldiers around us, as far as we could judge, seemed to +be better off in all respects than those we had visited at St. Louis, +at Rolla, or at Cairo. They were all in tents, and seemed to be +light-spirited and happy. Their rations were excellent,--but so much +may, I think, be said of the whole northern army from Alexandria on +the Potomac to Springfield in the west of Missouri. There was very +little illness at that time in the camp in Kentucky, and the reports +made to us led us to think that on the whole this had been the most +healthy division of the army. The men, moreover, were less muddy than +their brethren either east or west of them,--at any rate this may be +said of them as regards the infantry. + +But perhaps the greatest charm of the place to me was the beauty of +the scenery. The Green River at this spot is as picturesque a stream +as I ever remember to have seen in such a country. It lies low down +between high banks, and curves hither and thither, never keeping a +straight line. Its banks are wooded; but not, as is so common in +America, by continuous, stunted, uninteresting forest, but by large +single trees standing on small patches of meadow by the water-side, +with the high banks rising over them, with glades through them open +for the horseman. The rides here in summer must be very lovely. Even +in winter they were so, and made me in love with the place in spite +of that brown, dull, barren aspect which the presence of an army +always creates. I have said that the railway bridge which crossed +the Green River at this spot had been destroyed by the secessionists. +This had been done effectually as regarded the passage of trains, but +only in part as regarded the absolute fabric of the bridge. It had +been, and still was when I saw it, a beautifully light construction, +made of iron and supported over a valley, rather than over a river, +on tall stone piers. One of these piers had been blown up; but when +we were there, the bridge had been repaired with beams and wooden +shafts. This had just been completed, and an engine had passed over +it. I must confess that it looked to me most perilously insecure; but +the eye uneducated in such mysteries is a bad judge of engineering +work. I passed with a horse backwards and forwards on it, and it did +not tumble down then; but I confess that on the first attempt I was +glad enough to lead the horse by the bridle. + +That bridge was certainly a beautiful fabric, and built in a most +lovely spot. Immediately under it there was also a pontoon bridge. +The tents of General M'Cook's division were immediately at the +northern end of it, and the whole place was alive with soldiers, +nailing down planks, pulling up temporary rails at each side, +carrying over straw for the horses, and preparing for the general +advance of the troops. It was a glorious day. There had been heavy +frost at night; but the air was dry, and the sun though cold was +bright. I do not know when I saw a prettier picture. It would perhaps +have been nothing without the loveliness of the river scenery; but +the winding of the stream at the spot, the sharp wooded hills on each +side, the forest openings, and the busy, eager, strange life together +filled the place with no common interest. The officers of the army at +the spot spoke with bitterest condemnation of the vandalism of their +enemy in destroying the bridge. The justice of the indignation, I +ventured very strongly to question. "Surely you would have destroyed +their bridge?" I said. "But they are rebels," was the answer. It has +been so throughout the contest; and the same argument has been held +by soldiers and by non-soldiers,--by women and by men. "Grant that +they are rebels," I have answered. "But when rebels fight they cannot +be expected to be more scrupulous in their mode of doing so than +their enemies who are not rebels." The whole population of the North +has from the beginning of this war considered themselves entitled to +all the privileges of belligerents; but have called their enemies +Goths and Vandals for even claiming those privileges for themselves. +The same feeling was at the bottom of their animosity against +England. Because the South was in rebellion, England should +have consented to allow the North to assume all the rights of +a belligerent, and should have denied all those rights to the +South! Nobody has seemed to understand that any privilege which a +belligerent can claim must depend on the very fact of his being in +encounter with some other party having the same privilege. Our press +has animadverted very strongly on the States government for the +apparent untruthfulness of their arguments on this matter; but I +profess that I believe that Mr. Seward and his colleagues,--and +not they only but the whole nation,--have so thoroughly deceived +themselves on this subject, have so talked and speechified themselves +into a misunderstanding of the matter, that they have taught +themselves to think that the men of the South could be entitled to +no consideration from any quarter. To have rebelled against the +stars and stripes seems to a northern man to be a crime putting the +criminal altogether out of all courts,--a crime which should have +armed the hands of all men against him, as the hands of all men +are armed at a dog that is mad, or a tiger that has escaped from +its keeper. It is singular that such a people, a people that has +founded itself on rebellion, should have such a horror of rebellion; +but, as far as my observation may have enabled me to read their +feelings rightly, I do believe that it has been as sincere as it is +irrational. + +We were out riding early on the morning of the second day of our +sojourn in the camp, and met the division of General Mitchell, a +detachment of General Buell's army, which had been in camp between +the Green River and Louisville, going forward to the bridge which was +then being prepared for their passage. This division consisted of +about 12,000 men, and the road was crowded throughout the whole day +with them and their waggons. We first passed a regiment of cavalry, +which appeared to be endless. Their cavalry regiments are, in +general, more numerous than those of the infantry, and on this +occasion we saw, I believe, about 1200 men pass by us. Their horses +were strong and serviceable, and the men were stout and in good +health; but the general appearance of everything about them was +rough and dirty. The American cavalry have always looked to me like +brigands. A party of them would, I think, make a better picture than +an equal number of our dragoons; but if they are to be regarded in +any other view than that of the picturesque, it does not seem to me +that they have been got up successfully. On this occasion they were +forming themselves into a picture for my behoof, and as the picture +was, as a picture, very good, I at least have no reason to complain. + +We were taken to see one German regiment, a regiment of which all +the privates were German and all the officers save one,--I think the +surgeon. We saw the men in their tents, and the food which they eat, +and were disposed to think that hitherto things were going well with +them. In the evening the colonel and lieutenant-colonel, both of whom +had been in the Prussian service, if I remember rightly, came up to +the general's quarters, and we spent the evening together in smoking +cigars and discussing slavery round the stove. I shall never forget +that night, or the vehement abolition enthusiasm of the two German +colonels. Our host had told us that he was a slave-owner; and as our +wants were supplied by two sable ministers, I concluded that he had +brought with him a portion of his domestic institution. Under such +circumstances I myself should have avoided such a subject, having +been taught to believe that southern gentlemen did not generally take +delight in open discussions on the subject. But had we been arguing +the question of the population of the planet Jupiter, or the final +possibility of the transmutation of metals, the matter could not have +been handled with less personal feeling. The Germans, however, spoke +the sentiments of all the Germans of the western States,--that is, +of all the Protestant Germans, and to them is confined the political +influence held by the German immigrants. They all regard slavery +as an evil, holding on the matter opinions quite as strong as ours +have ever been. And they argue that as slavery is an evil, it should +therefore be abolished at once. Their opinions are as strong as ours +have ever been, and they have not had our West Indian experience. +Any one desiring to understand the present political position of the +States should realize the fact of the present German influence on +political questions. Many say that the present President was returned +by German voters. In one sense this is true, for he certainly could +not have been returned without them; but for them, or for their +assistance, Mr. Breckinridge would have been President, and this +civil war would not have come to pass. As abolitionists they are much +more powerful than the republicans of New England, and also more in +earnest. In New England the matter is discussed politically; in the +great western towns, where the Germans congregate by thousands, they +profess to view it philosophically. A man, as a man, is entitled to +freedom. That is their argument, and it is a very old one. When you +ask them what they would propose to do with 4,000,000 of enfranchised +slaves and with their ruined masters,--how they would manage the +affairs of those 12,000,000 of people, all whose wealth and work and +very life have hitherto been hinged and hung upon slavery, they again +ask you whether slavery is not in itself bad, and whether anything +acknowledged to be bad should be allowed to remain. + +But the American Germans are in earnest, and I am strongly of opinion +that they will so far have their way, that the country which for +the future will be their country, will exist without the taint of +slavery. In the northern nationality, which will reform itself after +this war is over, there will, I think, be no slave State. That final +battle of abolition will have to be fought among a people apart; and +I must fear that while it lasts their national prosperity will not be +great. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ARMY OF THE NORTH. + + +I trust that it may not be thought that in this chapter I am going +to take upon myself the duties of a military critic. I am well aware +that I have no capacity for such a task, and that my opinion on such +matters would be worth nothing. But it is impossible to write of the +American States as they were when I visited them, and to leave that +subject of the American army untouched. It was all but impossible to +remain for some months in the northern States without visiting the +army. It was impossible to join in any conversation in the States +without talking about the army. It was impossible to make inquiry +as to the present and future condition of the people without basing +such inquiries more or less upon the doings of the army. If a +stranger visit Manchester with the object of seeing what sort of +place Manchester is, he must visit the cotton mills and printing +establishments, though he may have no taste for cotton and no +knowledge on the subject of calicoes. Under pressure of this kind +I have gone about from one army to another, looking at the drilling +of regiments, of the manoeuvres of cavalry, at the practice of +artillery, and at the inner life of the camps. I do not feel that I +am in any degree more fitted to take the command of a campaign than I +was before I began, or even more fitted to say who can and who cannot +do so. But I have obtained on my own mind's eye a tolerably clear +impression of the outward appearance of the northern army; I have +endeavoured to learn something of the manner in which it was brought +together, and of its cost as it now stands; and I have learned--as +any man in the States may learn, without much trouble or personal +investigation--how terrible has been the peculation of the +contractors and officers by whom that army has been supplied. Of +these things, writing of the States at this moment, I must say +something. In what I shall say as to that matter of peculation +I trust that I may be believed to have spoken without personal +ill-feeling or individual malice. + +While I was travelling in the States of New England and in the +North-west, I came across various camps at which young regiments were +being drilled and new regiments were being formed. These lay in our +way as we made our journeys, and therefore we visited them; but they +were not objects of any very great interest. The men had not acquired +even any pretence of soldierlike bearing. The officers for the most +part had only just been selected, having hardly as yet left their +civil occupations, and anything like criticism was disarmed by the +very nature of the movement which had called the men together. I then +thought, as I still think, that the men themselves were actuated +by proper motives, and often by very high motives, in joining the +regiments. No doubt they looked to the pay offered. It is not often +that men are able to devote themselves to patriotism without any +reference to their personal circumstances. A man has got before him +the necessity of earning his bread, and very frequently the necessity +of earning the bread of others besides himself. This comes before him +not only as his first duty, but as the very law of his existence. +His wages are his life, and when he proposes to himself to serve his +country that subject of payment comes uppermost as it does when he +proposes to serve any other master. But the wages given, though very +high in comparison with those of any other army, have not been of +a nature to draw together from their distant homes at so short a +notice, so vast a cloud of men, had no other influence been at work. +As far as I can learn, the average rate of wages in the country since +the war began has been about 65 cents a day over and beyond the +workmen's diet. I feel convinced that I am putting this somewhat too +low, taking the average of all the markets from which the labour has +been withdrawn. In large cities labour has been higher than this, +and a considerable proportion of the army has been taken from large +cities. But taking 65 cents a day as the average, labour has been +worth about 17 dollars a month over and above the labourers' diet. In +the army the soldier receives 13 dollars a month, and also receives +his diet and clothes; in addition to this, in many States, 6 dollars +a month have been paid by the State to the wives and families of +those soldiers who have left wives and families in the States behind +them. Thus for the married men the wages given by the army have been +2 dollars a month, or less than L5 a year, more than his earnings at +home, and for the unmarried man they have been 4 dollars a month, or +less than L10 a year below his earnings at home. But the army also +gives clothing to the extent of 3 dollars a month. This would place +the unmarried soldier, in a pecuniary point of view, worse off by one +dollar a month, or L2 10_s._ a year, than he would have been at home; +and would give the married man 5 dollars a month, or L12 a year more +than his ordinary wages for absenting himself from his family. I +cannot think therefore that the pecuniary attractions have been very +great. + +Our soldiers in England enlist at wages which are about one half that +paid in the ordinary labour market to the class from whence they +come. But labour in England is uncertain, whereas in the States it is +certain. In England the soldier with his shilling gets better food +than the labourer with his two shillings; and the Englishman has no +objection to the rigidity of that discipline which is so distasteful +to an American. Moreover, who in England ever dreamed of raising +600,000 new troops in six months, out of a population of thirty +million? But this has been done in the northern States out of a +population of eighteen million. If England were invaded, Englishmen +would come forward in the same way, actuated, as I believe, by the +same high motives. My object here is simply to show that the American +soldiers have not been drawn together by the prospect of high wages, +as has been often said since the war began. + +They who inquire closely into the matter will find that hundreds and +thousands have joined the army as privates, who in doing so have +abandoned all their best worldly prospects, and have consented to +begin the game of life again, believing that their duty to their +country has now required their services. The fact has been that +in the different States a spirit of rivalry has been excited. +Indiana has endeavoured to show that she was as forward as +Illinois; Pennsylvania has been unwilling to lag behind New York; +Massachusetts, who has always struggled to be foremost in peace, has +desired to boast that she was first in war also; the smaller States +have resolved to make their names heard, and those which at first +were backward in sending troops have been shamed into greater +earnestness by the public voice. There has been a general feeling +throughout the people that the thing should be done;--that the +rebellion must be put down, and that it must be put down by arms. +Young men have been ashamed to remain behind; and their elders, +acting under that glow of patriotism which so often warms the hearts +of free men, but which perhaps does not often remain there long in +all its heat, have left their wives and have gone also. It may be +true that the voice of the majority has been coercive on many;--that +men have enlisted partly because the public voice required it of +them, and not entirely through the promptings of individual spirit. +Such public voice in America is very potent; but it is not, I think, +true that the army has been gathered together by the hope of high +wages. + +Such was my opinion of the men when I saw them from State to State +clustering into their new regiments. They did not look like soldiers; +but I regarded them as men earnestly intent on a work which they +believed to be right. Afterwards when I saw them in their camps, +amidst all the pomps and circumstances of glorious war, positively +converted into troops, armed with real rifles and doing actual +military service, I believed the same of them,--but cannot say that +I then liked them so well. Good motives had brought them there. They +were the same men, or men of the same class that I had seen before. +They were doing just that which I knew they would have to do. But +still I found that the more I saw of them the more I lost of that +respect for them which I had once felt. I think it was their dirt +that chiefly operated upon me. Then, too, they had hitherto done +nothing, and they seemed to be so terribly intent upon their rations! +The great boast of this army was that they eat meat twice a day, and +that their daily supply of bread was more than they could consume. + +When I had been two or three weeks in Washington, I went over to the +army of the Potomac and spent a few days with some of the officers. +I had on previous occasions ridden about the camps, and had seen +a review at which General Maclellan trotted up and down the lines +with all his numerous staff at his heels. I have always believed +reviews to be absurdly useless as regards the purpose for which +they are avowedly got up,--that, namely, of military inspection. +And I believed this especially of this review. I do not believe +that any Commander-in-chief ever learns much as to the excellence +or deficiencies of his troops by watching their manoeuvres on a +vast open space; but I felt sure that General Maclellan had learned +nothing on this occasion. If before his review he did not know +whether his men were good as soldiers, he did not possess any such +knowledge after the review. If the matter may be regarded as a review +of the general;--if the object was to show him off to the men, that +they might know how well he rode, and how grand he looked with his +staff of forty or fifty officers at his heels, then this review must +be considered as satisfactory. General Maclellan does ride very well. +So much I learned, and no more. + +It was necessary to have a pass for crossing the Potomac either +from one side or from the other, and such a pass I procured from a +friend in the War-office, good for the whole period of my sojourn in +Washington. The wording of the pass was more than ordinarily long, +as it recommended me to the special courtesy of all whom I might +encounter; but in this respect it was injurious to me rather than +otherwise, as every picket by whom I was stopped found it necessary +to read it to the end. The paper was almost invariably returned to +me without a word; but the musket which was not unfrequently kept +extended across my horse's nose by the reader's comrade would be +withdrawn, and then I would ride on to the next barrier. It seemed +to me that these passes were so numerous and were signed by so many +officers, that there could have been no risk in forging them. The +army of the Potomac into which they admitted the bearer lay in +quarters which were extended over a length of twenty miles up and +down on the Virginian side of the river, and the river could be +traversed at five different places. Crowds of men and women were +going over daily, and no doubt all the visitors who so went with +innocent purposes were provided with proper passports; but any whose +purposes were not innocent, and who were not so provided, could +have passed the pickets with counterfeited orders. This, I have +little doubt, was done daily. Washington was full of secessionists, +and every movement of the Federal army was communicated to the +Confederates at Richmond, at which city was now established the +Congress and head-quarters of the Confederacy. But no such tidings of +the Confederate army reached those in command at Washington. There +were many circumstances in the contest which led to this result, and +I do not think that General Maclellan had any power to prevent it. +His system of passes certainly did not do so. + +I never could learn from any one what was the true number of this +army on the Potomac. I have been informed by those who professed +to know that it contained over 200,000 men, and by others who also +professed to know, that it did not contain 100,000. To me the +soldiers seemed to be innumerable, hanging like locusts over the +whole country,--a swarm desolating everything around them. Those +pomps and circumstances are not glorious in my eyes. They affect me +with a melancholy which I cannot avoid. Soldiers gathered together in +a camp are uncouth and ugly when they are idle; and when they are at +work their work is worse than idleness. When I have seen a thousand +men together, moving their feet hither at one sound and thither at +another, throwing their muskets about awkwardly, prodding at the air +with their bayonets, trotting twenty paces here and backing ten paces +there, wheeling round in uneven lines, and looking, as they did so, +miserably conscious of the absurdity of their own performances, I +have always been inclined to think how little the world can have +advanced in civilization, while grown-up men are still forced to +spend their days in such grotesque performances. Those to whom the +"pomps and circumstances" are dear--nay, those by whom they are +considered simply necessary--will be able to confute me by a thousand +arguments. I readily own myself confuted. There must be soldiers, and +soldiers must be taught. But not the less pitiful is it to see men +of thirty undergoing the goose-step, and tortured by orders as to +the proper mode of handling a long instrument which is half-gun and +half-spear. In the days of Hector and Ajax, the thing was done in a +more picturesque manner, and the songs of battle should, I think, be +confined to those ages. + +The ground occupied by the divisions on the further or south-western +side of the Potomac was, as I have said, about twenty miles in length +and perhaps seven in breadth. Through the whole of this district the +soldiers were everywhere. The tents of the various brigades were +clustered together in streets, the regiments being divided; and the +divisions, combining the brigades, lay apart at some distance from +each other. But everywhere, at all points, there were some signs of +military life. The roads were continually thronged with waggons, and +tracks were opened for horses wherever a shorter way might thus be +made available. On every side the trees were falling, or had fallen. +In some places whole woods had been felled with the express purpose +of rendering the ground impracticable for troops, and firs and pines +lay one over the other, still covered with their dark rough foliage, +as though a mighty forest had grown there along the ground, without +any power to raise itself towards the heavens. In other places the +trees had been chopped off from their trunks about a yard from the +ground, so that the soldier who cut it should have no trouble in +stooping, and the tops had been dragged away for firewood, or for +the erection of screens against the wind. Here and there in solitary +places there were outlying tents, looking as though each belonged to +some military recluse; and in the neighbourhood of every division was +to be found a photographing-establishment upon wheels, in order that +the men might send home to their sweethearts pictures of themselves +in their martial costumes. + +I wandered about through these camps both on foot and on horseback +day after day, and every now and then I would come upon a farm-house +that was still occupied by its old inhabitants. Many of such houses +had been deserted, and were now held by the senior officers of the +army; but some of the old families remained, living in the midst of +this scene of war in a condition most forlorn. As for any tillage +of their land, that under such circumstances might be pronounced as +hopeless. Nor could there exist encouragement for farm-work of any +kind. Fences had been taken down and burned; the ground had been +overrun in every direction. The stock had of course disappeared; it +had not been stolen, but had been sold in a hurry for what under such +circumstances it might fetch. What farmer could work or have any hope +for his land in the middle of such a crowd of soldiers? But yet there +were the families. The women were in their houses, and the children +playing at their doors, and the men, with whom I sometimes spoke, +would stand around with their hands in their pockets. They knew that +they were ruined; they expected no redress. In nine cases out of ten +they were inimical in spirit to the soldiers around them. And yet it +seemed that their equanimity was never disturbed. In a former chapter +I have spoken of a certain general,--not a fighting general of the +army, but a local farming general,--who spoke loudly and with many +curses of the injury inflicted on him by the secessionists. With that +exception, I heard no loud complaint of personal suffering. These +Virginian farmers must have been deprived of everything,--of the very +means of earning bread. They still hold by their houses, though they +were in the very thick of the war, because there they had shelter +for their families, and elsewhere they might seek it in vain. A man +cannot move his wife and children if he have no place to which to +move them, even though his house be in the midst of disease, of +pestilence, or of battle. So it was with them then, but it seemed as +though they were already used to it. + +But there was a class of inhabitants in that same country to whom +fate had been even more unkind than to those whom I saw. The lines +of the northern army extended perhaps seven or eight miles from the +Potomac, and the lines of the Confederate army were distant some +four miles from those of their enemies. There was, therefore, an +intervening space or strip of ground about four miles broad, which +might be said to be no man's land. It was no man's land as to +military possession, but it was still occupied by many of its old +inhabitants. These people were not allowed to pass the lines either +of one army or of the other; or if they did so pass they were not +allowed to return to their homes. To these homes they were forced to +cling, and there they remained. They had no market, no shops at which +to make purchases even if they had money to buy; no customers with +whom to deal even if they had produce to sell. They had their cows, +if they could keep them from the Confederate soldiers, their pigs and +their poultry; and on them they were living--a most forlorn life. Any +advance made by either party must be over their homesteads. In the +event of battle they would be in the midst of it; and in the meantime +they could see no one, hear of nothing, go no whither beyond the +limits of that miserable strip of ground! + +The earth was hard with frost when I paid my visit to the camp, and +the general appearance of things around my friend's quarters was on +that account cheerful enough. It was the mud which made things sad +and wretched. When the frost came it seemed as though the army had +overcome one of its worst enemies. Unfortunately cold weather did not +last long. I have been told in Washington that they rarely have had +so open a season. Soon after my departure that terrible enemy, the +mud, came back upon them, but during my stay the ground was hard and +the weather very sharp. I slept in a tent, and managed to keep my +body warm by an enormous overstructure of blankets and coats; but I +could not keep my head warm. Throughout the night I had to go down, +like a fish beneath the water, for protection, and come up for air at +intervals, half-smothered. I had a stove in my tent, but the heat of +that when lighted was more terrible than the severity of the frost. + +The tents of the brigade with which I was staying had been pitched +not without an eye to appearances. They were placed in streets as it +were, each street having its name, and between them screens had been +erected of fir-poles and fir-branches, so as to keep off the wind. +The outside boundaries of the nearest regiment were ornamented with +arches, crosses, and columns constructed in the same way; so that +the quarters of the men were reached, as it were, through gateways. +The whole thing was pretty enough, and while the ground was hard +the camp was picturesque, and a visit to it was not unpleasant. But +unfortunately the ground was in its nature soft and deep, composed of +red clay, and as the frost went and the wet weather came, mud became +omnipotent and destroyed all prettiness. And I found that the cold +weather, let it be ever so cold, was not severe upon the men. It was +wet which they feared and had cause to fear, both for themselves and +for their horses. As to the horses, but few of them were protected by +any shelter or covering whatsoever. Through both frost and wet they +remained out, tied to the wheel of a waggon or to some temporary rack +at which they were fed. In England we should imagine that any horse +so treated must perish; but here the animals seemed to stand it. Many +of them were miserable enough in appearance, but nevertheless they +did the work required of them. I have observed that horses throughout +the States are treated in a hardier manner than is usually the case +with us. + +At the period of which I am speaking, January, 1862, the health of +the army of the Potomac was not as good as it had been, and was +beginning to give way under the effects of the winter. Measles had +become very prevalent, and also small-pox--though not of a virulent +description; and men, in many instances, were sinking under fatigue. +I was informed by various officers that the Irish regiments were +on the whole the most satisfactory. Not that they made the best +soldiers, for it was asserted that they were worse, as soldiers, than +the Americans or Germans; not that they became more easily subject to +rule, for it was asserted that they were unruly;--but because they +were rarely ill. Diseases which seized the American troops on all +sides seemed to spare them. The mortality was not excessive, but the +men became sick and ailing, and fell under the doctor's hands. + +Mr. Olmstead, whose name is well known in England as a writer on the +southern States, was at this time secretary to a Sanitary Commission +on the army, and published an abstract of the results of the +inquiries made, on which I believe perfect reliance may be placed. +This inquiry was extended to two hundred regiments, which were +presumed to be included in the army of the Potomac; but these +regiments were not all located on the Virginian side of the river, +and must not therefore be taken as belonging exclusively to the +divisions of which I have been speaking. Mr. Olmstead says, "The +health of our armies is evidently not above the average of armies in +the field. The mortality of the army of the Potomac during the summer +months averaged 3-1/2 per cent., and for the whole army it is stated +at 5 per cent." "Of the camps inspected, 5 per cent.," he says, "were +in admirable order; 44 per cent. fairly clean and well policed. The +condition of 26 per cent. was negligent and slovenly, and of 24 per +cent. decidedly bad, filthy, and dangerous." Thus 50 per cent. were +either negligent and slovenly, or filthy and dangerous. I wonder +what the report would have been had Camp Benton at St. Louis been +surveyed! "In about 80 per cent. of the regiments the officers +claimed to give systematic attention to the cleanliness of the men; +but it is remarked that they rarely enforced the washing of the feet, +and not always of the head and neck." I wish Mr. Olmstead had added +that they never enforced the cutting of the hair. No single trait has +been so decidedly disadvantageous to the appearance of the American +army, as the long, uncombed, rough locks of hair which the men have +appeared so loth to abandon. In reading the above one cannot but +think of the condition of those other twenty regiments! + +According to Mr. Olmstead two-thirds of the men were native-born, and +one-third was composed of foreigners. These foreigners are either +Irish or German. Had a similar report been made of the armies in +the West, I think it would have been seen that the proportion of +foreigners was still greater. The average age of the privates was +something under twenty-five, and that of the officers thirty-four. I +may here add, from my own observation, that an officer's rank could +in no degree be predicated from his age. Generals, colonels, majors, +captains, and lieutenants, had been all appointed at the same time +and without reference to age or qualification. Political influence or +the power of raising recruits had been the standard by which military +rank was distributed. The old West Point officers had generally been +chosen for high commands, but beyond this everything was necessarily +new. Young colonels and ancient captains abounded without any harsh +feeling as to the matter on either side. Indeed in this respect the +practice of the country generally was simply carried out. Fathers and +mothers in America seem to obey their sons and daughters naturally, +and as they grow old become the slaves of their grandchildren. + +Mr. Olmstead says that food was found to be universally good and +abundant. On this matter Mr. Olmstead might have spoken in stronger +language without exaggeration. The food supplied to the American +armies has been extravagantly good, and certainly has been wastefully +abundant. Very much has been said of the cost of the American army, +and it has been made a matter of boasting that no army so costly has +ever been put into the field by any other nation. The assertion is, +I believe, at any rate true. I have found it impossible to ascertain +what has hitherto been expended on the army. I much doubt whether +even Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, or Mr. Stanton, the +Secretary-at-War, know themselves, and I do not suppose that Mr. +Stanton's predecessor much cared. Some approach, however, may be +reached to the amount actually paid in wages and for clothes and +diet, and I give below a statement which I have seen of the actual +annual sum proposed to be expended on these heads, presuming the army +to consist of 500,000 men. The army is stated to contain 660,000 men, +but the former numbers given would probably be found to be nearer the +mark. + + + Dollars. + Wages of privates, including + sergeants and corporals 86,640,000 + Salaries of regimental officers 23,784,000 + Extra wages of privates; extra pay to + mounted officers, and salary of + officers above the rank of colonel 17,000,000 + ----------- + 127,424,000 + or + L25,484,000 sterling. + + +To this must be added the cost of diet and clothing. The food of the +men, I was informed, was supplied at an average cost of 17 cents a +day, which, for an army of 500,000 men, would amount to L6,200,000 +per annum. The clothing of the men is shown by the printed statement +of their war department to amount to 3 dollars a month for a period +of five years. That, at least, is the amount allowed to a private of +infantry or artillery. The cost of the cavalry uniforms and of the +dress of the non-commissioned officers is something higher, but not +sufficiently so to make it necessary to make special provision for +the difference in a statement so rough as this. At 3 dollars a month +the clothing of the army would amount to L3,600,000. The actual +annual cost would therefore be as follows:-- + + + Salaries and wages L25,484,400 + Diet of the soldiers 6,200,000 + Clothing for the soldiers 3,600,000 + ----------- + L35,284,400 + + +I believe that these figures may be trusted, unless it be with +reference to that sum of $17,000,000 or L3,400,000, which is presumed +to include the salaries of all general-officers with their staffs, +and also the extra wages paid to soldiers in certain cases. This is +given as an estimate, and may be over or under the mark. The sum +named as the cost of clothing would be correct, or nearly so, if the +army remained in its present force for five years. If it so remained +for only one year the cost would be one-fifth higher. It must of +course be remembered that the sum above named includes simply the +wages, clothes, and food of the men. It does not comprise the +purchase of arms, horses, ammunition, or waggons; the forage of +horses; the transport of troops, or any of those incidental expenses +of warfare which are always, I presume, heavier than the absolute +cost of the men, and which in this war have been probably heavier +than in any war ever waged on the face of God's earth. Nor does it +include that terrible item of peculation as to which I will say a +word or two before I finish this chapter. + +The yearly total payment of the officers and soldiers of the armies +is as follows. As regards the officers it must be understood that +this includes all the allowances made to them, except as regards +those on the staff. The sums named apply only to the infantry and +artillery. The pay of the cavalry is about ten per cent. higher. + + + Lieutenant-General. L1,850 + General Scott alone holds that + rank in the States' army + Major-General 1,150 + Brigadier-General 800 + *Colonel 530 + *Lieutenant-Colonel 475 + Major 430 + Captain 300 + First Lieutenant 265 + Second Lieutenant 245 + First Sergeant 48 + Sergeant 40 + Corporal 34 + Private 31 + + *A Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel are attached to + each regiment. + + +In every grade named the pay is, I believe, higher than that given by +us, or, as I imagine, by any other nation. It is, however, probable +that the extra allowances paid to some of our higher officers when +on duty may give to their positions for a time a higher pecuniary +remuneration. It will of course be understood that there is nothing +in the American army answering to our colonel of a regiment. With us +the officer so designated holds a nominal command of high dignity and +emolument as a reward for past services. + +I have already spoken of my visits to the camps of the other armies +in the field, that of General Halleck, who held his head-quarters +at St. Louis, in Missouri, and that of General Buell, who was at +Louisville, in Kentucky. There was also a fourth army under General +Hunter, in Kansas, but I did not make my way as far west as that. +I do not pretend to any military knowledge, and should be foolish +to attempt military criticism; but as far as I could judge by +appearance, I should say that the men in Buell's army were, of the +three, in the best order. They seemed to me to be cleaner than the +others, and, as far as I could learn, were in better health. Want +of discipline and dirt have, no doubt, been the great faults of the +regiments generally, and the latter drawback may probably be included +in the former. These men have not been accustomed to act under the +orders of superiors, and when they entered on the service hardly +recognized the fact that they would have to do so in ought else than +in their actual drill and fighting. It is impossible to conceive any +class of men to whom the necessary discipline of a soldier would come +with more difficulty than to an American citizen. The whole training +of his life has been against it. He has never known respect for +a master, or reverence for men of a higher rank than himself. He +has probably been made to work hard for his wages,--harder than an +Englishman works,--but he has been his employer's equal. The language +between them has been the language of equals, and their arrangement +as to labour and wages has been a contract between equals. If he +did not work he would not get his money,--and perhaps not if he did. +Under these circumstances he has made his fight with the world; but +those circumstances have never taught him that special deference to +a superior, which is the first essential of a soldier's duty. But +probably in no respect would that difficulty be so severely felt as +in all matters appertaining to personal habits. Here at any rate the +man would expect to be still his own master, acting for himself and +independent of all outer control. Our English Hodge, when taken from +the plough to the camp, would, probably, submit without a murmur +to soap and water and a barber's shears; he would have received +none of that education which would prompt him to rebel against such +ordinances; but the American citizen, who for a while expects to +shake hands with his captain whenever he sees him, and is astonished +when he learns that he must not offer him drinks, cannot at once +be brought to understand that he is to be treated like a child in +the nursery;--that he must change his shirt so often, wash himself +at such and such intervals, and go through a certain process of +cleansing his outward garments daily. I met while travelling a +sergeant of an old regular American regiment, and he spoke of the +want of discipline among the volunteers as hopeless. But even he +instanced it chiefly by their want of cleanliness. "They wear their +shirts till they drop off their backs," said he; "and what can you +expect from such men as that?" I liked that sergeant for his zeal +and intelligence, and also for his courtesy when he found that I was +an Englishman; for previous to his so finding he had begun to abuse +the English roundly,--but I did not quite agree with him about the +volunteers. It is very bad that soldiers should be dirty, bad also +that they should treat their captains with familiarity and desire +to exchange drinks with the majors. But even discipline is not +everything; and discipline will come at last even to the American +soldiers, distasteful as it may be, when the necessity for it is made +apparent. But these volunteers have great military virtues. They are +intelligent, zealous in their cause, handy with arms, willing enough +to work at all military duties, and personally brave. On the other +hand they are sickly, and there has been a considerable amount of +drunkenness among them. No man who has looked to the subject can, I +think, doubt that a native American has a lower physical development +than an Irishman, a German, or an Englishman. They become old sooner, +and die at an earlier age. As to that matter of drink, I do not think +that much need be said against them. English soldiers get drunk when +they have the means of doing so, and American soldiers would not get +drunk if the means were taken away from them. A little drunkenness +goes a long way in a camp, and ten drunkards will give a bad name to +a company of a hundred. Let any man travel with twenty men of whom +four are tipsy, and on leaving them he will tell you that every man +of them was a drunkard. + +I have said that these men are brave, and I have no doubt that they +are so. How should it be otherwise with men of such a race? But it +must be remembered that there are two kinds of courage, one of which +is very common and the other very uncommon. Of the latter description +of courage it cannot be expected that much should be found among the +privates of any army, and perhaps not very many examples among the +officers. It is a courage self-sustained, based on a knowledge of the +right and on a life-long calculation that any results coming from +adherence to the right will be preferable to any that can be produced +by a departure from it. This is the courage which will enable a man +to stand his ground in battle or elsewhere, though broken worlds +should fall around him. The other courage, which is mainly an affair +of the heart or blood and not of the brain, always requires some +outward support. The man who finds himself prominent in danger bears +himself gallantly, because the eyes of many will see him; whether +as an old man he leads an army, or as a young man goes on a forlorn +hope, or as a private carries his officer on his back out of the +fire, he is sustained by the love of praise. And the men who are not +individually prominent in danger, who stand their ground shoulder +to shoulder, bear themselves gallantly also, each trusting in the +combined strength of his comrades. When such combined strength has +been acquired, that useful courage is engendered which we may rather +call confidence, and which of all courage is the most serviceable in +the army. At the battle of Bull's Run the army of the North became +panic-stricken and fled. From this fact many have been led to believe +that the American soldiers would not fight well, and that they could +not be brought to stand their ground under fire. This I think has +been an unfair conclusion. In the first place the history of the +battle of Bull's Run has yet to be written; as yet the history of +the flight only has been given to us. As far as I can learn, the +northern soldiers did at first fight well;--so well, that the army of +the South believed itself to be beaten. But a panic was created--at +first, as it seems, among the teamsters and waggons. A cry was +raised, and a rush was made by hundreds of drivers with their carts +and horses; and then men who had never seen war before, who had not +yet had three months' drilling as soldiers, to whom the turmoil of +that day must have seemed as though hell were opening upon them, +joined themselves to the general clamour, and fled to Washington, +believing that all was lost. But at the same time the regiments of +the enemy were going through the same farce in the other direction! +It was a battle between troops who knew nothing of battles; of +soldiers who were not yet soldiers. That individual high-minded +courage, which would have given to each individual recruit the +self-sustained power against a panic, which is to be looked for in a +general, was not to be looked for in them. Of the other courage of +which I have spoken, there was as much as the circumstances of the +battle would allow. + +On subsequent occasions the men have fought well. We should, I think, +admit that they have fought very well when we consider how short has +been their practice at such work. At Somerset, at Fort Henry, at Fort +Donnelson, at Corinth, the men behaved with courage, standing well +to their arms, though at each place the slaughter among them was +great. They have always gone well into fire, and have generally +borne themselves well under fire. I am convinced that we in England +can make no greater mistake than to suppose that the Americans as +soldiers are deficient in courage. + +But now I must come to a matter in which a terrible deficiency has +been shown, not by the soldiers, but by those whose duty it has been +to provide for the soldiers. It is impossible to speak of the army +of the North and to leave untouched that hideous subject of army +contracts. And I think myself the more specially bound to allude to +it because I feel that the iniquities which have prevailed, prove +with terrible earnestness the demoralizing power of that dishonesty +among men in high places, which is the one great evil of the American +States. It is there that the deficiency exists, which must be +supplied before the public men of the nation can take a high rank +among other public men. There is the gangrene, which must be cut out +before the government, as a government, can be great. To make money +is the one thing needful, and men have been anxious to meddle with +the affairs of government, because there might money be made with +the greatest ease. "Make money," the Roman satirist said; "make it +honestly if you can, but at any rate make money." That first counsel +would be considered futile and altogether vain by those who have +lately dealt with the public wants of the American States. + +This is bad in a most fatal degree, not mainly because men in high +places have been dishonest, or because the government has been badly +served by its own paid officers. That men in high places should be +dishonest, and that the people should be cheated by their rulers is +very bad. But there is worse than this. The thing becomes so common, +and so notorious, that the American world at large is taught to +believe that dishonesty is in itself good. "It behoves a man to be +smart, sir!" Till the opposite doctrine to that be learned; till men +in America,--ay, and in Europe, Asia, and Africa,--can learn that +it specially behoves a man not to be smart, they will have learned +little of their duty towards God, and nothing of their duty towards +their neighbour. + +In the instances of fraud against the States' government to which I +am about to allude, I shall take all my facts from the report made +to the House of Representatives at Washington by a Committee of that +House in December, 1861. "Mr. Washbourne, from the Select Committee +to inquire into the Contracts of the Government, made the following +Report." That is the heading of the pamphlet. The Committee was known +as the Van Wyck Committee, a gentleman of that name having acted as +chairman. + +The Committee first went to New York, and began their inquiries with +reference to the purchase of a steam-boat called the "Catiline." +In this case a certain Captain Comstock had been designated from +Washington as the agent to be trusted in the charter or purchase +of the vessel. He agreed on behalf of the Government to hire that +special boat for L2000 a month for three months, having given +information to friends of his on the matter, which enabled them to +purchase it out-and-out for less than L4000. These friends were +not connected with shipping matters, but were lawyers and hotel +proprietors. The Committee conclude "that the vessel was chartered to +the Government at an unconscionable price; and that Captain Comstock, +by whom this was effected, while enjoying _the peculiar confidence of +the Government_, was acting for and in concert with the parties who +chartered the vessel, and was in fact their agent." But the report +does not explain why Captain Comstock was selected for this work by +authority from Washington, nor does it recommend that he be punished. +It does not appear that Captain Comstock had ever been in the regular +service of the Government, but that he had been master of a steamer. + +In the next place one Starbuck is employed to buy ships. As a +government agent he buys two for L1300, and sells them to the +government for L2900. The vessels themselves, when delivered at the +Navy Yard, were found to be totally unfit for the service for which +they had been purchased. But why was Starbuck employed, when, as +appears over and over again in the report, New York was full of paid +government servants ready and fit to do the work? Starbuck was merely +an agent, and who will believe that he was allowed to pocket the +whole difference of L1600? The greater part of the plunder was, +however, in this case refunded. + +Then we come to the case of Mr. George D. Morgan, brother-in-law +of Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. I have spoken of this +gentleman before, and of his singular prosperity. He amassed a large +fortune in five months, as a government agent for the purchase of +vessels, he having been a wholesale grocer by trade. This gentleman +had had no experience whatsoever with reference to ships. It is shown +by the evidence that he had none of the requisite knowledge, and that +there were special servants of the government in New York at that +time, sent there specially for such services as these, who were in +every way trustworthy, and who had the requisite knowledge. Yet +Mr. Morgan was placed in this position by his brother-in-law the +Secretary of the Navy, and in that capacity made about L20,000 in +five months, all of which was paid by the government, as is well +shown to have been the fact in the report before me. One result of +such a mode of agency is given;--one other result, I mean, besides +the L20,000 put into the pocket of the brother of the Secretary of +the Navy. A ship called the "Stars and Stripes" was bought by Mr. +Morgan for L11,000, which had been built some months before for +L7000. This vessel was bought from a company which was blessed with a +President. The President made the bargain with the government agent, +but insisted on keeping back from his own company L2000 out of the +L11,000 for expenses incident to the purchase. The company did not +like being mulcted of its prey, and growled heavily; but their +President declared that such bargains were not got at Washington +for nothing. Members of Congress had to be paid to assist in such +things. At least he could not reduce his little private bill for such +assistance below L1600. He had, he said, positively paid out so much +to those venal Members of Congress, and had made nothing for himself +to compensate him for his own exertions. When this President came +to be examined, he admitted that he had really made no payments to +Members of Congress. His own capacity had been so great that no such +assistance had been found necessary. But he justified his charge on +the ground that the sum taken by him was no more than the company +might have expected him to lay out on Members of Congress, or on +ex-Members who are specially mentioned, had he not himself carried +on the business with such consummate discretion! It seems to me that +the Members or ex-Members of Congress were shamefully robbed in this +matter. + +The report deals manfully with Mr. Morgan, showing that for five +months' work,--which work he did not do and did not know how to +do,--he received as large a sum as the President's salary for the +whole Presidential term of four years. So much better is it to be an +agent of government than simply an officer! And the Committee adds, +that they "do not find in this transaction the less to censure in the +fact that this arrangement between the Secretary of the Navy and Mr. +Morgan was one between brothers-in-law." After that who will believe +that Mr. Morgan had the whole of that L20,000 for himself? And yet +Mr. Welles still remains Secretary of the Navy, and has justified the +whole transaction in an explanation admitting everything, and which +is considered by his friends to be an able State paper. "It behoves a +man to be smart, sir." Mr. Morgan and Secretary Welles will no doubt +be considered by their own party to have done their duty well as +high trading public functionaries. The faults of Mr. Morgan and of +Secretary Welles are nothing to us in England; but the light in which +such faults may be regarded by the American people is much to us. + +I will now go on to the case of a Mr. Cummings. Mr. Cummings, it +appears, had been for many years the editor of a newspaper in +Philadelphia, and had been an intimate political friend and ally of +Mr. Cameron. Now at the time of which I am writing, April, 1861, Mr. +Cameron was Secretary-at-War, and could be very useful to an old +political ally living in his own State. The upshot of the present +case will teach us to think well of Mr. Cameron's gratitude. + +In April, 1861, stores were wanted for the army at Washington, and +Mr. Cameron gave an order to his old friend Cummings to expend +2,000,000 dollars, pretty much according to his fancy, in buying +stores. Governor Morgan, the Governor of New York State and a +relative of our other friend Morgan, was joined with Mr. Cummings +in this commission, Mr. Cameron no doubt having felt himself bound +to give the friends of his colleague at the Navy a chance. Governor +Morgan at once made over his right to his relative; but better things +soon came in Mr. Morgan's way, and he relinquished his share in this +partnership at an early date. In this transaction he did not himself +handle above 25,000 dollars. Then the whole job fell into the hands +of Mr. Cameron's old political friend. + +The 2,000,000 of dollars, or L400,000, were paid into the hands of +certain government treasurers at New York, but they had orders to +honour the draft of the political friend of the Secretary-at-War, and +consequently L50,000 was immediately withdrawn by Mr. Cummings, and +with this he went to work. It is shown that he knew nothing of the +business; that he employed a clerk from Albany whom he did not know, +and confided to this clerk the duty of buying such stores as were +bought; that this clerk was recommended to him by Mr. Weed, the +editor of a newspaper at Albany, who is known in the States as the +special political friend of Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State; and +that in this way he spent L32,000. He bought linen pantaloons and +straw hats to the amount of L4200, because he thought the soldiers +looked hot in the warm weather; but he afterwards learned that they +were of no use. He bought groceries of a hardware dealer named +Davidson, at Albany, that town whence came Mr. Weed's clerk. He did +not know what was Davidson's trade, nor did he know exactly what he +was going to buy; but Davidson proposed to sell him something which +Mr. Cummings believed to be some kind of provisions, and he bought +it. He did not know for how much,--whether over L2000 or not. He +never saw the articles and had no knowledge of their quality. It was +out of the question that he should have such knowledge, as he naively +remarks. His clerk Humphreys saw the articles. He presumed they +were brought from Albany, but did not know. He afterwards bought a +ship,--or two or three ships. He inspected one ship "by a mere casual +visit:" that is to say, he did not examine her boilers; he did not +know her tonnage, but he took the word of the seller for everything. +He could not state the terms of the charter, or give the substance of +it. He had had no former experience in buying or chartering ships. He +also bought 75,000 pair of shoes at only 25 cents, or one shilling a +pair, more than their proper price. He bought them of a Mr. Hall, who +declares that he paid Mr. Cummings nothing for the job, but regarded +it as a return for certain previous favours conferred by him on Mr. +Cummings in the occasional loans of L100 or L200. + +At the end of the examination it appears that Mr. Cummings still held +in his hand a slight balance of L28,000, of which he had forgotten +to make mention in the body of his own evidence. "This item seems to +have been overlooked by him in his testimony," says the report. And +when the report was made nothing had yet been learned of the destiny +of this small balance. + +Then the report gives a list of the army supplies miscellaneously +purchased by Mr. Cummings:--280 dozen pints of ale at 9_s._ 6_d._ +a dozen; a lot of codfish and herrings; 200 boxes of cheeses and +a large assortment of butter; some tongues; straw hats and linen +"pants;" 23 barrels of pickles; 25 casks of Scotch ale, price not +stated; a lot of London porter, price not stated; and some Hall +carbines of which I must say a word more further on. It should be +remembered that no requisition had come from the army for any of +the articles named; that the purchase of herrings and straw hats +was dictated solely by the discretion of Cummings and his man +Humphreys,--or, as is more probable, by the fact that some other +person had such articles by him for sale; and that the government +had its own established officers for the supply of things properly +ordered by military requisition. These very same articles also were +apparently procured, in the first place, as a private speculation, +and were made over to the government on the failure of that +speculation. "Some of the above articles," says the report, "were +shipped by the 'Catiline,' which were probably loaded on private +account, and not being able to obtain a clearance was in some way, +through Mr. Cummings, transferred over to the government,--_Scotch +ale, London porter, selected herrings_, and all." The italics as well +as the words are taken from the report. + +This was the confidential political friend of the Secretary-at-War, +by whom he was intrusted with L400,000 of public money! L28,000 +had not been accounted for when the report was made, and the +army supplies were bought after the fashion above named. That +Secretary-at-War, Mr. Cameron, has since left the Cabinet; but he has +not been turned out in disgrace; he has been nominated as minister to +Russia, and the world has been told that there was some difference +of opinion between him and his colleagues respecting slavery! Mr. +Cameron in some speech or paper declared on his leaving the Cabinet +that he had not intended to remain long as Secretary-at-War. This +assertion, I should think, must have been true. + +And now about the Hall carbines, as to which the gentlemen on this +Committee tell their tale with an evident delight in the richness of +its incidents which at once puts all their readers in accord with +them. There were altogether some five thousand of these, all of which +the government sold to a Mr. Eastman in June, 1861, for 14_s._ each, +as perfectly useless, and afterwards bought in August for L4 8_s._ +each, about 4_s._ a carbine having been expended in their repair in +the mean time. But as regards 790 of these now famous weapons, it +must be explained they had been sold by the government as perfectly +useless, and at a nominal price, previously to this second sale made +by the government to Mr. Eastman. They had been so sold, and then, +in April, 1861, they had been bought again for the government by the +indefatigable Cummings for L3 each. Then they were again sold as +useless for 14_s._ each to Eastman, and instantly rebought on behalf +of the government for L4 8_s._ each! Useless for war purposes they +may have been, but as articles of commerce it must be confessed that +they were very serviceable. + +This last purchase was made by a man named Stevens on behalf of +General Fremont, who at that time commanded the army of the United +States in Missouri. Stevens had been employed by General Fremont as +an agent on the behalf of government, as is shown with clearness +in the report, and on hearing of these muskets telegraphed to the +General at once. "I have 5000 Hall's rifled cast-steel muskets, +breech-loading, new, at 22 dollars." General Fremont telegraphed +back instantly, "I will take the whole 5000 carbines ... I will pay +all extra charges . . ." And so the purchase was made. The muskets, +it seems, were not absolutely useless even as weapons of war. +"Considering the emergency of the times," a competent witness +considered them to be worth "10 or 12 dollars." The government had +been as much cheated in selling them as it had in buying them. But +the nature of the latter transaction is shown by the facts that +Stevens was employed, though irresponsibly employed, as a government +agent by General Fremont; that he bought the muskets in that +character himself, making on the transaction L1 18_s._ on each +musket; and that the same man afterwards appeared as an aide-de-camp +on General Fremont's staff. General Fremont had no authority himself +to make such a purchase, and when the money was paid for the first +instalment of the arms, it was so paid by the special order of +General Fremont himself out of moneys intended to be applied to +other purposes. The money was actually paid to a gentleman known at +Fremont's head-quarters as his special friend, and was then paid in +that irregular way because this friend desired that that special +bill should receive immediate payment. After that who can believe +that Stevens was himself allowed to pocket the whole amount of the +plunder? + +There is a nice little story of a clergyman in New York who sold +for L40 and certain further contingencies, the right to furnish 200 +cavalry horses; but I should make this too long if I told all the +nice little stories. As the frauds at St. Louis were, if not in fact +the most monstrous, at any rate the most monstrous which have as +yet been brought to the light, I cannot finish this account without +explaining something of what was going on at that western Paradise in +those halcyon days of General Fremont. + +General Fremont, soon after reaching St. Louis, undertook to build +ten forts for the protection of that city. These forts have since +been pronounced as useless, and the whole measure has been treated +with derision by officers of his own army. But the judgment displayed +in the matter is a military question with which I do not presume to +meddle. Even if a general be wrong in such a matter, his character as +a man is not disgraced by such error. But the manner of building them +was the affair with which Mr. Van Wyck's committee had to deal. It +seems that five of the forts, the five largest, were made under the +orders of a certain Major Kappner at a cost of L12,000, and that the +other five could have been built at least for the same sum. Major +Kappner seems to have been a good and honest public servant, and +therefore quite unfit for the superintendence of such work at St. +Louis. The other five smaller forts were also in progress, the works +on them having been continued from 1st September to 25th September, +1861; but on the 25th September General Fremont himself gave special +orders that a contract should be made with a man named Beard, a +Californian, who had followed him from California to St. Louis. This +contract is dated the 25th of September. But nevertheless the work +specified in that contract was done previous to that date, and most +of the money paid was paid previous to that date. The contract did +not specify any lump sum, but agreed that the work should be paid for +by the yard and by the square foot. No less a sum was paid to Beard +for this work--the cormorant Beard, as the report calls him--than +L24,200, the last payment only, amounting to L4000, having been made +subsequent to the date of the contract. L20,200 was paid to Beard +before the date of the contract! The amounts were paid at five times, +and the last four payments were made on the personal order of General +Fremont. This Beard was under no bond, and none of the officers of +the government knew anything of the terms under which he was working. +On the 14th of October General Fremont was ordered to discontinue +these works, and to abstain from making any further payments on their +account. But, disobeying this order, he directed his Quartermaster to +pay a further sum of L4000 to Beard out of the first sums he should +receive from Washington, he then being out of money. This however +was not paid. "It must be understood," says the report, "that every +dollar ordered to be paid by General Fremont on account of these +works was diverted from a fund specially appropriated for another +purpose." And then again, "The money appropriated by Congress to +subsist and clothe and transport our armies was then, in utter +contempt of all law and of the army regulations, as well as in +defiance of superior authority, ordered to be diverted from its +lawful purpose and turned over to the cormorant Beard. While he had +received 170,000 dollars (L24,200) from the Government, it will be +seen from the testimony of Major Kappner that there had only been +paid to the honest German labourers, who did the work on the first +five forts built under his directions, the sum of 15,500 dollars +(L3100), leaving from 40,000 to 50,000 dollars (L8000 to L10,000) +still due; and while these labourers, whose families were clamouring +for bread, were besieging the Quartermaster's department for their +pay, this infamous contractor Beard is found following up the army +and in the confidence of the Major-General, who gives him orders for +large purchases, which could only have been legally made through the +Quartermaster's department." After that who will believe that all +the money went into Beard's pocket? Why should General Fremont have +committed every conceivable breach of order against his government, +merely with the view of favouring such a man as Beard? + +The collusion of the Quartermaster M'Instry with fraudulent knaves +in the purchase of horses is then proved. M'Instry was at this time +Fremont's Quartermaster at St. Louis. I cannot go through all these. +A man of the name of Jim Neil comes out in beautiful pre-eminence. No +dealer in horses could get to the Quartermaster except through Jim +Neil, or some such go-between. The Quartermaster contracted with +Neil and Neil with the owners of horses; Neil at the time being +also military inspector of horses for the Quartermaster. He bought +horses as cavalry horses for L24 or less, and passed them himself +as artillery horses for L30. In other cases the military inspectors +were paid by the sellers to pass horses. All this was done under +Quartermaster M'Instry, who would himself deal with none but such as +Neil. In one instance, one Elleard got a contract from M'Instry, the +profit of which was L8000. But there was a man named Brady. Now Brady +was a friend of M'Instry's, who, scenting the carrion afar off, had +come from Detroit, in Michigan, to St. Louis. M'Instry himself had +also come from Detroit. In this case Elleard was simply directed by +M'Instry to share his profits with Brady, and consequently paid to +Brady L4000, although Brady gave to the business neither capital nor +labour. He simply took the L4000 as the Quartermaster's friend. This +Elleard, it seems, also gave a carriage and horses to Mrs. Fremont. +Indeed Elleard seems to have been a civil and generous fellow. Then +there is a man named Thompson, whose case is very amusing. Of him +the Committee thus speaks:--"It must be said that Thompson was not +forgetful of the obligations of gratitude, for, after he got through +with the contract, he presented the son of Major M'Instry with a +riding pony. That was the only mark of respect," to use his own +words, "that he showed to the family of Major M'Instry." + +General Fremont himself desired that a contract should be made with +one Augustus Sacchi for a thousand Canadian horses. It turned out +that Sacchi was "nobody: a man of straw living in a garret in New +York whom nobody knew, a man who was brought out there"--to St. +Louis--"as a good person through whom to work." "It will hardly be +believed," says the report, "that the name of this same man Sacchi +appears in the newspapers as being on the staff of General Fremont, +at Springfield, with the rank of captain." + +I do not know that any good would result from my pursuing further the +details of this wonderful report. The remaining portion of it refers +solely to the command held by General Fremont in Missouri, and adds +proof upon proof of the gross robberies inflicted upon the government +of the States by the very persons set in high authority to protect +the government. We learn how all utensils for the camp, kettles, +blankets, shoes, mess-pans, &c., were supplied by one firm, without +a contract, at an enormous price, and of a quality so bad as to be +almost useless, because the Quartermaster was under obligations to +the partners. We learn that one partner in that firm gave L40 towards +a service of plate for the Quartermaster, and L60 towards a carriage +for Mrs. Fremont. We learn how futile were the efforts of any honest +tradesman to supply good shoes to soldiers who were shoeless, and +the history of one special pair of shoes which was thrust under the +nose of the Quartermaster is very amusing. We learn that a certain +paymaster properly refused to settle an account for matters with +which he had no concern, and that General Fremont at once sent down +soldiers to arrest him unless he made the illegal payment. In October +L1000 was expended in ice, all which ice was wasted. Regiments were +sent hither and thither with no military purpose, merely because +certain officers, calling themselves generals, desired to make up +brigades for themselves. Indeed every description of fraud was +perpetrated, and this was done not through the negligence of those in +high command, but by their connivance and often with their express +authority. + +It will be said that the conduct of General Fremont during the days +of his command in Missouri is not a matter of much moment to us +in England; that it has been properly handled by the Committee of +Representatives appointed by the American Congress to inquire into +the matter; and that after the publication of such a report by them, +it is ungenerous in a writer from another nation to speak upon the +subject. This would be so if the inquiries made by that Committee +and their report had resulted in any general condemnation of the men +whose misdeeds and peculations have been exposed. This, however, is +by no means the case. Those who were heretofore opposed to General +Fremont on political principles are opposed to him still; but those +who heretofore supported him are ready to support him again.* He has +not been placed beyond the pale of public favour by the record which +has been made of his public misdeeds. He is decried by the democrats +because he is a republican, and by the anti-abolitionists because +he is an abolitionist; but he is not decried because he has shown +himself to be dishonest in the service of his government. He was +dismissed from his command in the West, but men on his side of the +question declare that he was so dismissed because his political +opponents had prevailed. Now, at the moment that I am writing this, +men are saying that the President must give him another command. +He is still a major-general in the army of the States, and is as +probable a candidate as any other that I could name for the next +Presidency. + + *Since this was written General Fremont has been restored to high + military command, and now holds equal rank and equal authority + with Maclellan and Halleck. In fact, the charges made against him + by the Committee of the House of Representatives have not been + allowed to stand in his way. He is politically popular with a + large section of the nation, and therefore it has been thought + well to promote him to high place. Whether he be fit for such + place, either as regards capability or integrity, seems to be + considered of no moment. + +The same argument must be used with reference to the other gentlemen +named. Mr. Welles is still a Cabinet Minister and Secretary for +the Navy. It has been found impossible to keep Mr. Cameron in the +Cabinet, but he was named as the Minister of the States government to +Russia after the publication of the Van Wyck report, when the result +of his old political friendship with Mr. Alexander Cummings was +well known to the President who appointed him and to the Senate who +sanctioned his appointment. The individual corruption of any one +man--of any ten men--is not much. It should not be insisted on loudly +by any foreigner in making up a balance-sheet of the virtues and +vices of the good and bad qualities of any nation. But the light in +which such corruption is viewed by the people whom it most nearly +concerns is very much. I am far from saying that democracy has failed +in America. Democracy there has done great things for a numerous +people, and will yet, as I think, be successful. But that doctrine as +to the necessity of smartness must be eschewed before a verdict in +favour of American democracy can be pronounced. "It behoves a man to +be smart, sir." In those words are contained the curse under which +the States' government has been suffering for the last thirty years. +Let us hope that the people will find a mode of ridding themselves of +that curse. I, for one, believe that they will do so. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BACK TO BOSTON. + + +From Louisville we returned to Cincinnati, in making which journey +we were taken to a place called Seymour in Indiana, at which spot we +were to "make connection" with the train running on the Mississippi +and Ohio line from St. Louis to Cincinnati. We did make the +connection, but were called upon to remain four hours at Seymour +in consequence of some accident on the line. In the same way, when +going eastwards from Cincinnati to Baltimore a few days later, I was +detained another four hours at a place called Crossline, in Ohio. On +both occasions I spent my time in realizing, as far as that might +be possible, the sort of life which men lead who settle themselves +at such localities. Both these towns,--for they call themselves +towns,--had been created by the railways. Indeed this has been the +case with almost every place at which a few hundred inhabitants have +been drawn together in the western States. With the exception of such +cities as Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, settlers can hardly +be said to have chosen their own localities. These have been chosen +for them by the originators of the different lines of railway. And +there is nothing in Europe in any way like to these western railway +settlements. In the first place the line of the rails runs through +the main street of the town, and forms not unfrequently the only +road. At Seymour I could find no way of getting away from the rails +unless I went into the fields. At Crossline, which is a larger place, +I did find a street in which there was no railroad, but it was +deserted, and manifestly out of favour with the inhabitants. As there +were railway junctions at both these posts, there were of course +cross-streets, and the houses extended themselves from the centre +thus made along the lines, houses being added to houses at short +intervals as new comers settled themselves down. The panting and +groaning, and whistling of engines is continual; for at such places +freight trains are always kept waiting for passenger trains, and the +slower freight trains for those which are called fast. This is the +life of the town; and indeed as the whole place is dependent on the +railway, so is the railway held in favour and beloved. The noise +of the engines is not disliked, nor are its puffings and groanings +held to be unmusical. With us a locomotive steam-engine is still, +as it were, a beast of prey, against which one has to be on one's +guard,--in respect to which one specially warns the children. But +there, in the western States, it has been taken to the bosoms of them +all as a domestic animal; no one fears it, and the little children +run about almost among its wheels. It is petted and made much of on +all sides,--and, as far as I know, it seldom bites or tears. I have +not heard of children being destroyed wholesale in the streets, or of +drunken men becoming frequent sacrifices. But had I been consulted +beforehand as to the natural effects of such an arrangement, I should +have said that no child could have been reared in such a town, and +that any continuance of population under such circumstances must have +been impracticable. + +Such places, however, do thrive and prosper with a prosperity +especially their own, and the boys and girls increase and multiply in +spite of all dangers. With us in England, it is difficult to realize +the importance which is attached to a railway in the States, and +the results which a railway creates. We have roads everywhere, and +our country had been cultivated throughout, with more or less care, +before our system of railways had been commenced; but in America, +especially in the North, the railways have been the precursors of +cultivation. They have been carried hither and thither, through +primeval forests and over prairies, with small hope of other traffic +than that which they themselves would make by their own influences. +The people settling on their edges have had the very best of all +roads at their service; but they have had no other roads. The face of +the country between one settlement and another is still in many cases +utterly unknown; but there is the connecting road by which produce +is carried away, and new comers are brought in. The town that is +distant a hundred miles by the rail is so near that its inhabitants +are neighbours; but a settlement twenty miles distant across the +uncleared country is unknown, unvisited, and probably unheard of +by the women and children. Under such circumstances the railway is +everything. It is the first necessity of life, and gives the only +hope of wealth. It is the backbone of existence from whence spring, +and by which are protected, all the vital organs and functions of +the community. It is the right arm of civilization for the people, +and the discoverer of the fertility of the land. It is all in all +to those people, and to those regions. It has supplied the wants of +frontier life with all the substantial comfort of the cities, and +carried education, progress, and social habits into the wilderness. +To the eye of the stranger such places as Seymour and Crossline are +desolate and dreary. There is nothing of beauty in them, given either +by nature or by art. The railway itself is ugly, and its numerous +sidings and branches form a mass of iron road which is bewildering +and, according to my ideas, in itself disagreeable. The wooden houses +open down upon the line, and have no gardens to relieve them. A +foreigner, when first surveying such a spot, will certainly record +within himself a verdict against it; but in doing so he probably +commits the error of judging it by a wrong standard. He should +compare it with the new settlements which men have opened up in spots +where no railway has assisted them, and not with old towns in which +wealth has long been congregated. The traveller may see what is the +place with the railway; then let him consider how it might have +thriven without the railway. + +I confess that I became tired of my sojourn at both the places I +have named. At each I think that I saw every house in the place, +although my visit to Seymour was made in the night; and at both I +was lamentably at a loss for something to do. At Crossline I was all +alone, and began to feel that the hours which I knew must pass before +the missing train could come, would never make away with themselves. +There were many others stationed there as I was, but to them had been +given a capability for loafing which niggardly Nature has denied +to me. An American has the power of seating himself in the close +vicinity of a hot stove and feeding in silence on his own thoughts +by the hour together. It may be that he will smoke; but after a +while his cigar will come to an end. He sits on, however, certainly +patient, and apparently contented. It may be that he chews, but if +so, he does it with motionless jaws, and so slow a mastication of +the pabulum on which he feeds, that his employment in this respect +only disturbs the absolute quiet of the circle when, at certain long, +distant intervals, he deposits the secretion of his tobacco in an +ornamental utensil which may probably be placed in the furthest +corner of the hall. But during all this time he is happy. It does not +fret him to sit there and think and do nothing. He is by no means an +idle man,--probably one much given to commercial enterprise. Idle men +out there in the West we may say there are none. How should any idle +man live in such a country? All who were sitting hour after hour in +that circle round the stove of the Crossline Hotel hall,--sitting +there hour after hour in silence, as I could not sit,--were men +who earned their bread by labour. They were farmers, mechanics, +storekeepers; there was a lawyer or two, and one clergyman. +Sufficient conversation took place at first to indicate the +professions of many of them. One may conclude that there could not be +place there for an idle man. But they all of them had a capacity for +a prolonged state of doing nothing, which is to me unintelligible, +and which is very much to be envied. They are patient as cows, which +from hour to hour lie on the grass chewing their cud. An Englishman, +if he be kept waiting by a train in some forlorn station in which +he can find no employment, curses his fate and all that has led to +his present misfortune with an energy which tells the story of his +deep and thorough misery. Such, I confess, is my state of existence +under such circumstances. But a western American gives himself up +to "loafing," and is quite happy. He balances himself on the back +legs of an arm-chair, and remains so, without speaking, drinking, or +smoking for an hour at a stretch; and while he is doing so he looks +as though he had all that he desired. I believe that he is happy, and +that he has all that he wants for such an occasion;--an arm-chair in +which to sit, and a stove on which he can put his feet, and by which +he can make himself warm. + +Such was not the phase of character which I had expected to find +among the people of the West. Of all virtues, patience would have +been the last which I should have thought of attributing to them. I +should have expected to see them angry when robbed of their time, and +irritable under the stress of such grievances as railway delays; but +they are never irritable under such circumstances as I have attempted +to describe, nor, indeed, are they a people prone to irritation under +any grievances. Even in political matters they are long-enduring, and +do not form themselves into mobs for the expression of hot opinion. +We in England thought that masses of the people would rise in anger +if Mr. Lincoln's government should consent to give up Slidell and +Mason; but the people bore it without any rising. The habeas corpus +has been suspended, the liberty of the press has been destroyed for a +time, the telegraph wires have been taken up by the government into +their own hands; but nevertheless the people have said nothing. There +has been no rising of a mob, and not even an expression of an adverse +opinion. The people require to be allowed to vote periodically, and +having acquired that privilege permit other matters to go by the +board. In this respect we have, I think, in some degree misunderstood +their character. They have all been taught to reverence the nature +of that form of government under which they live, but they are not +specially addicted to hot political fermentation. They have learned +to understand that democratic institutions have given them liberty, +and on that subject they entertain a strong conviction which is +universal. But they have not habitually interested themselves deeply +in the doings of their legislators or of their government. On the +subject of slavery there have been and are different opinions, held +with great tenacity and maintained occasionally with violence; but on +other subjects of daily policy the American people have not, I think, +been eager politicians. Leading men in public life have been much +less trammelled by popular will than among us. Indeed with us the +most conspicuous of our statesmen and legislators do not lead, but +are led. In the States the noted politicians of the day have been +the leaders, and not unfrequently the coercers of opinion. Seeing +this, I claim for England a broader freedom in political matters than +the States have as yet achieved. In speaking of the American form of +government, I will endeavour to explain more clearly the ideas which +I have come to hold on this matter. + +I survived my delay at Seymour, after which I passed again through +Cincinnati, and then survived my subsequent delay at Crossline. As +to Cincinnati, I must put on record the result of a country walk +which I took there,--or rather on which I was taken by my friend. He +professed to know the beauties of the neighbourhood, and to be well +acquainted with all that was attractive in its vicinity. Cincinnati +is built on the Ohio, and is closely surrounded by picturesque hills +which overhang the suburbs of the city. Over these I was taken, +ploughing my way through a depth of mud which cannot be understood +by any ordinary Englishman. But the depth of mud was not the only +impediment, nor the worst which we encountered. As we began to +ascend from the level of the outskirts of the town we were greeted +by a rising flavour in the air, which soon grew into a strong +odour, and at last developed itself into a stench that surpassed in +offensiveness anything that my nose had ever hitherto suffered. When +we were at the worst we hardly knew whether to descend or to proceed. +It had so increased in virulence, that at one time I felt sure that +it arose from some matter buried in the ground beneath my feet. But +my friend, who declared himself to be quite at home in Cincinnati +matters, and to understand the details of the great Cincinnati +trade, declared against this opinion of mine. Hogs, he said, were +at the bottom of it. It was the odour of hogs going up to the Ohio +heavens;--of hogs in a state of transit from hoggish nature to +clothes-brushes, saddles, sausages, and lard. He spoke with an +authority that constrained belief; but I can never forgive him in +that he took me over those hills, knowing all that he professed to +know. Let the visitors to Cincinnati keep themselves within the city, +and not wander forth among the mountains. It is well that the odour +of hogs should ascend to heaven and not hang heavy over the streets; +but it is not well to intercept that odour in its ascent. My friend +became ill with fever, and had to betake himself to the care of +nursing friends; so that I parted company with him at Cincinnati. I +did not tell him that his illness was deserved as well as natural, +but such was my feeling on the matter. I myself happily escaped the +evil consequences which his imprudence might have entailed on me. + +I passed again through Pittsburg, and over the Alleghany mountains by +Altoona, and down to Baltimore,--back into civilization, secession, +conversation, and gastronomy. I never had secessionist sympathies +and never expressed them. I always believed in the North as a +people,--discrediting, however, to the utmost the existing northern +Government, or, as I should more properly say, the existing northern +Cabinet; but nevertheless, with such feelings and such belief, I +found myself very happy at Baltimore. Putting aside Boston, which +must, I think, be generally preferred by Englishmen to any other +city in the States, I should choose Baltimore as my residence if I +were called upon to live in America. I am not led to this opinion, +if I know myself, solely by the canvas-back ducks; and as to the +terrapins, I throw them to the winds. The madeira, which is still +kept there with a reverence which I should call superstitious were +it not that its free circulation among outside worshippers prohibits +the just use of such a word, may have something to do with it; as may +also the beauty of the women,--to some small extent. Trifles do bear +upon our happiness in a manner that we do not ourselves understand, +and of which we are unconscious. But there was an English look about +the streets and houses which I think had as much to do with it as +either the wine, the women, or the ducks; and it seemed to me as +though the manners of the people of Maryland were more English than +those of other Americans. I do not say that they were on this account +better. My English hat is, I am well aware, less graceful, and I +believe less comfortable, than a Turkish fez and turban; nevertheless +I prefer my English hat. New York I regard as the most thoroughly +American of all American cities. It is by no means the one in which I +should find myself the happiest, but I do not on that account condemn +it. + +I have said that in returning to Baltimore I found myself among +secessionists. In so saying, I intend to speak of a certain set +whose influence depends perhaps more on their wealth, position, and +education than on their numbers. I do not think that the population +of the city was then in favour of secession, even if it had ever been +so. I believe that the mob of Baltimore is probably the roughest mob +in the States,--is more akin to a Paris mob, and I may, perhaps, also +say to a Manchester mob, than that of any other American city. There +are more roughs in Baltimore than elsewhere, and the roughs there are +rougher. In those early days of secession, when the troops were being +first hurried down from New England for the protection of Washington, +this mob was vehemently opposed to its progress. Men had been taught +to think that the rights of the State of Maryland were being invaded +by the passage of the soldiers; and they also were undoubtedly imbued +with a strong prepossession for the southern cause. The two ideas +had then gone together. But the mob of Baltimore had ceased to +be secessionists within twelve months of their first exploit. In +April, 1861, they had refused to allow Massachusetts soldiers to +pass through the town on their way to Washington; and in February, +1862, they were nailing Union flags on the door-posts of those who +refused to display such banners as signs of triumph at the northern +victories! + +That Maryland can ever go with the South, even in the event of the +South succeeding in secession, no Marylander can believe. It is +not pretended that there is any struggle now going on with such +an object. No such result has been expected, certainly since the +possession of Washington was secured to the North by the army of the +Potomac. By few, I believe, was such a result expected even when +Washington was insecure. And yet the feeling for secession among a +certain class in Baltimore is as strong now as ever it was. And it is +equally strong in certain districts of the State,--in those districts +which are most akin to Virginia in their habits, modes of thought, +and ties of friendship. These men, and these women also, pray for +the South if they be pious, give their money to the South if they be +generous, work for the South if they be industrious, fight for the +South if they be young, and talk for the South morning, noon, and +night in spite of General Dix and his columbiads on Federal Hill. It +is in vain to say that such men and women have no strong feeling on +the matter, and that they are praying, working, fighting, and talking +under dictation. Their hearts are in it. And judging from them, even +though there were no other evidence from which to judge, I have no +doubt that a similar feeling is strong through all the seceding +States. On this subject the North, I think, deceives itself in +supposing that the southern rebellion has been carried on without any +strong feeling on the part of the southern people. Whether the mob +of Charleston be like the mob of Baltimore I cannot tell; but I have +no doubt as to the gentry of Charleston and the gentry of Baltimore +being in accord on the subject. + +In what way, then, when the question has been settled by the force of +arms, will these classes find themselves obliged to act? In Virginia +and Maryland they comprise, as a rule, the highest and best educated +of the people. As to parts of Kentucky the same thing may be said, +and probably as to the whole of Tennessee. It must be remembered that +this is not as though certain aristocratic families in a few English +counties should find themselves divided off from the politics and +national aspirations of their countrymen,--as was the case long since +with reference to the Roman Catholic adherents of the Stuarts, and +as has been the case since then in a lesser degree with the firmest +of the old Tories who had allowed themselves to be deceived by Sir +Robert Peel. In each of these cases the minority of dissentients was +so small that the nation suffered nothing, though individuals were +all but robbed of their nationality. But as regards America it must +be remembered that each State has in itself a governing power, and +is in fact a separate people. Each has its own legislature, and must +have its own line of politics. + +The secessionists of Maryland and of Virginia may consent to live in +obscurity; but if this be so, who is to rule in those States? From +whence are to come the senators and the members of Congress; the +governors and attorney-generals? From whence is to come the national +spirit of the two States, and the salt that shall preserve their +political life? I have never believed that these States would succeed +in secession. I have always felt that they would be held within the +Union, whatever might be their own wishes. But I think that they +will be so held in a manner and after a fashion that will render any +political vitality almost impossible till a new generation shall +have sprung up. In the meantime life goes on pleasantly enough in +Baltimore, and ladies meet together, knitting stockings and sewing +shirts for the southern soldiers, while the gentlemen talk southern +politics and drink the health of the (southern) President in +ambiguous terms, as our Cavaliers used to drink the health of the +king. + +During my second visit to Baltimore I went over to Washington for a +day or two, and found the capital still under the empire of King Mud. +How the elite of a nation--for the inhabitants of Washington consider +themselves to be the elite--can consent to live in such a state of +thraldom, a foreigner cannot understand. Were I to say that it was +intended to be typical of the condition of the government, I might +be considered cynical; but undoubtedly the sloughs of despond which +were deepest in their despondency were to be found in localities +which gave an appearance of truth to such a surmise. The Secretary +of State's office in which Mr. Seward was still reigning, though +with diminished glory, was divided from the Head-Quarters of the +Commander-in-Chief, which are immediately opposite to it, by an +opaque river which admitted of no transit. These buildings stand at +the corner of President Square, and it had been long understood that +any close intercourse between them had not been considered desirable +by the occupants of the military side of the causeway. But the +Secretary of State's office was altogether unapproachable without a +long circuit and begrimed legs. The Secretary-at-War's department +was, if possible, in a worse condition. This is situated on the other +side of the President's house, and the mud lay, if possible, thicker +in this quarter than it did round Mr. Seward's chambers. The passage +over Pennsylvania Avenue, immediately in front of the War Office, was +a thing not to be attempted in those days. Mr. Cameron, it is true, +had gone, and Mr. Stanton was installed; but the labour of cleansing +the interior of that establishment had hitherto allowed no time for a +glance at the exterior dirt, and Mr. Stanton should, perhaps, be held +as excused. That the Navy Office should be buried in mud, and quite +debarred from approach, was to be expected. The space immediately in +front of Mr. Lincoln's own residence was still kept fairly clean, +and I am happy to be able to give testimony to this effect. Long may +it remain so. I could not, however, but think that an energetic and +careful President would have seen to the removal of the dirt from +his own immediate neighbourhood. It was something that his own shoes +should remain unpolluted; but the foul mud always clinging to the +boots and leggings of those by whom he was daily surrounded must, +I should think, have been offensive to him. The entrance to the +Treasury was difficult to achieve by those who had not learned by +practice the ways of the place; but I must confess that a tolerably +clear passage was maintained on that side which led immediately +down to the halls of Congress. Up at the Capitol the mud was again +triumphant in the front of the building; this however was not of +great importance, as the legislative chambers of the States are +always reached by the back-door. I, on this occasion, attempted to +leave the building by the grand entrance, but I soon became entangled +among rivers of mud and mazes of shifting sand. With difficulty I +recovered my steps, and finding my way back to the building was +forced to content myself by an exit among the crowd of senators and +representatives who were thronging down the back-stairs. + +Of dirt of all kinds it behoves Washington and those concerned in +Washington to make themselves free. It is the Augean stables through +which some American Hercules must turn a purifying river before +the American people can justly boast either of their capital or of +their government. As to the material mud, enough has been said. The +presence of the army perhaps caused it, and the excessive quantity +of rain which had fallen may also be taken as a fair plea. But what +excuse shall we find for that other dirt? It also had been caused by +the presence of the army, and by that long-continued down-pouring of +contracts which had fallen like Danae's golden shower into the laps +of those who understood how to avail themselves of such heavenly +waters. The leaders of the rebellion are hated in the North. The +names of Jefferson Davis, of Cobb, Tombes, and Floyd are mentioned +with execration by the very children. This has sprung from a true +and noble feeling; from a patriotic love of national greatness and a +hatred of those who, for small party purposes, have been willing to +lessen the name of the United States. I have reverenced the feeling +even when I have not shared it. But, in addition to this, the names +of those also should be execrated who have robbed their country when +pretending to serve it; who have taken its wages in the days of its +great struggle, and at the same time have filched from its coffers; +who have undertaken the task of steering the ship through the storm +in order that their hands might be deep in the meal-tub and the +bread-basket, and that they might stuff their own sacks with the +ship's provisions. These are the men who must be loathed by the +nation,--whose fate must be held up as a warning to others before +good can come! Northern men and women talk of hanging Davis and his +accomplices. I myself trust that there will be no hanging when the +war is over. I believe there will be none, for the Americans are not +a blood-thirsty people. But if punishment of any kind be meted out, +the men of the North should understand that they have worse offenders +among them than Davis and Floyd. + +At the period of which I am now speaking, there had come a change +over the spirit of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet. Mr. Seward was still his +Secretary of State, but he was, as far as outside observers could +judge, no longer his Prime Minister. In the early days of the war, +and up to the departure of Mr. Cameron from out of the cabinet, Mr. +Seward had been the Minister of the nation. In his despatches he +talks ever of We or of I. In every word of his official writings, of +which a large volume has been published, he shows plainly that he +intends to be considered as the man of the day,--as the hero who is +to bring the States through their difficulties. Mr. Lincoln may be +King, but Mr. Seward is Mayor of the Palace and carries the King in +his pocket. From the depth of his own wisdom he undertakes to teach +his ministers in all parts of the world, not only their duties, but +their proper aspiration. He is equally kind to foreign statesmen, +and sends to them messages as though from an altitude which no +European politician had ever reached. At home he has affected the +Prime Minister in everything, dropping the We and using the I in a +manner that has hardly made up by its audacity for its deficiency +in discretion. It is of course known everywhere that he had run Mr. +Lincoln very hard for the position of republican candidate for the +Presidency. Mr. Lincoln beat him, and Mr. Seward is well aware that +in the States a man has never a second chance for the Presidential +chair. Hence has arisen his ambition to make for himself a new place +in the annals of American politics. Hitherto there has been no Prime +Minister known in the Government of the United States. Mr. Seward has +attempted a revolution in that matter, and has essayed to fill the +situation. For awhile it almost seemed that he was successful. He +interfered with the army, and his interferences were endured. He took +upon himself the business of the police, and arrested men at his own +will and pleasure. The habeas corpus was in his hand, and his name +was current through the States as a covering authority for every +outrage on the old laws. Sufficient craft, or perhaps cleverness, +he possessed to organize a position which should give him a power +greater than the power of the President; but he had not the genius +which would enable him to hold it. He made foolish prophecies about +the war, and talked of the triumphs which he would win. He wrote +state papers on matters which he did not understand, and gave himself +the airs of diplomatic learning while he showed himself to be sadly +ignorant of the very rudiments of diplomacy. He tried to joke as Lord +Palmerston jokes, and nobody liked his joking. He was greedy after +the little appanages of power, taking from others who loved them as +well as he did, privileges with which he might have dispensed. And +then, lastly, he was successful in nothing. He had given himself +out as the commander of the Commander-in-Chief; but then under his +command nothing got itself done. For a month or two some men had +really believed in Mr. Seward. The policemen of the country had +come to have an absolute trust in him, and the underlings of the +public offices were beginning to think that he might be a great man. +But then, as is ever the case with such men, there came suddenly a +downfall. Mr. Cameron went from the cabinet, and everybody knew that +Mr. Seward would be no longer commander of the Commander-in-Chief. +His prime ministership was gone from him, and he sank down into the +comparatively humble position of Minister for Foreign Affairs. His +lettres de cachet no longer ran. His passport system was repealed. +His prisoners were released. And though it is too much to say that +writs of habeas corpus were no longer suspended, the effect and very +meaning of the suspension were at once altered. When I first left +Washington Mr. Seward was the only minister of the cabinet whose name +was ever mentioned with reference to any great political measure. +When I returned to Washington Mr. Stanton was Mr. Lincoln's leading +minister, and, as Secretary-at-War, had practically the management of +the army and of the internal police. + +I have spoken here of Mr. Seward by name, and in my preceding +paragraphs I have alluded with some asperity to the dishonesty of +certain men who had obtained political power under Mr. Lincoln and +used it for their own dishonest purposes. I trust that I may not be +understood as bringing any such charges against Mr. Seward. That +such dishonesty has been frightfully prevalent all men know who knew +anything of Washington during the year 1861. In a former chapter I +have alluded to this more at length, stating circumstances and in +some cases giving the names of the persons charged with offences. +Whenever I have done so, I have based my statements on the Van Wyck +Report, and the evidence therein given. This is the published report +of a Committee appointed by the House of Representatives; and as it +has been before the world for some months without refutation, I think +that I have a right to presume it to be true.* On no less authority +than this would I consider myself justified in bringing any such +charge. Of Mr. Seward's incompetency I have heard very much among +American politicians; much also of his ambition. With worse offences +than these I have not heard him charged. + + *I ought perhaps to state that General Fremont has published an + answer to the charges preferred against him. That answer refers + chiefly to matters of military capacity or incapacity, as to + which I have expressed no opinion. General Fremont does allude + to the accusations made against him regarding the building of + the forts;--but in doing so he seems to me rather to admit than + to deny the facts as stated by the Committee. + +At the period of which I am writing, February, 1862, the long list of +military successes which attended the northern army through the late +winter and early spring had commenced. Fort Henry, on the Tennessee +river, had first been taken, and after that, Fort Donnelson on the +Cumberland river, also in the State of Tennessee. Price had been +driven out of Missouri into Arkansas by General Curtis, acting under +General Halleck's orders. The chief body of the Confederate army in +the West had abandoned the fortified position which they had long +held at Bowling Green, in the south-western district of Kentucky. +Roanoke Island, on the coast of North Carolina, had been taken by +General Burnside's expedition, and a belief had begun to manifest +itself in Washington that the army of the Potomac was really about +to advance. It is impossible to explain in what way the renewed +confidence of the northern party showed itself, or how one learned +that the hopes of the secessionists were waxing dim; but it was so; +and even a stranger became aware of the general feeling as clearly as +though it were a defined and established fact. In the early part of +the winter, when I reached Washington, the feeling ran all the other +way. Northern men did not say that they were despondent; they did not +with spoken words express diffidence as to their success; but their +looks betrayed diffidence, and the moderation of their self-assurance +almost amounted to despondency. In the capital the parties were +very much divided. The old inhabitants were either secessionists or +influenced by "secession proclivities," as the word went; but the men +of the government and of the two houses of Congress were, with a few +exceptions, of course northern. It should be understood that these +parties were at variance with each other on almost every point as to +which men can disagree. In our civil war it may be presumed that all +Englishmen were at any rate anxious for England. They desired and +fought for different modes of government; but each party was equally +English in its ambition. In the States there is the hatred of a +different nationality added to the rancour of different politics. +The Southerners desire to be a people of themselves,--to divide +themselves by every possible mark of division from New England; to +be as little akin to New York as they are to London,--or if possible +less so. Their habits, they say, are different; their education, +their beliefs, their propensities, their very virtues and vices +are not the education, or the beliefs, or the propensities, or the +virtues and vices of the North. The bond that ties them to the +North is to them a Mezentian marriage, and they hate their northern +spouses with a Mezentian hatred. They would be anything sooner than +citizens of the United States. They see to what Mexico has come, +and the republics of Central America; but the prospect of even that +degradation is less bitter to them than a share in the glory of the +stars and stripes. Better, with them, to reign in hell than serve in +heaven! It is not only in politics that they will be beaten, if they +be beaten,--as one party with us may be beaten by another; but they +will be beaten as we should be beaten if France annexed us, and +directed that we should live under French rule. Let an Englishman +digest and realize that idea, and he will comprehend the feelings +of a southern gentleman as he contemplates the probability that his +State will be brought back into the Union. And the northern feeling +is as strong. The northern man has founded his national ambition on +the territorial greatness of his nation. He has panted for new lands, +and for still extended boundaries. The western world has opened her +arms to him, and has seemed to welcome him as her only lord. British +America has tempted him towards the north, and Mexico has been as a +prey to him on the south. He has made maps of his empire, including +all the continent, and has preached the Monroe doctrine as though it +had been decreed by the gods. He has told the world of his increasing +millions, and has never yet known his store to diminish. He has pawed +in the valley, and rejoiced in his strength. He has said among the +trumpets, Ha, ha! He has boasted aloud in his pride, and called on +all men to look at his glory. And now shall he be divided and shorn? +Shall he be hemmed in from his ocean and shut off from his rivers? +Shall he have a hook run into his nostrils, and a thorn driven into +his jaw? Shall men say that his day is over, when he has hardly yet +tasted the full cup of his success? Has his young life been a dream, +and not a truth? Shall he never reach that giant manhood which the +growth of his boyish years has promised him? If the South goes from +him, he will be divided, shorn, and hemmed in. The hook will have +pierced his nose, and the thorn will fester in his jaw. Men will +taunt him with his former boastings, and he will awake to find +himself but a mortal among mortals. + +Such is the light in which the struggle is regarded by the two +parties, and such the hopes and feelings which have been engendered. +It may therefore be surmised with what amount of neighbourly love +secessionist and northern neighbours regarded each other in such +towns as Baltimore and Washington. Of course there was hatred of +the deepest dye; of course there were muttered curses, or curses +which sometimes were not simply muttered. Of course there were +wretchedness, heart-burnings, and fearful divisions in families. +That, perhaps, was the worst of all. The daughter's husband would be +in the northern ranks, while the son was fighting in the South; or +two sons would hold equal rank in the two armies, sometimes sending +to each other frightful threats of personal vengeance. Old friends +would meet each other in the street, passing without speaking; or, +worse still, would utter words of insult for which payment is to be +demanded when a southern gentleman may again be allowed to quarrel in +his own defence. + +And yet society went on. Women still smiled, and men were happy to +whom such smiles were given. Cakes and ale were going and ginger +was still hot in the mouth. When many were together no words of +unhappiness were heard. It was at those small meetings of two or +three that women would weep instead of smiling, and that men would +run their hands through their hair and sit in silence, thinking of +their ruined hopes and divided children. + +I have spoken of southern hopes and northern fears, and have +endeavoured to explain the feelings of each party. For myself I think +that the Southerners have been wrong in their hopes, and that those +of the North have been wrong in their fears. It is not better to rule +in hell than serve in heaven. Of course a southern gentleman will not +admit the premises which are here by me taken for granted. The hell +to which I allude is, the sad position of a low and debased nation. +Such, I think, will be the fate of the Gulf States, if they succeed +in obtaining secession,--of a low and debased nation, or, worse +still, of many low and debased nations. They will have lost their +cotton monopoly by the competition created during the period of the +war, and will have no material of greatness on which either to found +themselves or to flourish. That they had much to bear when linked +with the North, much to endure on account of that slavery from which +it was all but impossible that they should disentangle themselves, +may probably be true. But so have all political parties among all +free nations much to bear from political opponents, and yet other +free nations do not go to pieces. Had it been possible that the +slave-owners and slave properties should have been scattered in parts +through all the States and not congregated in the South, the slave +party would have maintained itself as other parties do; but in such +case, as a matter of course, it would not have thought of secession. +It has been the close vicinity of slave-owners to each other, +the fact that their lands have been coterminous, that theirs was +especially a cotton district, which has tempted them to secession. +They have been tempted to secession, and will, as I think, still +achieve it in those Gulf States,--much to their misfortune. + +And the fears of the North are, I think, equally wrong. That they +will be deceived as to that Monroe doctrine is no doubt more than +probable. That ambition for an entire continent under one rule will +not, I should say, be gratified. But not on that account need the +nation be less great, or its civilization less extensive. That hook +in its nose and that thorn in its jaw will, after all, be but a hook +of the imagination and an ideal thorn. Do not all great men suffer +such ere their greatness be established and acknowledged? There is +scope enough for all that manhood can do between the Atlantic and the +Pacific, even though those hot, swampy cotton-fields be taken away; +even though the snows of the British provinces be denied to them. And +as for those rivers and that sea-board, the Americans of the North +will have lost much of their old energy and usual force of will, if +any southern Confederacy be allowed to deny their right of way or to +stop their commercial enterprises. I believe that the South will be +badly off without the North; but I feel certain that the North will +never miss the South when once the wounds to her pride have been +closed. + +From Washington I journeyed back to Boston through the cities which +I had visited in coming thither, and stayed again on my route for a +few days at Baltimore, at Philadelphia, and at New York. At each town +there were those whom I now regarded almost as old friends, and as +the time of my departure drew near I felt a sorrow that I was not to +be allowed to stay longer. As the general result of my sojourn in the +country, I must declare that I was always happy and comfortable in +the eastern cities, and generally unhappy and uncomfortable in the +West. I had previously been inclined to think that I should like the +roughness of the West, and that in the East I should encounter an +arrogance which would have kept me always on the verge of hot water; +but in both these surmises I found myself to have been wrong. And I +think that most English travellers would come to the same conclusion. +The western people do not mean to be harsh or uncivil, but they do +not make themselves pleasant. In all the eastern cities,--I speak of +the eastern cities north of Washington,--a society may be found which +must be esteemed as agreeable by Englishmen who like clever genial +men, and who love clever pretty women. + +I was forced to pass twice again over the road between New York and +Boston, as the packet by which I intended to leave America was fixed +to sail from the former port. I had promised myself, and had promised +others, that I would spend in Boston the last week of my sojourn in +the States, and this was a promise which I was by no means inclined +to break. If there be a gratification in this world which has +no alloy, it is that of going to an assured welcome. The belief +that men's arms and hearts are open to receive one,--and the arms +and hearts of women, too, as far as they allow themselves to +open them,--is the salt of the earth, the sole remedy against +sea-sickness, the only cure for the tedium of railways, the one +preservative amidst all the miseries and fatigue of travel. These +matters are private, and should hardly be told of in a book; but in +writing of the States, I should not do justice to my own convictions +of the country if I did not say how pleasantly social intercourse +there will ripen into friendship, and how full of love that +friendship may become. I became enamoured of Boston at last. Beacon +Street was very pleasant to me, and the view over Boston Common was +dear to my eyes. Even the State House, with its great yellow-painted +dome, became sightly; and the sunset over the western waters that +encompass the city beats all other sunsets that I have seen. + +During my last week there the world of Boston was moving itself on +sleighs. There was not a wheel to be seen in the town. The omnibuses +and public carriages had been dismounted from their axles and put +themselves upon snow runners, and the private world had taken out its +winter carriages, and wrapped itself up in buffalo robes. Men now +spoke of the coming thaw as of a misfortune which must come, but +which a kind Providence might perhaps postpone,--as we all, in short, +speak of death. In the morning the snow would have been hardened by +the night's frost, and men would look happy and contented. By an hour +after noon the streets would be all wet, and the ground would be +slushy and men would look gloomy and speak of speedy dissolution. +There were those who would always prophesy that the next day would +see the snow converted into one dull, dingy river. Such I regarded as +seers of tribulation, and endeavoured with all my mind to disbelieve +their interpretations of the signs. That sleighing was excellent fun. +For myself I must own that I hardly saw the best of it at Boston, for +the coming of the end was already at hand when I arrived there, and +the fresh beauty of the hard snow was gone. Moreover when I essayed +to show my prowess with a pair of horses on the established course +for such equipages, the beasts ran away, knowing that I was not +practised in the use of snow chariots, and brought me to grief and +shame. There was a lady with me on the sleigh whom, for a while, I +felt that I was doomed to consign to a snowy grave,--whom I would +willingly have overturned into a drift of snow, so as to avoid worse +consequences, had I only known how to do so. But Providence, even +though without curbs and assisted only by simple snaffles, did at +last prevail; and I brought the sleigh, horses, and lady alive back +to Boston, whether with or without permanent injury I have never yet +ascertained. + +At last the day of tribulation came, and the snow was picked up and +carted out of Boston. Gangs of men, standing shoulder to shoulder, +were at work along the chief streets, picking, shovelling, and +disposing of the dirty blocks. Even then the snow seemed to be nearly +a foot thick; but it was dirty, rough, half-melted in some places, +though hard as stone in others. The labour and cost of cleansing the +city in this way must be very great. The people were at it as I left, +and I felt that the day of tribulation had in truth come. + +Farewell to thee, thou western Athens! When I have forgotten thee my +right hand shall have forgotten its cunning, and my heart forgotten +its pulses. Let us look at the list of names with which Boston has +honoured itself in our days, and then ask what other town of the same +size has done more. Prescott, Bancroft, Motley, Longfellow, Lowell, +Emerson, Dana, Agassiz, Holmes, Hawthorne! Who is there among us +in England who has not been the better for these men? Who does not +owe to some of them a debt of gratitude? In whose ears is not their +names familiar? It is a bright galaxy and far extended, for so small +a city. What city has done better than this? All these men, save +one, are now alive and in the full possession of their powers. What +other town of the same size has done as well in the same short space +of time? It may be that this is the Augustan aera of Boston,--its +Elizabethan time. If so, I am thankful that my steps have wandered +thither at such a period. + +While I was at Boston I had the sad privilege of attending the +funeral of President Felton, the head of Harvard College. A few +months before I had seen him a strong man, apparently in perfect +health and in the pride of life. When I reached Boston, I heard of +his death. He also was an accomplished scholar, and as a Grecian +has left few behind him who were his equals. At his installation as +President, four ex-Presidents of Harvard College assisted. Whether +they were all present at his funeral I do not know, but I do know +that they were all still living. These are Mr. Quincy, who is now +over ninety; Mr. Sparks; Mr. Everett, the well-known orator; and Mr. +Walker. They all reside in Boston or its neighbourhood, and will +probably all assist at the installation of another President. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + + +It is, I presume, universally known that the citizens of the +Western American colonies of Great Britain which revolted, declared +themselves to be free from British dominion by an Act which they +called the Declaration of Independence. This was done on the 4th of +July, 1776, and was signed by delegates from the thirteen colonies, +or States as they then called themselves. These delegates in this +document declare themselves to be the representatives of the United +States of America in general Congress assembled. The opening +and close of this declaration have in them much that is grand +and striking; the greater part of it, however, is given up to +enumerating, in paragraph after paragraph, the sins committed by +George III. against the colonies. Poor George III.! There is no one +now to say a good word for him; but of all those who have spoken ill +of him, this declaration is the loudest in its censure. + +In the following year, on the 15th November, 1777, were drawn up +the Articles of Confederation between the States, by which it was +then intended that a sufficient bond and compact should be made for +their future joint existence and preservation. A reference to this +document, which, together with the Declaration of Independence and +the subsequently framed Constitution of the United States, is given +in the Appendix, will show how slight was the then intended bond of +union between the States. The second article declares that each State +retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The third article +avows that "the said States hereby severally enter into a firm league +of friendship with each other for their common defence, the security +of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding +themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or +attacks made upon, them, or any of them, on account of religion, +sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever." And the third +article, "the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship," +declares that the free citizens of one State shall be free citizens +of another. From this it is, I think, manifest that no idea of one +united nation had at that time been received and adopted by the +citizens of the States. The articles then go on to define the way +in which Congress shall assemble and what shall be its powers. This +Congress was to exercise the authority of a national Government +rather than perform the work of a national Parliament. It was +intended to be executive rather than legislative. It was to consist +of delegates, the very number of which within certain limits was to +be left to the option of the individual States, and to this Congress +was to be confided certain duties and privileges, which could not +be performed or exercised separately by the Governments of the +individual States. One special article, the eleventh, enjoins that +"Canada, acceding to the Confederation, and joining in the measures +of the United States, shall be admitted into and entitled to all +the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted +into the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine States." I +mention this to show how strong was the expectation at that time that +Canada also would revolt from England. Up to this day few Americans +can understand why Canada has declined to join her lot to them. + +But the compact between the different States made by the Articles of +Confederation, and the mode of national procedure therein enjoined, +were found to be inefficient for the wants of a people who to be +great must be united in fact as well as in name. The theory of the +most democratic among the Americans of that day was in favour of +self-government carried to an extreme. Self-government was the Utopia +which they had determined to realize, and they were unwilling to +diminish the reality of the self-government of the individual States +by any centralization of power in one head, or in one Parliament, or +in one set of ministers for the nation. For ten years, from 1777 to +1787, the attempt was made; but then it was found that a stronger +bond of nationality was indispensable, if any national greatness +was to be regarded as desirable. Indeed, all manner of failure had +attended the mode of national action ordained by the Articles of +Confederation. I am not attempting to write a history of the United +States, and will not therefore trouble my readers with historic +details, which are not of value unless put forward with historic +weight. The fact of the failure is however admitted, and the present +written constitution of the United States, which is the splendid +result of that failure, was "Done in Convention by the unanimous +consent of the States present."* Twelve States were present,--Rhode +Island apparently having had no representative on the occasion,--on +the 17th September, 1787, and in the twelfth year of the Independence +of the United States. + + *It must not, however, be supposed that by this "doing in + convention," the constitution became an accepted fact. It simply + amounted to the adoption of a proposal of the constitution. + The constitution itself was formally adopted by the people in + conventions held in their separate State capitals. It was agreed + to by the people in 1788, and came into operation in 1789. + +I call the result splendid, seeing that under this constitution so +written a nation has existed for three quarters of a century and +has grown in numbers, power, and wealth till it has made itself the +political equal of the other greatest nations of the earth. And it +cannot be said that it has so grown in spite of the constitution, or +by ignoring the constitution. Hitherto the laws there laid down for +the national guidance have been found adequate for the great purpose +assigned to them, and have done all that which the framers of them +hoped that they might effect. We all know what has been the fate of +the constitutions which were written throughout the French revolution +for the use of France. We all, here in England, have the same +ludicrous conception of Utopian theories of government framed by +philosophical individuals who imagine that they have learned from +books a perfect system of managing nations. To produce such theories +is especially the part of a Frenchman; to disbelieve in them is +especially the part of an Englishman. But in the States a system of +government has been produced, under a written constitution, in which +no Englishman can disbelieve, and which every Frenchman must envy. +It has done its work. The people have been free, well-educated, +and politically great. Those among us who are most inclined at the +present moment to declare that the institutions of the United States +have failed, can at any rate only declare that they have failed in +their finality; that they have shown themselves to be insufficient to +carry on the nation in its advancing strides through all times. They +cannot deny that an amount of success and prosperity, much greater +than the nation even expected for itself, has been achieved under +this constitution and in connection with it. If it be so they cannot +disbelieve in it. Let those who now say that it is insufficient, +consider what their prophecies regarding it would have been had they +been called on to express their opinions concerning it when it was +proposed in 1787. If the future as it has since come forth had then +been foretold for it, would not such a prophecy have been a prophecy +of success? That constitution is now at the period of its hardest +trial, and at this moment one may hardly dare to speak of it with +triumph; but looking at the nation even in its present position, I +think I am justified in saying that its constitution is one in which +no Englishman can disbelieve. When I also say that it is one which +every Frenchman must envy, perhaps I am improperly presuming that +Frenchmen could not look at it with Englishmen's eyes. + +When the constitution came to be written, a man had arisen in the +States who was peculiarly suited for the work in hand; he was one +of those men to whom the world owes much, and of whom the world in +general knows but little. This was Alexander Hamilton, who alone on +the part of the great State of New York signed the constitution of +the United States. The other States sent two, three, four, or more +delegates; New York sent Hamilton alone; but in sending him New York +sent more to the constitution than all the other States together. I +should be hardly saying too much for Hamilton if I were to declare +that all those parts of the constitution emanated from him in which +permanent political strength has abided. And yet his name has not +been spread abroad widely in men's mouths. Of Jefferson, Franklin, +and Madison, we have all heard; our children speak of them and they +are household words in the nursery of history. Of Hamilton however it +may, I believe, be said that he was greater than any of those. + +Without going with minuteness into the early contests of democracy +in the United States, I think I may say that there soon arose two +parties, each probably equally anxious in the cause of freedom, +one of which was conspicuous for its French predilections, and the +other for its English aptitudes. It was the period of the French +revolution,--the time when the French revolution had in it as yet +something of promise, and had not utterly disgraced itself. To many +in America the French theory of democracy not unnaturally endeared +itself, and foremost among these was Thomas Jefferson. He was the +father of those politicians in the States who have since taken the +name of democrats, and in accordance with whose theory it has come to +pass that everything has been referred to the universal suffrage of +the people. James Madison, who succeeded Jefferson as President, was +a pupil in this school, as indeed have been most of the Presidents of +the United States. At the head of the other party, from which through +various denominations have sprung those who now call themselves +republicans, was Alexander Hamilton. I believe I may say that all the +political sympathies of George Washington were with the same school. +Washington, however, was rather a man of feeling and of action, than +of theoretical policy or speculative opinion. When the constitution +was written, Jefferson was in France, having been sent thither as +minister from the United States, and he therefore was debarred from +concerning himself personally in the matter. His views, however, +were represented by Madison, and it is now generally understood that +the Constitution, as it stands, is the joint work of Madison and +Hamilton.* The democratic bias, of which it necessarily contains +much, and without which it could not have obtained the consent of +the people, was furnished by Madison; but the conservative elements, +of which it possesses much more than superficial observers of the +American form of government are wont to believe, came from Hamilton. + + *It should, perhaps, be explained that the views of Madison + were originally not opposed to those of Hamilton. Madison, + however, gradually adopted the policy of Jefferson,--his policy + rather than his philosophy. + +The very preamble of the constitution at once declares that the +people of the different States do hereby join themselves together +with the view of forming themselves into one nation. "We, the +people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, +establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the +common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings +of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish +this constitution for the United States of America." Here a great +step was made towards centralization,--towards one national +government and the binding together of the States into one nation. +But from that time down to the present, the contest has been going +on, sometimes openly and sometimes only within the minds of men, +between the still alleged sovereignty of the individual States and +the acknowledged sovereignty of the central Congress and central +Government. The disciples of Jefferson,--even though they have +not known themselves to be his disciples,--have been carrying on +that fight for State rights which has ended in secession; and the +disciples of Hamilton,--certainly not knowing themselves to be his +disciples,--have been making that stand for central government, and +for the one acknowledged republic, which is now at work in opposing +secession, and which, even though secession should to some extent +be accomplished, will, we may hope, nevertheless, and not the less +on account of such secession, conquer and put down the spirit of +democracy. + +The political contest of parties which is being waged now, and which +has been waged throughout the history of the United States, has +been pursued on one side in support of that idea of an undivided +nationality of which I have spoken,--of a nationality in which the +interests of a part should be esteemed as the interests of the whole; +and on the other side it has been pursued in opposition to that idea. +I will not here go into the interminable question of slavery,--though +it is on that question that the southern or democratic States have +most loudly declared their own sovereign rights and their aversion to +national interference. Were I to do so I should fail in my present +object of explaining the nature of the constitution of the United +States. But I protest against any argument which shall be used to +show that the constitution has failed because it has allowed slavery +to produce the present division among the States. I myself think that +the Southern or Gulf States will go. I will not pretend to draw the +exact line, or to say how many of them are doomed; but I believe that +South Carolina with Georgia, and perhaps five or six others, will be +extruded from the Union. But their very extrusion will be a political +success, and will, in fact, amount to a virtual acknowledgment in +the body of the Union of the truth of that system for which the +conservative republican party has contended. If the North obtain +the power of settling that question of boundary, the abandonment of +those southern States will be a success, even though the privilege of +retaining them be the very point for which the North is now in arms. + +The first clause of the constitution declares that all the +legislative powers granted by the constitution shall be vested +in a Congress, which shall consist of a Senate and of a House of +Representatives. The House of Representatives is to be rechosen every +two years, and shall be elected by the people, such persons in each +State having votes for the national Congress as have votes for the +legislature of their own States. If therefore South Carolina should +choose--as she has chosen--to declare that the electors of her own +legislature shall possess a property qualification, the electors +of members of Congress from South Carolina must also have that +qualification. In Massachusetts universal suffrage now prevails, +although it is not long since a low property qualification prevailed +even in Massachusetts. It therefore follows that members of the House +of Representatives in Congress need by no means be all chosen on the +same principle. As a fact, universal suffrage* and vote by ballot, +that is by open voting papers, prevail in the States, but they do not +so prevail by virtue of any enactment of the constitution. The laws +of the States, however, require that the voter shall have been a +resident in the State for some period, and generally either deny +the right of voting to negroes, or so hamper that privilege that +practically it amounts to the same thing. + + *Perhaps the better word would have been manhood suffrage; + and even that word should be taken with certain restrictions. + Aliens, minors, convicts, and men who pay no taxes cannot vote. + In some States none can vote unless they can read and write. + In some there is a property qualification. In all there are + special restrictions against negroes. There is in none an + absolutely universal suffrage. But I keep the name as it best + expresses to us in England the system of franchise which has + practically come to prevail in the United States. + + +The Senate of the United States is composed of two senators from each +State. These senators are chosen for six years, and are elected in a +manner which shows the conservative tendency of the constitution with +more signification than perhaps any other rule which it contains. +This branch of Congress, which, as I shall presently endeavour to +show, is by far the more influential of the two, is not in any way +elected by the people. "The Senate of the United States shall be +composed of two senators from each State, _chosen by the legislature +thereof_, for six years, and each senator shall have one voice." +The Senate sent to Congress is therefore elected by the State +legislatures. Each State legislature has two Houses; and the senators +sent from that State to Congress are either chosen by vote of the +two Houses voting together--which is, I believe, the mode adopted +in most States, or are voted for in the two Houses separately--in +which cases, when different candidates have been nominated, the +two Houses confer by committees and settle the matter between them. +The conservative purpose of the constitution is here sufficiently +evident. The intention has been to take the election of the senators +away from the people, and to confide it to that body in each State +which may be regarded as containing its best trusted citizens. It +removes the senators far away from the democratic element, and +renders them liable to the necessity of no popular canvas. Nor am I +aware that the constitution has failed in keeping the ground which it +intended to hold in this matter. On some points its selected rocks +and chosen standing ground have slipped from beneath its feet, owing +to the weakness of words in defining and making solid the intended +prohibitions against democracy. The wording of the constitution has +been regarded by the people as sacred; but the people has considered +itself justified in opposing the spirit as long as it revered the +letter of the constitution. And this was natural. For the letter +of the constitution can be read by all men; but its spirit can be +understood comparatively but by few. As regards the election of the +senators, I believe that it has been fairly made by the legislatures +of the different States. I have not heard it alleged that members +of the State legislatures have been frequently constrained by +the outside popular voice to send this or that man as senator to +Washington. It was clearly not the intention of those who wrote the +constitution that they should be so constrained. But the Senators +themselves in Washington have submitted to restraint. On subjects in +which the people are directly interested they submit to instructions +from the legislatures which have sent them as to the side on which +they shall vote, and justify themselves in voting against their +convictions by the fact that they have received such instructions. +Such a practice, even with the members of a House which has been +directly returned by popular election, is, I think, false to the +intention of the system. It has clearly been intended that confidence +should be put in the chosen candidate for the term of his duty, +and that the electors are to be bound in the expression of their +opinion by his sagacity and patriotism for that term. A member of +a representative House so chosen, who votes at the bidding of his +constituency in opposition to his convictions, is manifestly false to +his charge, and may be presumed to be thus false in deference to his +own personal interests, and with a view to his own future standing +with his constituents. Pledges before election may be fair, because +a pledge given is after all but the answer to a question asked. A +voter may reasonably desire to know a candidate's opinion on any +matter of political interest before he votes for or against him. +The representative when returned should be free from the necessity +of further pledges. But if this be true with a House elected by +popular suffrage, how much more than true must it be with a chamber +collected together as the Senate of the United States is collected! +Nevertheless it is the fact that many senators, especially those +who have been sent to the House as democrats, do allow the State +legislatures to dictate to them their votes, and that they do hold +themselves absolved from the personal responsibility of their +votes by such dictation. This is one place in which the rock which +was thought to have been firm has slipped away, and the sands of +democracy have made their way through. But with reference to this it +is always in the power of the Senate to recover its own ground, and +re-establish its own dignity; to the people in this matter the words +of the constitution give no authority, and all that is necessary for +the recovery of the old practice is a more conservative tendency +throughout the country generally. That there is such a conservative +tendency no one can doubt; the fear is whether it may not work too +quickly and go too far. + +In speaking of these instructions given to senators at Washington, +I should explain that such instructions are not given by all States, +nor are they obeyed by all senators. Occasionally they are made in +the form of requests, the word "instruct" being purposely laid aside. +Requests of the same kind are also made to representatives, who, as +they are not returned by the State legislatures, are not considered +to be subject to such instructions. The form used is as follows: "We +instruct our senators and request our representatives," &c. &c. + +The senators are elected for six years, but the same Senate does not +sit entire throughout that term. The whole chamber is divided into +three equal portions or classes, and a portion goes out at the end of +every second year; so that a third of the Senate comes in afresh with +every new House of Representatives. The Vice-President of the United +States, who is elected with the President, and who is not a senator +by election from any State, is the ex-officio President of the +Senate. Should the President of the United States vacate his seat +by death or otherwise, the Vice-President becomes President of the +United States; and in such case the Senate elects its own President +pro tempore. + +In speaking of the Senate, I must point out a matter to which the +constitution does not allude, but which is of the gravest moment in +the political fabric of the nation. Each State sends two senators +to Congress. These two are sent altogether independently of the +population which they represent, or of the number of members which +the same State supplies to the Lower House. When the constitution +was framed, Delaware was to send one member to the House of +Representatives, and Pennsylvania eight; nevertheless, each of these +States sent two senators. It would seem strange that a young people, +commencing business as a nation on a basis intended to be democratic, +should consent to a system so directly at variance with the theory of +popular representation. It reminds one of the old days when Yorkshire +returned two members, and Rutlandshire two also. And the discrepancy +has greatly increased as young States have been added to the Union, +while the old States have increased in population. New York, with a +population of about 4,000,000, and with thirty-three members in the +House of Representatives, sends two senators to Congress. The new +State of Oregon, with a population of 50,000 or 60,000, and with one +member in the House of Representatives, sends also two senators to +Congress. But though it would seem that in such a distribution of +legislative power, the young nation was determined to preserve some +of the old fantastic traditions of the mother-country which it had +just repudiated; the fact, I believe, is that this system, apparently +so opposed to all democratic tendencies, was produced and specially +insisted upon by democracy itself. Where would be the State +sovereignty and individual existence of Rhode Island and Delaware, +unless they could maintain, in at least one House of Congress, their +State equality with that of all other States in the Union? In those +early days, when the constitution was being framed, there was nothing +to force the small States into a Union with those whose populations +preponderated. Each State was sovereign in its municipal system, +having preserved the boundaries of the old colony, together with the +liberties and laws given to it under its old colonial charter. A +union might be, and no doubt was, desirable; but it was to be a union +of sovereign States, each retaining equal privileges in that union, +and not a fusion of the different populations into one homogeneous +whole. No State was willing to abandon its own individuality, and +least of all were the small States willing to do so. It was therefore +ordained that the House of Representatives should represent the +people, and that the Senate should represent the States. + +From that day to the present time the arrangement of which I am +speaking has enabled the democratic or southern party to contend +at a great advantage with the republicans of the North. When the +constitution was founded, the seven northern States--I call those +northern which are now free-soil States, and those southern in which +the institution of slavery now prevails--the seven northern States +were held to be entitled by their population to send thirty-five +members to the House of Representatives, and they sent fourteen +members to the Senate. The six southern States were entitled to +thirty members in the Lower House, and to twelve senators. Thus the +proportion was about equal for the North and South. But now,--or +rather in 1860, when secession commenced,--the northern States, +owing to the increase of population in the North, sent one hundred +and fifty representatives to Congress, having nineteen States and +thirty-eight senators; whereas the South, with fifteen States and +thirty senators, was entitled by its population to only ninety +representatives, although by a special rule in its favour, which +I will presently explain, it was in fact allowed a greater number +of representatives in proportion to its population than the North. +Had an equal balance been preserved, the South, with its ninety +representatives in the Lower House, would have but twenty-three +senators, instead of thirty, in the Upper.* But these numbers +indicate to us the recovery of political influence in the North, +rather than the pride of the power of the South; for the South, +in its palmy days, had much more in its favour than I have above +described as its position in 1860. Kansas had then just become a +free-soil State, after a terrible struggle, and shortly previous +to that Oregon and Minnesota, also free States, had been added to +the Union. Up to that date the slave States sent thirty senators to +Congress, and the free States only thirty-two. In addition to this +when Texas was annexed and converted into a State, a clause was +inserted into the Act giving authority for the future subdivision +of that State into four different States as its population should +increase, thereby enabling the South to add senators to its own party +from time to time, as the northern States might increase in number. + + *It is worthy of note that the new northern and western States + have been brought into the Union by natural increase and the + spread of population. But this has not been so with the new + southern States. Louisiana and Florida were purchased, and Texas + was--annexed. + +And here I must explain, in order that the nature of the contest may +be understood, that the senators from the South maintained themselves +ever in a compact body, voting together, true to each other, +disciplined as a party, understanding the necessity of yielding in +small things in order that their general line of policy might be +maintained. But there was no such system, no such observance of +political tactics among the senators of the North. Indeed, they +appear to have had no general line of politics, having been divided +among themselves on various matters. Many had strong southern +tendencies, and many more were willing to obtain official power by +the help of southern votes. There was no great bond of union among +them, as slavery was among the senators from the South. And thus, +from these causes, the power of the Senate and the power of the +Government fell into the hands of the southern party. + +I am aware that in going into these matters here I am departing +somewhat from the subject of which this chapter is intended to treat; +but I do not know that I could explain in any shorter way the manner +in which those rules of the constitution have worked by which the +composition of the Senate is fixed. That State basis, as opposed to a +basis of population in the Upper House of Congress, has been the one +great political weapon, both of offence and defence, in the hands of +the democratic party. And yet I am not prepared to deny that great +wisdom was shown in the framing of the constitution of the Senate. It +was the object of none of the politicians then at work to create a +code of rules for the entire governance of a single nation such as +is England or France. Nor, had any American politician of the time +so desired, would he have had reasonable hope of success. A federal +union of separate sovereign States was the necessity, as it was also +the desire, of all those who were concerned in the American policy of +the day; and I think it may be understood and maintained that no such +federal union would have been just, or could have been accepted by +the smaller States, which did not in some direct way recognize their +equality with the larger States. It is moreover to be observed, that +in this, as in all matters, the claims of the minority were treated +with indulgence. No ordinance of the constitution is made in a +niggardly spirit. It would seem as though they who met together to +do the work had been actuated by no desire for selfish preponderance +or individual influence. No ambition to bind close by words which +shall be exacting as well as exact is apparent. A very broad power of +interpretation is left to those who were to be the future +interpreters of the written document. + +It is declared that "Representation and direct taxes shall be +apportioned among the several States which may be included within +this Union according to their respective numbers," thereby meaning +that representation and taxation in the several States shall be +adjusted according to the population. This clause ordains that +throughout all the States a certain amount of population shall +return a member to the Lower House of Congress,--say one member to +100,000 persons, as is I believe about the present proportion,--and +that direct taxation shall be levied according to the number of +representatives. If New York return thirty-three members and Kansas +one, on New York shall be levied, for the purposes of the United +States' revenue, thirty-three times as much direct taxation as on +Kansas. This matter of direct taxation was not then, nor has it been +since, matter of much moment. No direct taxation has hitherto been +levied in the United States for national purposes. But the time has +now come when this proviso will be a terrible stumbling-block in the +way. + +But before we go into that matter of taxation, I must explain how the +South was again favoured with reference to its representation. As a +matter of course no slaves, or even negroes--no men of colour--were +to vote in the southern States. Therefore, one would say, that +in counting up the people with reference to the number of the +representatives, the coloured population should be ignored +altogether. But it was claimed on behalf of the South that their +property in slaves should be represented, and in compliance with this +claim, although no slave can vote or in any way demand the services +of a representative, the coloured people are reckoned among the +population. When the numbers of the free persons are counted, to this +number is added "three-fifths of all other persons." Five slaves are +thus supposed to represent three white persons. From the wording, +one would be led to suppose that there was some other category into +which a man might be put besides that of free or slave! But it may +be observed, that on this subject of slavery the framers of the +constitution were tender-mouthed. They never speak of slavery or +of a slave. It is necessary that the subject should be mentioned, +and therefore we hear first of persons other than free, and then of +persons bound to labour! + +Such were the rules laid down for the formation of Congress, and the +letter of those rules has, I think, been strictly observed. I have +not thought it necessary to give all the clauses, but I believe I +have stated those which are essential to a general understanding of +the basis upon which Congress is founded. A reference to the Appendix +will show all those which I have omitted. + +The constitution ordains that members of both the Houses shall be +paid for their time, but it does not decree the amount. "The senators +and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, +to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United +States." In the remarks which I have made as to the present Congress +I have spoken of the amount now allowed. The understanding, I +believe, is that the pay shall be enough for the modest support of +a man who is supposed to have raised himself above the heads of the +crowd. Much may be said in favour of this payment of legislators, +but very much may also be said against it. There was a time when our +members of the House of Commons were entitled to payment for their +services, and when, at any rate, some of them took the money. It +may be that with a new nation such an arrangement was absolutely +necessary. Men whom the people could trust, and who would have been +able to give up their time without payment, would not have probably +been found in a new community. The choice of senators and of +representatives would have been so limited that the legislative power +would have fallen into the hands of a few rich men. Indeed it may be +said that such payment was absolutely necessary in the early days +of the life of the Union. But no one, I think, will deny that the +tone of both Houses would be raised by the gratuitous service of the +legislators. It is well known that politicians find their way into +the Senate and into the Chamber of Representatives solely with a +view to the loaves and fishes. The very word "politician" is foul +and unsavoury throughout the States, and means rather a political +blackleg than a political patriot. It is useless to blink this matter +in speaking of the politics and policy of the United States. The +corruption of the venial politicians of the nation stinks aloud in +the nostrils of all men. It behoves the country to look to this. +It is time now that she should do so. The people of the nation are +educated and clever. The women are bright and beautiful. Her charity +is profuse; her philanthropy is eager and true; her national ambition +is noble and honest,--honest in the cause of civilization. But she +has soiled herself with political corruption, and has disgraced the +cause of republican government by the dirt of those whom she has +placed in her high places. Let her look to it now. She is nobly +ambitious of reputation throughout the earth; she desires to be +called good as well as great; to be regarded not only as powerful, +but also as beneficent. She is creating an army; she is forging +cannon and preparing to build impregnable ships of war. But all these +will fail to satisfy her pride, unless she can cleanse herself from +that corruption by which her political democracy has debased itself. +A politician should be a man worthy of all honour, in that he loves +his country; and not one worthy of all contempt, in that he robs his +country. + +I must not be understood as saying that every senator and +representative who takes his pay is wrong in taking it. Indeed, I +have already expressed an opinion that such payments were at first +necessary, and I by no means now say that the necessity has as yet +disappeared. In the minds of thorough democrats it will be considered +much that the poorest man of the people should be enabled to go into +the legislature, if such poorest man be worthy of that honour. I am +not a thorough democrat, and consider that more would be gained by +obtaining in the legislature that education, demeanour, and freedom +from political temptation which easy circumstances produce. I am not, +however, on this account inclined to quarrel with the democrats,--not +on that account if they can so manage their affairs that their poor +and popular politicians shall be fairly honest men. But I am a +thorough republican, regarding our own English form of government +as the most purely republican that I know, and as such I have a +close and warm sympathy with those trans-Atlantic anti-monarchical +republicans who are endeavouring to prove to the world that they have +at length founded a political Utopia. I for one do not grudge them +all the good they can do, all the honour they can win. But I grieve +over the evil name which now taints them, and which has accompanied +that wider spread of democracy which the last twenty years has +produced. This longing for universal suffrage in all things--in +voting for the President, in voting for judges, in voting for the +representatives, in dictating to senators, has come up since the days +of President Jackson, and with it has come corruption and unclean +hands. Democracy must look to it, or the world at large will declare +her to have failed. + +One would say that at any rate the Senate might be filled with unpaid +servants of the public. Each State might surely find two men who +could afford to attend to the public weal of their country without +claiming a compensation for their time. In England we find no +difficulty in being so served. Those cities among us in which the +democratic element most strongly abounds, can procure representatives +to their mind--even though the honour of filling the position is not +only not remunerative, but is very costly. I cannot but think that +the Senate of the United States would stand higher in the public +estimation of its own country if it were an unpaid body of men. + +It is enjoined that no person holding any office under the United +States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in +office. At first sight such a rule as this appears to be good in +its nature; but a comparison of the practice of the United States' +Government with that of our own makes me think that this embargo +on members of the legislative bodies is a mistake. It prohibits +the President's ministers from a seat in either House, and thereby +relieves them from the weight of that responsibility to which our +ministers are subjected. It is quite true that the United States' +ministers cannot be responsible as are our ministers, seeing that +the President himself is responsible and that the Queen is not so. +Indeed, according to the theory of the American constitution, the +President has no ministers. The constitution speaks only of the +principal officers of the executive departments. "He," the President, +"may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each +of the executive departments." But in practice he has his cabinet, +and the irresponsibility of that cabinet would practically cease +if the members of it were subjected to the questionings of the two +Houses. With us the rule which prohibits servants of the State from +going into Parliament is, like many of our constitutional rules, hard +to be defined, and yet perfectly understood. It may perhaps be said, +with the nearest approach to a correct definition, that permanent +servants of the State may not go into Parliament, and that those may +do so whose services are political, depending for the duration of +their term on the duration of the existing ministry. But even this +would not be exact, seeing that the Master of the Rolls and the +officers of the army and navy can sit in Parliament. The absence +of the President's ministers from Congress certainly occasions +much confusion, or rather prohibits a more thorough political +understanding between the executive and the legislative than now +exists. In speaking of the Government of the United States in the +next chapter, I shall be constrained to allude again to this +subject.* + + *It will be alleged by Americans that the introduction into + Congress of the President's ministers would alter all the + existing relations of the President and of Congress, and would + at once produce that Parliamentary form of Government which + England possesses, and which the States have chosen to avoid. + Such a change would elevate Congress, and depress the President. + No doubt this is true. Such elevation, however, and such + depression seem to me to be the two things needed. + +The duties of the House of Representatives are solely legislative. +Those of the Senate are legislative and executive--as with us those +of the Upper House are legislative and judicial. The House of +Representatives is always open to the public. The Senate is so open +when it is engaged on legislative work; but it is closed to the +public when engaged in executive session. No treaties can be made by +the President, and no appointments to high offices confirmed without +the consent of the Senate; and this consent must be given--as regards +the confirmation of treaties--by two-thirds of the members present. +This law gives to the Senate the power of debating with closed +doors upon the nature of all treaties, and upon the conduct of the +Government as evinced in the nomination of the officers of State. +It also gives to the Senate a considerable control over the foreign +relations of the Government. I believe that this power is often used, +and that by it the influence of the Senate is raised much above +that of the Lower House. This influence is increased again by the +advantage of that superior statecraft and political knowledge which +the six years of the senator gives him over the two years of the +representative. The tried representative, moreover, very frequently +blossoms into a senator; but a senator does not frequently fade into +a representative. Such occasionally is the case, and it is not even +unconstitutional for an ex-President to re-appear in either House. +Mr. Benton, after thirty years' service in the Senate, sat in the +House of Representatives. Mr. Crittenden, who was returned as senator +by Kentucky, I think seven times, now sits in the Lower House; and +John Quincy Adams appeared as a representative from Massachusetts +after he had filled the Presidential chair. + +And, moreover, the Senate of the United States is not debarred from +an interference with money bills, as the House of Lords is debarred +with us. "All bills for raising revenue," says the seventh section +of the first article of the constitution, "shall originate with the +House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with +amendments as on other bills." By this the Senate is enabled to have +an authority in the money matters of the nation almost equal to that +held by the Lower House,--an authority quite sufficient to preserve +to it the full influence of its other powers. With us the House +of Commons is altogether in the ascendant, because it holds and +jealously keeps to itself the exclusive command of the public purse. + +Congress can levy custom duties in the United States, and always has +done so; hitherto the national revenue has been exclusively raised +from custom duties. It cannot levy duties on imports. It can levy +excise duties, and is now doing so; hitherto it has not done so. It +can levy direct taxes, such as an income-tax and a property-tax; it +hitherto has not done so, but now must do so. It must do so, I think +I am justified in saying; but its power of doing this is so hampered +by constitutional enactment, that it would seem that the constitution +as regards this heading must be altered before any scheme can be +arranged by which a moderately just income-tax can be levied and +collected. This difficulty I have already mentioned, but perhaps it +will be well that I should endeavour to make the subject more plain. +It is specially declared, "That all duties, imposts, and excises +shall be uniform throughout the United States." And again, "That no +capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion +to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken." And +again, in the words before quoted, "Representatives and direct taxes +shall be apportioned among the several States which shall be included +in this Union, according to their respective numbers." By these +repeated rules it has been intended to decree that the separate +States shall bear direct taxation according to their population and +the consequent number of their representatives; and this intention +has been made so clear, that no direct taxation can be levied in +opposition to it without an evident breach of the constitution. To +explain the way in which this will work, I will name the two States +of Rhode Island and Iowa as opposed to each other, and the two States +of Massachusetts and Indiana as opposed to each other. Rhode Island +and Massachusetts are wealthy Atlantic States, containing, as regards +enterprise and commercial success, the cream of the population of the +United States. Comparing them in the ratio of population, I believe +that they are richer than any other States. They return between them +thirteen representatives, Rhode Island sending two and Massachusetts +eleven. Iowa and Indiana also send thirteen representatives, Iowa +sending two, and being thus equal to Rhode Island; Indiana sending +eleven and being thus equal to Massachusetts. Iowa and Indiana are +western States; and though I am not prepared to say that they are +the poorest States of the Union, I can assert that they are exactly +opposite in their circumstances to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. +The two Atlantic States of New England are old established, rich, +and commercial. The two western States I have named are full of +new immigrants, are comparatively poor, and are agricultural. +Nevertheless any direct taxation levied on those in the East and +on those in the West must be equal in its weight. Iowa must pay as +much as Rhode Island; Indiana must pay as much as Massachusetts. +But Rhode Island and Massachusetts could pay without the sacrifice +of any comfort to its people, without any sensible suffering, an +amount of direct taxation which would crush the States of Iowa and +Indiana,--which indeed no tax-gatherer could collect out of those +States. Rhode Island and Massachusetts could with their ready money +buy Iowa and Indiana; and yet the income-tax to be collected from +the poor States is to be the same in amount as that collected from +the rich States. Within each individual State the total amount of +income-tax or of other direct taxation to be levied from that State +may be apportioned as the State may think fit; but an income-tax of +two per cent. on Rhode Island would probably produce more than an +income-tax of ten per cent. in Iowa; whereas Rhode Island could pay +an income-tax of ten per cent. easier than could Iowa one of two per +cent. + +It would in fact appear that the constitution as at present framed is +fatal to all direct taxation. Any law for the collection of direct +taxation levied under the constitution would produce internecine +quarrel between the western States and those which border on the +Atlantic. The western States would not submit to the taxation. The +difficulty which one here feels is that which always attends an +attempt at finality in political arrangements. One would be inclined +to say at once that the law should be altered, and that as the money +required is for the purposes of the Union and for State purposes, +such a change should be made as would enable Congress to levy an +income-tax on the general income of the nation. But Congress cannot +go beyond the constitution. + +It is true that the constitution is not final, and that it contains +an express article ordaining the manner in which it may be amended. +And perhaps I may as well explain here the manner in which this can +be done, although by doing so, I am departing from the order in which +the constitution is written. It is not final, and amendments have +been made to it. But the making of such amendments is an operation +so ponderous and troublesome, that the difficulty attached to any +such change envelops the constitution with many of the troubles of +finality. With us there is nothing beyond an act of parliament. An +act of parliament with us cannot be unconstitutional. But no such +power has been confided to Congress, or to Congress and the President +together. No amendment of the constitution can be made without +the sanction of the State legislatures. Congress may propose any +amendments, as to the expediency of which two-thirds of both Houses +shall be agreed; but before such amendments can be accepted they must +be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States, or +by conventions in three-fourths of the States, "as the one or the +other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress." Or Congress, +instead of proposing the amendments, may, on an application from the +legislatures of two-thirds of the different States, call a convention +for the proposing of them. In which latter case the ratification by +the different States must be made after the same fashion as that +required in the former case. I do not know that I have succeeded +in making clearly intelligible the circumstances under which the +constitution can be amended; but I think I may have succeeded in +explaining that those circumstances are difficult and tedious. In a +matter of taxation why should States agree to an alteration proposed +with the very object of increasing their proportion of the national +burden? But unless such States will agree,--unless Rhode Island, +Massachusetts, and New York will consent to put their own necks into +the yoke,--direct taxation cannot be levied on them in a manner +available for national purposes. I do believe that Rhode Island and +Massachusetts at present possess a patriotism sufficient for such an +act. But the mode of doing the work will create disagreement, or at +any rate, tedious delay and difficulty. How shall the constitution be +constitutionally amended while one-third of the States are in revolt? + +In the eighth section of its first article the Constitution gives +a list of the duties which Congress shall perform,--of things, in +short, which it shall do, or shall have power to do:--To raise taxes; +to regulate commerce and the naturalization of citizens; to coin +money and protect it when coined; to establish postal communication; +to make laws for defence of patents and copyrights; to constitute +national courts of law inferior to the Supreme Court; to punish +piracies; to declare war; to raise, pay for, and govern armies, +navies, and militia; and to exercise exclusive legislation in a +certain district which shall contain the seat of Government of the +United States, and which is therefore to be regarded as belonging to +the nation at large, and not to any particular State. This district +is now called the district of Columbia. It is situated on the Potomac +and contains the city of Washington. + +Then the ninth section of the same article declares what Congress +shall not do. Certain immigration shall not be prohibited; _the +privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended_, +except under certain circumstances; no ex post facto law shall be +passed; no direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the +census; no tax shall be laid on exports; no money shall be drawn from +the treasury but by legal appropriation; no title of nobility shall +be granted. + +The above are lists or catalogues of the powers which Congress has, +and of the powers which Congress has not; of what Congress may do, +and of what Congress may not do; and having given them thus seriatim, +I may here perhaps be best enabled to say a few words as to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the +United States. It is generally known that this privilege has been +suspended during the existence of the present rebellion very many +times; that this has been done by the executive, and not by Congress; +and that it is maintained by the executive, and by those who defend +the conduct of the now acting executive of the United States, that +the power of suspending the writ has been given by the constitution +to the President, and not to Congress. I confess that I cannot +understand how any man, familiar either with the wording or with the +spirit of the constitution should hold such an argument. To me it +appears manifest that the executive, in suspending the privilege of +the writ without the authority of Congress, has committed a breach +of the constitution. Were the case one referring to our British +constitution, a plain man, knowing little of Parliamentary usage, +and nothing of law lore, would probably feel some hesitation in +expressing any decided opinion on such a subject, seeing that our +constitution is unwritten. But the intention has been that every +citizen of the United States should know and understand the rules +under which he is to live,--and he that runs may read. + +As this matter has been argued by Mr. Horace Binney, a lawyer of +Philadelphia, much trusted, of very great and of deserved eminence +throughout the States, in a pamphlet in which he defends the +suspension of the privilege of the writ by the President, I will take +the position of the question as summed up by him in his last page, +and compare it with that clause in the constitution by which the +suspension of the privilege under certain circumstances is decreed; +and to enable me to do this I will, in the first place, quote the +words of the clause in question:-- + +"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended +unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may +require it." It is the second clause of that section which states +what Congress shall not do. + +Mr. Binney argues as follows:--"The conclusion of the whole matter +is this: that the constitution itself is the law of the privilege, +and of the exception to it; that the exception is expressed in the +constitution, and that the constitution gives effect to the act of +suspension when the conditions occur; that the conditions consist of +two matters of fact,--one a naked matter of fact, and the other a +matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, that is to say, rebellion and +the public danger, or the requirement of public safety." By these +words Mr. Binney intends to imply that the constitution itself gave +the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and itself prescribes the +taking away of that privilege under certain circumstances. But this +is not so. The constitution does not prescribe the suspension of the +privilege of the writ under any circumstances. It says that it shall +not be suspended except under certain circumstances. Mr. Binney's +argument, if I understand it, then goes on as follows. As the +constitution prescribes the circumstances under which the privilege +of the writ shall be suspended, the one circumstance being the naked +matter-of-fact rebellion, and the other circumstance the public +safety supposed to have been endangered by such rebellion,--which Mr. +Binney calls a matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, the constitution +must be presumed itself to suspend the privilege of the writ. Whether +the President or Congress be the agent of the constitution in this +suspension is not matter of moment. Either can only be an agent, +and as Congress cannot act executively, whereas the President must +ultimately be charged with the executive administration of the +order for that suspension, which has in fact been issued by the +constitution itself, therefore the power of exercising the suspension +of the writ may properly be presumed to be in the hands of the +President, and not to be in the hands of Congress. + +If I follow Mr. Binney's argument, it amounts to so much. But it +seems to me that Mr. Binney is wrong in his premises, and wrong in +his conclusion. The article of the constitution in question does not +define the conditions under which the privilege of the writ shall +be suspended. It simply states that this privilege shall never be +suspended, except under certain conditions. It shall not be suspended +unless when the public safety may require such suspension on account +of rebellion or invasion. Rebellion or invasion is not necessarily to +produce such suspension. There is indeed no naked matter of fact to +guide either President or Congress in the matter, and therefore I say +that Mr. Binney is wrong in his premises. Rebellion or invasion might +occur twenty times over, and might even endanger the public safety, +without justifying the suspension of the privilege of the writ +under the constitution. I say also that Mr. Binney is wrong in his +conclusion. The public safety must require the suspension before the +suspension can be justified, and such requirement must be a matter +for judgment, and for the exercise of discretion. Whether or no there +shall be any suspension is a matter for deliberation,--not one simply +for executive action, as though it were already ordered. There is no +matter-of-fact conclusion from facts. Should invasion or rebellion +occur, and should the public safety, in consequence of such rebellion +or invasion, require the suspension of the privilege of the writ, +then, and only then, may the privilege be suspended. But to whom +is the power, or rather the duty, of exercising this discretion +delegated? Mr. Binney says that "there is no express delegation of +the power in the constitution." I maintain that Mr. Binney is again +wrong, and that the constitution does expressly delegate the power, +not to the President, but to Congress. This is done so clearly, to my +mind, that I cannot understand the misunderstanding which has existed +in the States upon the subject. The first article of the constitution +treats "of the legislature." The second article treats "of the +executive." The third treats "of the judiciary." After that there +are certain "miscellaneous articles," so called. The eighth section +of the first article gives, as I have said before, a list of things +which the legislature or Congress shall do. The ninth section gives +a list of things which the legislature or Congress shall not do. The +second item in this list is the prohibition of any suspension of +the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, except under certain +circumstances. This prohibition is therefore expressly placed upon +Congress, and this prohibition contains the only authority under +which the privilege can be constitutionally suspended. Then comes the +article on the executive, which defines the powers that the President +shall exercise. In that article there is no word referring to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ. He that runs may read. + +I say, therefore, that Mr. Lincoln's Government has committed a +breach of the constitution in taking upon itself to suspend the +privilege;--a breach against the letter of the constitution. It has +assumed a power which the constitution has not given it,--which, +indeed, the constitution, by placing it in the hands of another body, +has manifestly declined to put into the hands of the executive; +and it has also committed a breach against the spirit of the +constitution. The chief purport of the constitution is to guard the +liberties of the people, and to confide to a deliberative body the +consideration of all circumstances by which those liberties may be +affected. The President shall command the army; but Congress shall +raise and support the army. Congress shall declare war. Congress +shall coin money. Congress, by one of its bodies, shall sanction +treaties. Congress shall establish such law courts as are not +established by the constitution. Under no circumstances is the +President to decree what shall be done. But he is to do those things +which the constitution has decreed or which Congress shall decree. +It is monstrous to suppose that power over the privilege of the +writ of habeas corpus would, among such a people, and under such a +constitution, be given without limit to the chief officer, the only +condition being that there should be some rebellion. Such rebellion +might be in Utah territory; or some trouble in the uttermost bounds +of Texas would suffice. Any invasion, such as an inroad by the +savages of Old Mexico upon New Mexico, would justify an arbitrary +President in robbing all the people of all the States of their +liberties! A squabble on the borders of Canada would put such a power +into the hands of the President for four years; or the presence of an +English frigate in the St. Juan channel might be held to do so. I say +that such a theory is monstrous. + +And the effect of this breach of the constitution at the present day +has been very disastrous. It has taught those who have not been close +observers of the American struggle to believe that, after all, the +Americans are indifferent as to their liberties. Such pranks have +been played before high heaven by men utterly unfitted for the use +of great power, as have scared all the nations. Mr. Lincoln, the +President by whom this unconstitutional act has been done, apparently +delegated his assumed authority to his minister, Mr. Seward. Mr. +Seward has revelled in the privilege of unrestrained arrests, and has +locked men up with reason and without. He has instituted passports +and surveillance; and placed himself at the head of an omnipresent +police system with all the gusto of a Fouche, though luckily without +a Fouche's craft or cunning. The time will probably come when Mr. +Seward must pay for this,--not with his life or liberty, but with +his reputation and political name. But in the mean time his lettres +de cachet have run everywhere through the States. The pranks which +he played were absurd, and the arrests which he made were grievous. +After a while, when it became manifest that Mr. Seward had not found +a way to success, when it was seen that he had inaugurated no great +mode of putting down rebellion, he apparently lost his power in the +cabinet. The arrests ceased, the passports were discontinued, and the +prison-doors were gradually opened. Mr. Seward was deposed, not from +the cabinet, but from the premiership of the cabinet. The suspension +of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was not countermanded, +but the operation of the suspension was allowed to become less +and less onerous; and now, in April, 1862, within a year of the +commencement of the suspension, it has, I think, nearly died out. +The object in hand now is rather that of getting rid of political +prisoners, than of taking others. + +This assumption by the government of an unconstitutional power has, +as I have said, taught many lookers-on to think that the Americans +are indifferent to their liberties. I myself do not believe that +such a conclusion would be just. During the present crisis the +strong feeling of the people--that feeling which for the moment has +been dominant--has been one in favour of the government as against +rebellion. There has been a passionate resolution to support the +nationality of the nation. Men have felt that they must make +individual sacrifices, and that such sacrifices must include a +temporary suspension of some of their constitutional rights. But I +think that this temporary suspension is already regarded with jealous +eyes;--with an increasing jealousy which will have created a reaction +against such policy as that which Mr. Seward has attempted, long +before the close of Mr. Lincoln's Presidency. I know that it is wrong +in a writer to commit himself to prophecies, but I find it impossible +to write upon this subject without doing so. As I must express a +surmise on this subject, I venture to prophesy that the Americans +of the States will soon show that they are not indifferent to the +suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. On that +matter of the illegality of the suspension by the President I feel +in my own mind that there is no doubt. + +The second article of the constitution treats of the executive, and +is very short. It places the whole executive power in the hands of +the President, and explains with more detail the mode in which the +President shall be chosen, than the manner after which the duties +shall be performed. The first section states that the executive +shall be vested in a President, who shall hold his office for four +years. With him shall be chosen a Vice-President. I may here explain +that the Vice-President, as such, has no power either political or +administrative. He is, ex officio, the speaker of the Senate; and +should the President die, or be by other cause rendered unable to +act as President, the Vice-President becomes President either for +the remainder of the Presidential term or for the period of the +President's temporary absence. Twice since the constitution was +written, the President has died and the Vice-President has taken +his place. No President has vacated his position, even for a period, +through any cause other than death. + +Then come the rules under which the President and Vice-President +shall be elected,--with reference to which there has been an +amendment of the constitution subsequent to the fourth presidential +election. This was found to be necessary by the circumstances of the +contest between John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. It was +then found that the complications in the method of election created +by the original clause were all but unendurable, and the constitution +was amended. + +I will not describe in detail the present mode of election, as the +doing so would be tedious and unnecessary. Two facts I wish, however, +to make specially noticeable and clear. The first is, that the +President of the United States is now chosen by universal suffrage; +and the second is, that the constitution expressly intended that the +President should not be chosen by universal suffrage, but by a body +of men who should enjoy the confidence and fairly represent the will +of the people. The framers of the constitution intended so to write +the words, that the people themselves should have no more immediate +concern in the nomination of the President than in that of the +Senate. They intended to provide that the election should be made in +a manner which may be described as thoroughly conservative. Those +words, however, have been inefficient for their purpose. They have +not been violated. But the spirit has been violated, while the words +have been held sacred,--and the Presidential elections are now +conducted on the widest principles of universal suffrage. They are +essentially democratic. + +The arrangement, as written in the constitution, is that each State +shall appoint a body of electors equal in number to the senators and +representatives sent by that State to Congress, and that thus a body +or college of electors shall be formed equal in number to the two +joint Houses of Congress, by which the President shall be elected. No +member of Congress, however, can be appointed an elector. Thus New +York, with thirty-three representatives in the Lower House, would +name thirty-five electors; and Rhode Island, with two members in the +Lower House, would name four electors;--in each case two being added +for the two senators. + +It may perhaps be doubted whether this theory of an election by +electors has ever been truly carried out. It was probably the case +even at the election of the first Presidents after Washington, that +the electors were pledged in some informal way as to the candidate +for whom they should vote; but the very idea of an election by +electors has been abandoned since the Presidency of General Jackson. +According to the theory of the constitution the privilege and the +duty of selecting a best man as President was to be delegated to +certain best men chosen for that purpose. This was the intention of +those who framed the constitution. It may, as I have said, be doubted +whether this theory has ever availed for action; but since the days +of Jackson it has been absolutely abandoned. The intention was +sufficiently conservative. The electors to whom was to be confided +this great trust, were to be chosen in their own States as each State +might think fit. The use of universal suffrage for this purpose was +neither enjoined nor forbidden in the separate States,--was neither +treated as desirable or undesirable by the constitution. Each State +was left to judge how it would elect its own electors. But the +President himself was to be chosen by those electors and not by the +people at large. The intention is sufficiently conservative, but the +intention is not carried out. + +The electors are still chosen by the different States in conformity +with the bidding of the constitution. The constitution is exactly +followed in all its biddings, as far as the wording of it is +concerned; but the whole spirit of the document has been evaded in +the favour of democracy, and universal suffrage in the Presidential +elections has been adopted. The electors are still chosen, it is +true; but they are only chosen as the mouthpiece of the people's +choice, and not as the mind by which that choice shall be made. We +have all heard of Americans voting for a ticket,--for the democratic +ticket, or the republican ticket. All political voting in the States +is now managed by tickets. As regards these Presidential elections, +each party decides on a candidate. Even this primary decision is +a matter of voting among the party itself. When Mr. Lincoln was +nominated as its candidate by the republican party, the names of no +less than thirteen candidates were submitted to the delegates who +were sent to a convention at Chicago, assembled for the purpose of +fixing upon a candidate. At that convention, Mr. Lincoln was chosen +as the republican candidate; and in that convention was in fact +fought the battle which was won in Mr. Lincoln's favour, although +that convention was what we may call a private arrangement, wholly +irrespective of any constitutional enactment. Mr. Lincoln was then +proclaimed as the republican candidate, and all republicans were held +as bound to support him. When the time came for the constitutional +election of the electors, certain names were got together in each +State as representing the republican interest. These names formed +the republican ticket, and any man voting for them voted in fact +for Lincoln. There were three other parties, each represented by a +candidate, and each had its own ticket in the different States. It +is not to be supposed that the supporters of Mr. Lincoln were very +anxious about their ticket in Alabama, or those of Mr. Breckinridge +as to theirs in Massachusetts. In Alabama, a democratic slave-ticket +would of course prevail. In Massachusetts, a republican free-soil +ticket would do so. But it may, I think, be seen that in this way +the electors have in reality ceased to have any weight in the +elections,--have in very truth ceased to have the exercise of any +will whatever. They are mere names, and no more. Stat nominis umbra. +The election of the President is made by universal suffrage, and not +by a college of electors. The words as they are written are still +obeyed; but the constitution in fact has been violated, for the +spirit of it has been changed in its very essence. + +The President must have been born a citizen of the United States. +This is not necessary for the holder of any other office or for a +senator or representative; he must be thirty-four years old at the +time of his election. + +His executive power is almost unbounded. He is much more powerful +than any minister can be with us, and is subject to a much lighter +responsibility. He may be impeached by the House of Representatives +before the Senate, but that impeachment only goes to the removal +from office and permanent disqualification for office. But in these +days, as we all practically understand, responsibility does not mean +the fear of any great punishment, but the necessity of accounting +from day to day for public actions. A leading statesman has but +slight dread of the axe, but is in hourly fear of his opponent's +questions. The President of the United States is subject to no such +questionings; and as he does not even require a majority in either +House for the maintenance of his authority, his responsibility sits +upon him very slightly. Seeing that Mr. Buchanan has escaped any +punishment for maladministration, no President need fear the anger +of the people. + +The President is Commander-in-chief of the army and of the navy. He +can grant pardons,--as regards all offences committed against the +United States. He has no power to pardon an offence committed against +the laws of any State, and as to which the culprit has been tried +before the tribunals of that State. He can make treaties; but such +treaties are not valid till they have been confirmed by two-thirds +of the senators present in executive session. He appoints all +ambassadors and other public officers,--but subject to the +confirmation of the Senate. He can convene either or both Houses of +Congress at irregular times, and under certain circumstances can +adjourn them. His executive power is in fact almost unlimited; and +this power is solely in his own hands, as the constitution knows +nothing of the President's ministers. According to the constitution +these officers are merely the heads of his bureaux. An Englishman, +however, in considering the executive power of the President, and +in making any comparison between that and the executive power of +any officer or officers attached to the Crown in England, should +always bear in mind that the President's power, and even authority, +is confined to the Federal Government, and that he has none +with reference to the individual States. Religion, education, the +administration of the general laws which concern every man and +woman, and the real de facto Government which comes home to every +house;--these things are not in any way subject to the President of +the United States. + +His legislative power is also great. He has a veto upon all acts of +Congress. This veto is by no means a dead letter, as is the veto +of the Crown with us; but it is not absolute. The President, if he +refuses his sanction to a bill sent up to him from Congress, returns +it to that House in which it originated, with his objections in +writing. If, after that, such bill shall again pass through both the +Senate and the House of Representatives, receiving in each House the +approvals of two-thirds of those present, then such bill becomes law +without the President's sanction. Unless this be done the President's +veto stops the bill. This veto has been frequently used, but no bill +has yet been passed in opposition to it. + +The third article of the constitution treats of the judiciary of the +United States, but as I purpose to write a chapter devoted to the law +courts and lawyers of the States, I need not here describe at length +the enactments of the constitution on this head. It is ordained that +all criminal trials, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by +jury. + +There are after this certain miscellaneous articles, some of which +belong to the constitution as it stood at first, and others of which +have been since added as amendments. A citizen of one State is to +be a citizen of every State. Criminals from one State shall not +be free from pursuit in other States. Then comes a very material +enactment:--"No person held to service or labour in one State, under +the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any +law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour; +but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service +or labour may be due." In speaking of a person held to labour the +constitution intends to speak of a slave, and the article amounts to +a fugitive slave law. If a slave run away out of South Carolina and +find his way into Massachusetts, Massachusetts shall deliver him up +when called upon to do so by South Carolina. The words certainly are +clear enough. But Massachusetts strongly objects to the delivery +of such men when so desired. Such men she has delivered up, with +many groanings and much inward perturbation of spirit. But it is +understood, not in Massachusetts only, but in the free-soil States +generally, that fugitive slaves shall not be delivered up by the +ordinary action of the laws. There is a feeling strong as that which +we entertain with reference to the rendition of slaves from Canada. +With such a clause in the constitution as that, it is hardly too much +to say that no free-soil State will consent to constitutional action. +Were it expunged from the constitution, no slave State would consent +to live under it. It is a point as to which the advocates of slavery +and the enemies of slavery cannot be brought to act in union. But on +this head I have already said what little I have to say. + +New States may be admitted by Congress, but the bounds of no old +State shall be altered without the consent of such State. Congress +shall have power to rule and dispose of the territories and property +of the United States. The United States guarantee every State a +republican form of Government; but the constitution does not define +that form of Government. An ordinary citizen of the United States, +if asked, would probably say that it included that description of +franchise which I have called universal suffrage. Such, however, was +not the meaning of those who framed the constitution. The ordinary +citizen would probably also say that it excluded the use of a king, +though he would, I imagine, be able to give no good reason for saying +so. I take a republican government to be that in which the care of +the people is in the hands of the people. They may use an elected +President, an hereditary king, or a chief magistrate called by any +other name. But the magistrate, whatever be his name, must be the +servant of the people and not their lord. He must act for them and at +their bidding,--not they at his. If he do so, he is the chief officer +of a republic;--as is our Queen with us. + +The United States' constitution also guarantees to each State +protection against invasion, and, if necessary, against domestic +violence,--meaning, I presume, internal violence. The words domestic +violence might seem to refer solely to slave insurrections; but such +is not the meaning of the words. The free State of New York would be +entitled to the assistance of the Federal Government in putting down +internal violence, if unable to quell such violence by her own power. + +This constitution, and the laws of the United States made in +pursuance of it, are to be held as the supreme law of the land. +The judges of every State are to be bound thereby, let the laws +or separate constitution of such State say what they will to the +contrary. Senators and others are to be bound by oath to support +the constitution; but no religious test shall be required as a +qualification to any office. + +In the amendments to the constitution, it is enacted that Congress +shall make no law as to the establishment of any religion, or +prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and also that it shall not +abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of petition.--The +Government, however, as is well known, has taken upon itself to +abridge the freedom of the press.--The right of the people to bear +arms shall not be infringed. Then follow various clauses intended +for the security of the people in reference to the administration of +the laws. They shall not be troubled by unreasonable searches. They +shall not be made to answer for great offences except by indictment +of a grand jury. They shall not be put twice in jeopardy for the +same offence. They shall not be compelled to give evidence against +themselves. Private property shall not be taken for public use +without compensation. Accused persons in criminal proceedings shall +be entitled to speedy and public trial. They shall be confronted with +the witnesses against them, and shall have assistance of counsel. +Suits in which the value controverted is above 20 dollars (L4) shall +be tried before juries. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor +cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. In all which enactments +we see, I think, a close resemblance to those which have been +time-honoured among ourselves. + +The remaining amendments apply to the mode in which the President and +Vice-President shall be elected, and of them I have already spoken. + +The constitution is signed by Washington as President,--as President +and Deputy from Virginia. It is signed by deputies from all the +other States, except Rhode Island. Among the signatures is that of +Alexander Hamilton, from New York; of Franklin, heading a crowd in +Pennsylvania, in the capital of which State the convention was held; +and that of James Madison, the future President, from Virginia. + +In the beginning of this chapter I have spoken of the splendid +results attained by those who drew up the constitution; and then, as +though in opposition to the praise thus given to their work, I have +insisted throughout the chapter both on the insufficiency of the +constitution and on the breaches to which it has been subjected. +I have declared my opinion that it is inefficient for some of its +required purposes, and have said that, whether inefficient or +efficient, it has been broken and in some degree abandoned. I +maintain, however, that in this I have not contradicted myself. A +boy, who declares his purpose of learning the Aeneid by heart, will +be held as being successful if at the end of the given period he can +repeat eleven books out of the twelve. Nevertheless the reporter, in +summing up the achievement, is bound to declare that that other book +has not been learned. Under this constitution of which I have been +speaking, the American people have achieved much material success +and great political power. As a people they have been happy and +prosperous. Their freedom has been secured to them, and for a +period of seventy-five years they have lived and prospered without +subjection to any form of tyranny. This in itself is much, and +should, I think, be held as a preparation for greater things to +follow. Such, I think, should be our opinion, although the nation +is at the present burdened by so heavy a load of troubles. That any +written constitution should serve its purposes and maintain its +authority in a nation for a dozen years is in itself much for its +framers. Where are now the constitutions which were written for +France? But this constitution has so wound itself into the affections +of the people, has become a mark for such reverence and love, has, +after a trial of three quarters of a century, so recommended itself +to the judgment of men, that the difficulty consists in touching +it, not in keeping it. Eighteen or twenty millions of people who +have lived under it,--in what way do they regard it? Is not that +the best evidence that can be had respecting it? Is it to them an old +woman's story, a useless parchment, a thing of old words at which +all must now smile? Heaven mend them, if they reverence it more, as +I fear they do, than they reverence their Bible. For them, after +seventy-five years of trial, it has almost the weight of inspiration. +In this respect,--with reference to this worship of the work of their +forefathers, they may be in error. But that very error goes far to +prove the excellence of the code. When a man has walked for six +months over stony ways in the same boots, he will be believed when he +says that his boots are good boots. No assertion to the contrary from +any bystander will receive credence, even though it be shown that a +stitch or two has come undone, and that some required purpose has not +effectually been carried out. The boots have carried the man over his +stony roads for six months, and they must be good boots. And so I say +that the constitution must be a good constitution. + +As to that positive breach of the constitution which has, as I +maintain, been committed by the present Government, although I have +been at some trouble to prove it, I must own that I do not think +very much of it. It is to be lamented, but the evil admits, I think, +of easy repair. It has happened at a period of unwonted difficulty, +when the minds of men were intent rather on the support of that +nationality which guarantees their liberties, than on the enjoyment +of those liberties themselves, and the fault may be pardoned if it +be acknowledged. But it is essential that it should be acknowledged. +In such a matter as that there should at any rate be no doubt. Now, +in this very year of the rebellion, it may be well that no clamour +against Government should arise from the people, and thus add to +the difficulties of the nation. But it will be bad, indeed, for the +nation if such a fault shall have been committed by this Government +and shall be allowed to pass unacknowledged, unrebuked,--as though +it were a virtue and no fault. I cannot but think that the time will +soon come in which Mr. Seward's reading of the constitution and Mr. +Lincoln's assumption of illegal power under that reading will receive +a different construction in the States than that put upon it by Mr. +Binney. + +But I have admitted that the constitution itself is not perfect. +It seems to me that it requires to be amended on two separate +points;--especially on two; and I cannot but acknowledge that there +would be great difficulty in making such amendments. That matter +of direct taxation is the first. As to that I shall speak again in +referring to the financial position of the country. I think, however, +that it must be admitted, in any discussion held on the constitution +of the United States, that the theory of taxation as there laid down +will not suffice for the wants of a great nation. If the States are +to maintain their ground as a great national power, they must agree +among themselves to bear the cost of such greatness. While a custom +duty was sufficient for the public wants of the United States, this +fault in the constitution was not felt. But now that standing armies +have been inaugurated, that iron-clad ships are held as desirable, +that a great national debt has been founded, custom duties will +suffice no longer, nor will excise duties suffice. Direct taxation +must be levied, and such taxation cannot be fairly levied without a +change in the constitution. But such a change may be made in direct +accordance with the spirit of the constitution, and the necessity for +such an alteration cannot be held as proving any inefficiency in the +original document for the purposes originally required. + +As regards the other point which seems to me to require amendment, +I must acknowledge that I am about to express simply my own opinion. +Should Americans read what I write, they may probably say that I +am recommending them to adopt the blunders made by the English in +their practice of government. Englishmen, on the other hand, may +not improbably conceive that a system which works well here under a +monarchy, would absolutely fail under a presidency of four years' +duration. Nevertheless I will venture to suggest that the government +of the United States would be improved in all respects, if the +gentlemen forming the President's cabinet were admitted to seats +in Congress. At present they are virtually irresponsible. They are +constitutionally little more than head clerks. This was all very well +while the Government of the United States was as yet a small thing; +but now it is no longer a small thing. The President himself cannot +do all, nor can he be, in truth, responsible for all. A cabinet, such +as is our cabinet, is necessary to him. Such a cabinet does exist, +and the members of it take upon themselves the honours which are +given to our cabinet ministers. But they are exempted from all that +parliamentary contact which, in fact, gives to our cabinet ministers +their adroitness, their responsibility, and their position in the +country. On this subject also I must say another word or two further +on. + +But how am I to excuse the constitution on those points as to which +it has, as I have said, fallen through,--in respect to which it has +shown itself to be inefficient by the weakness of its own words? +Seeing that all the executive power is intrusted to the President, it +is especially necessary that the choice of the President should be +guarded by constitutional enactments;--that the President should be +chosen in such a manner as may seem best to the concentrated wisdom +of the country. The President is placed in his seat for four years. +For that term he is irremovable. He acts without any majority in +either of the legislative Houses. He must state reasons for his +conduct, but he is not responsible for those reasons. His own +judgment is his sole guide. No desire of the people can turn him out; +nor need he fear any clamour from the press. If an officer so high in +power be needed, at any rate the choice of such an officer should be +made with the greatest care. The constitution has decreed how such +care should be exercised, but the constitution has not been able to +maintain its own decree. The constituted electors of the President +have become a mere name; and that officer is chosen by popular +election, in opposition to the intention of those who framed the +constitution. The effect of this may be seen in the characters of the +men so chosen. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, the two Adamses, and +Jackson were the owners of names that have become known in history. +They were men who have left their marks behind them. Those in Europe +who have read of anything, have read of them. Americans, whether as +republicans they admire Washington and the Adamses, or as democrats +hold by Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, do not at any rate blush for +their old Presidents. But who has heard of Polk, of Pierce, and of +Buchanan? What American is proud of them? In the old days the name +of a future President might be surmised. He would probably be a man +honoured in the nation; but who now can make a guess as to the next +President? In one respect a guess may be made with some safety. The +next President will be a man whose name has as yet offended no one by +its prominence. But one requisite is essential for a President; he +must be a man whom none as yet have delighted to honour. + +This has come of universal suffrage; and seeing that it has come in +spite of the constitution, and not by the constitution, it is very +bad. Nor in saying this am I speaking my own conviction so much +as that of all educated Americans with whom I have discussed the +subject. At the present moment universal suffrage is not popular. +Those who are the highest among the people certainly do not love +it. I doubt whether the masses of the people have ever craved it. +It has been introduced into the Presidential elections by men called +politicians--by men who have made it a matter of trade to dabble +in state affairs, and who have gradually learned to see how the +constitutional law, with reference to the Presidential electors, +could be set aside without any positive breach of the constitution.* + + *On this matter one of the best, and best informed Americans that + I have known told me that he differed from me. "It introduced + itself," said he. "It was the result of social and political + forces. Election of the President by popular choice became a + necessity." The meaning of this is, that in regard to their + Presidential elections the United States drifted into universal + suffrage. I do not know that his theory is one more comfortable + for his country than my own. + +Whether or no any backward step can now be taken,--whether these +elections can again be put into the hands of men fit to exercise a +choice in such a matter,--may well be doubted. Facilis descensus +Averni. But the recovery of the downward steps is very difficult. On +that subject, however, I hardly venture here to give an opinion. I +only declare what has been done, and express my belief that it has +not been done in conformity with the wishes of the people,--as it +certainly has not been done in conformity with the intention of the +constitution. + +In another matter a departure has been made from the conservative +spirit of the constitution. This departure is equally grave with the +other, but it is one which certainly does admit of correction. I +allude to the present position assumed by many of the senators, and +to the instructions given to them by the State legislatures, as to +the votes which they shall give in the Senate. An obedience on their +part to such instructions is equal in its effects to the introduction +of universal suffrage into the elections. It makes them hang upon the +people, divests them of their personal responsibility, takes away +all those advantages given to them by a six years' certain tenure of +office, and annuls the safety secured by a conservative method of +election. Here again I must declare my opinion that this democratic +practice has crept into the Senate without any expressed wish of +the people. In all such matters the people of the nation has been +strangely undemonstrative. It has been done as part of a system which +has been used for transferring the political power of the nation +to a body of trading politicians who have become known and felt as +a mass, and not known and felt as individuals. I find it difficult +to describe the present political position of the States in this +respect. The millions of the people are eager for the constitution, +are proud of their power as a nation, and are ambitious of national +greatness. But they are not, as I think, especially desirous of +retaining political influences in their own hands. At many of the +elections it is difficult to induce them to vote. They have among +them a half-knowledge that politics is a trade in the hands of the +lawyers, and that they are the capital by which those political +tradesmen carry on their business. These politicians are all lawyers. +Politics and law go together as naturally as the possession of land +and the exercise of magisterial powers do with us. It may be well +that it should be so, as the lawyers are the best educated men of the +country, and need not necessarily be the most dishonest. Political +power has come into their hands, and it is for their purposes and by +their influences that the spread of democracy has been encouraged. + +As regards the Senate, the recovery of their old dignity and former +position is within their own power. No amendment of the constitution +is needed here, nor has the weakness come from any insufficiency of +the constitution. The Senate can assume to itself to-morrow its own +glories, and can, by doing so, become the saviours of the honour and +glory of the nation. It is to the Senate that we must look for that +conservative element which may protect the United States from the +violence of demagogues on one side and from the despotism of military +power on the other. The Senate, and the Senate only, can keep the +President in check. The Senate also has a power over the Lower House +with reference to the disposal of money, which deprives the House +of Representatives of that exclusive authority which belongs to our +House of Commons. It is not simply that the House of Representatives +cannot do what is done by the House of Commons. There is more than +this. To the Senate, in the minds of all Americans, belongs that +superior prestige, that acknowledged possession of the greater +power and fuller scope for action, which is with us as clearly the +possession of the House of Commons. The United States' Senate can be +conservative, and can be so by virtue of the constitution. The love +of the constitution in the hearts of all Americans is so strong that +the exercise of such power by the Senate would strengthen rather than +endanger its position. I could wish that the senators would abandon +their money payments, but I do not imagine that that will be done +exactly in these days. + +I have now endeavoured to describe the strength of the constitution +of the United States, and to explain its weakness. The great question +is at this moment being solved, whether or no that constitution will +still be found equal to its requirements. It has hitherto been the +mainspring in the government of the people. They have trusted with +almost childlike confidence to the wisdom of their founders, and +have said to their rulers,--"There; in those words, you must find +the extent and the limit of your powers. It is written down for +you, so that he who runs may read." That writing down, as it were, +at a single sitting, of a sufficient code of instructions for the +governors of a great nation, had not hitherto in the world's history +been found to answer. In this instance it has, at any rate, answered +better than in any other, probably because the words so written +contained in them less pretence of finality in political wisdom than +other written constitutions have assumed. A young tree must bend, or +the winds will certainly break it. For myself I can honestly express +my hope that no storm may destroy this tree. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE GOVERNMENT. + + +In speaking of the American constitution I have said so much of the +American form of government that but little more is left to me to say +under that heading. Nevertheless, I should hardly go through the work +which I have laid out for myself if I did not endeavour to explain +more continuously, and perhaps more graphically, than I found myself +able to do in the last chapter, the system on which public affairs +are managed in the United States. + +And here I must beg my readers again to bear in mind how moderate is +the amount of governing which has fallen to the lot of the government +of the United States; how moderate, as compared with the amount which +has to be done by the Queen's officers of state for Great Britain, or +by the Emperor, with such assistance as he may please to accept from +his officers of state, for France. That this is so must be attributed +to more than one cause; but the chief cause is undoubtedly to be +found in the very nature of a federal government. The States are +individually sovereign, and govern themselves as to all internal +matters. All the judges in England are appointed by the Crown; but in +the United States only a small proportion of the judges are nominated +by the President. The greater number are servants of the different +States. The execution of the ordinary laws for the protection of men +and property does not fall on the government of the United States, +but on the executives of the individual States,--unless in some +special matters, which will be defined in the next chapter. Trade, +education, roads, religion, the passing of new measures for the +internal or domestic comfort of the people,--all these things are +more or less matters of care to our government. In the States they +are matters of care to the governments of each individual State, but +are not so to the central government at Washington. + +But there are other causes which operate in the same direction, and +which have hitherto enabled the Presidents of the United States, with +their ministers, to maintain their positions without much knowledge +of statecraft, or the necessity for that education in state matters +which is so essential to our public men. In the first place, the +United States have hitherto kept their hands out of foreign politics. +If they have not done so altogether, they have so greatly abstained +from meddling in them that none of that thorough knowledge of the +affairs of other nations has been necessary to them which is so +essential with us, and which seems to be regarded as the one thing +needed in the cabinets of other European nations. This has been a +great blessing to the United States, but it has not been an unmixed +blessing. It has been a blessing because the absence of such care has +saved the country from trouble and from expense. But such a state of +things was too good to last; and the blessing has not been unmixed, +seeing that now, when that absence of concern in foreign matters +has been no longer possible, the knowledge necessary for taking a +dignified part in foreign discussions has been found wanting. Mr. +Seward is now the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the States, and it +is hardly too much to say that he has made himself a laughing-stock +among the diplomatists of Europe, by the mixture of his ignorance and +his arrogance. His reports to his own ministers during the single +year of his office, as published by himself apparently with great +satisfaction, are a monument not so much of his incapacity as of his +want of training for such work. We all know his long state papers +on the "Trent" affair. What are we to think of a statesman who +acknowledges the action of his country's servant to have been wrong, +and in the same breath declares that he would have held by that +wrong, had the material welfare of his country been thereby improved? +The United States have now created a great army and a great debt. +They will soon also have created a great navy. Affairs of other +nations will press upon them, and they will press against the affairs +of other nations. In this way statecraft will become necessary to +them; and by degrees their ministers will become habile, graceful, +adroit;--and perhaps crafty, as are the ministers of other nations. + +And, moreover, the United States have had no outlying colonies or +dependencies, such as an India and Canada are to us, as Cuba is and +Mexico was to Spain, and as were the provinces of the Roman empire. +Territories she has had, but by the peculiar beneficence of her +political arrangements, these territories have assumed the guise +of sovereign States, and been admitted into federal partnership on +equal terms, with a rapidity which has hardly left to the central +Government the reality of any dominion of its own. We are inclined to +suppose that these new States have been allowed to assume their equal +privileges and State rights because they have been contiguous to +the old States--as though it were merely an extension of frontier. +But this has not been so. California and Oregon have been very much +further from Washington than the Canadas are from London. Indeed they +are still further, and I hardly know whether they can be brought much +nearer than Canada is to us, even with the assistance of railways. +But nevertheless California and Oregon were admitted as States, +the former as quickly and the latter much more quickly than its +population would seem to justify Congress in doing, according to +the received ratio of population. A preference in this way has been +always given by the United States to a young population over one that +was older. Oregon with its 60,000 inhabitants has one representative. +New York with 4,000,000 inhabitants has thirty-three. But in order +to be equal with Oregon, New York should have sixty-six. In this way +the outlying populations have been encouraged to take upon themselves +their own governance, and the governing power of the President and +his cabinet has been kept within moderate limits. + +But not the less is the position of the President very dominant in +the eyes of us Englishmen by reason of the authority with which he +is endowed. It is not that the scope of his power is great, but that +he is so nearly irresponsible in the exercise of that power. We know +that he can be impeached by the representatives and expelled from +his office by the verdict of the Senate; but this, in fact, does +not amount to much. Responsibility of this nature is doubtless very +necessary, and prevents ebullitions of tyranny such as those in which +a Sultan or an Emperor may indulge; but it is not that responsibility +which especially recommends itself to the minds of free men. So much +of responsibility they take as a matter of course, as they do the +air which they breathe. It would be nothing to us to know that Lord +Palmerston could be impeached for robbing the Treasury, or Lord +Russell punished for selling us to Austria. It is well that such laws +should exist, but we do not in the least suspect those noble lords +of such treachery. We are anxious to know, not in what way they may +be impeached and beheaded for great crimes, but by what method they +may be kept constantly straight in small matters. That they are true +and honest is a matter of course. But they must be obedient also, +discreet, capable, and above all things of one mind with the public. +Let them be that; or if not they, then with as little delay as may +be, some others in their place. That with us is the meaning of +ministerial responsibility. To that responsibility all the cabinet is +subject. But in the Government of the United States there is no such +responsibility. The President is placed at the head of the executive +for four years, and while he there remains no man can question +him. It is not that the scope of his power is great. Our own Prime +Minister is doubtless more powerful,--has a wider authority. But it +is that within the scope of his power the President is free from all +check. There are no reins, constitutional or unconstitutional, by +which he can be restrained. He can absolutely repudiate a majority +of both Houses, and refuse the passage of any act of Congress even +though supported by those majorities. He can retain the services of +ministers distasteful to the whole country. He can place his own +myrmidons at the head of the army and navy,--or can himself take the +command immediately on his own shoulders. All this he can do, and +there is no one that can question him. + +It is hardly necessary that I should point out the fundamental +difference between our King or Queen, and the President of the United +States. Our Sovereign, we all know, is not responsible. Such is the +nature of our constitution. But there is not on that account any +analogy between the irresponsibility of the Queen and that of the +President. The Queen can do no wrong; but therefore, in all matters +of policy and governance, she must be ruled by advice. For that +advice her ministers are responsible; and no act of policy or +governance can be done in England as to which responsibility does +not immediately settle on the shoulders appointed to bear it. But +this is not so in the States. The President is nominally responsible. +But from that every-day working responsibility, which is to us so +invaluable, the President is in fact free. + +I will give an instance of this. Now, at this very moment of my +writing, news has reached us that President Lincoln has relieved +General Maclellan from the command of the whole army, that he has +given separate commands to two other generals,--to General Halleck, +namely, and alas! to General Fremont, and that he has altogether +altered the whole organization of the military command as it +previously existed. This he did not only during war, but with +reference to a special battle, for the special fighting of which he, +as ex-officio Commander-in-Chief of the forces, had given orders. I +do not hereby intend to criticise this act of the President's, or to +point out that that has been done which had better have been left +undone. The President, in a strategetical point of view, may have +been,--very probably has been, quite right. I, at any rate, cannot +say that he has been wrong. But then neither can anybody else say +so with any power of making himself heard. Of this action of the +President's, so terribly great in its importance to the nation, no +one has the power of expressing any opinion to which the President +is bound to listen. For four years he has this sway, and at the end +of four years he becomes so powerless that it is not then worth the +while of any demagogue in a fourth-rate town to occupy his voice with +that President's name. The anger of the country as to the things done +both by Pierce and Buchanan is very bitter. But who wastes a thought +upon either of these men? A past President in the United States is of +less consideration than a past Mayor in an English borough. Whatever +evil he may have done during his office, when out of office he is not +worth the powder which would be expended in an attack. + +But the President has his ministers as our Queen has hers. In one +sense he has such ministers. He has high state servants who under +him take the control of the various departments, and exercise among +them a certain degree of patronage and executive power. But they are +the President's ministers, and not the ministers of the people. Till +lately there has been no chief minister among them, nor am I prepared +to say that there is any such chief at present. According to the +existing theory of the government these gentlemen have simply been +the confidential servants of the commonwealth under the President, +and have been attached each to his own department without concerted +political alliance among themselves, without any acknowledged chief +below the President, and without any combined responsibility even +to the President. If one minister was in fault--let us say the +Postmaster-General,--he alone was in fault, and it did not fall to +the lot of any other minister either to defend him, or to declare +that his conduct was indefensible. Each owed his duty and his defence +to the President alone; and each might be removed alone, without +explanation given by the President to the others. I imagine that the +late practice of the President's cabinet has in some degree departed +from this theory; but if so, the departure has sprung from individual +ambition rather than from any preconcerted plan. Some one place in +the cabinet has seemed to give to some one man an opportunity of +making himself pre-eminent, and of this opportunity advantage has +been taken. I am not now intending to allude to any individual, but +am endeavouring to indicate the way in which a ministerial cabinet, +after the fashion of our British cabinet, is struggling to get itself +created. No doubt the position of Foreign Secretary has for some time +past been considered as the most influential under the President. +This has been so much the case that many have not hesitated to call +the Secretary of State the chief minister. At the present moment, +May, 1862, the gentleman who is at the head of the war department +has, I think, in his own hands greater power than any of his +colleagues. + +It will probably come to pass before long that one special minister +will be the avowed leader of the cabinet, and that he will be +recognized as the chief servant of the State under the President. Our +own cabinet, which now-a-days seems with us to be an institution as +fixed as Parliament and as necessary as the throne, has grown by +degrees into its present shape, and is not, in truth, nearly so old +as many of us suppose it to be. It shaped itself, I imagine, into its +present form, and even into its present joint responsibility, during +the reign of George III. It must be remembered that even with us +there is no such thing as a constitutional Prime Minister, and that +our Prime Minister is not placed above the other ministers in any +manner that is palpable to the senses. He is paid no more than the +others; he has no superior title; he does not take the highest rank +among them; he never talks of his subordinates, but always of his +colleagues; he has a title of his own, that of First Lord of the +Treasury, but it implies no headship in the cabinet. That he is the +head of all political power in the nation, the Atlas who has to bear +the globe, the god in whose hands rest the thunderbolts and the +showers, all men do know. No man's position is more assured to him. +But the bounds of that position are written in no book, are defined +by no law, have settled themselves not in accordance with the +recorded wisdom of any great men, but as expediency and the fitness +of political things in Great Britain have seemed from time to time to +require. This drifting of great matters into their proper places is +not as closely in accordance with the idiosyncrasies of the American +people as it is with our own. They would prefer to define by words, +as the French do, what shall be the exact position of every public +servant connected with their Government; or rather of every public +servant with whom the people shall be held as having any concern. +But nevertheless, I think it will come to pass that a cabinet will +gradually form itself at Washington as it has done at London, and +that of that cabinet there will be some recognized and ostensible +chief. + +But a Prime Minister in the United States can never take the place +there which is taken here by our Premier. Over our Premier there is +no one politically superior. The highest political responsibility of +the nation rests on him. In the States this must always rest on the +President, and any minister, whatever may be his name or assumed +position, can only be responsible through the President. And it is +here especially that the working of the United States system of +Government seems to me deficient,--appears as though it wanted +something to make it perfect and round at all points. Our ministers +retire from their offices, as do the Presidents; and indeed the +ministerial term of office with us, though of course not fixed, is +in truth much shorter than the Presidential term of four years. But +our ministers do not, in fact, ever go out. At one time they take one +position, with pay, patronage, and power; and at another time another +position, without these good things; but in either position they are +acting as public men, and are, in truth, responsible for what they +say and do. But the President, on whom it is presumed that the whole +of the responsibility of the United States Government rests, goes out +at a certain day, and of him no more is heard. There is no future +before him to urge him on to constancy; no hope of other things +beyond, of greater honours and a wider fame, to keep him wakeful in +his country's cause. He has already enrolled his name on the list of +his country's rulers, and received what reward his country can give +him. Conscience, duty, patriotism may make him true to his place. +True to his place, in a certain degree, they will make him. But +ambition and hope of things still to come are the moving motives in +the minds of most men. Few men can allow their energies to expand +to their fullest extent in the cold atmosphere of duty alone. The +President of the States must feel that he has reached the top of the +ladder, and that he soon will have done with life. As he goes out he +is a dead man. And what can be expected from one who is counting the +last lingering hours of his existence? "It will not be in my time," +Mr. Buchanan is reported to have said, when a friend spoke to him +with warning voice of the coming rebellion. "It will not be in my +time." In the old days, before democracy had prevailed in upsetting +that system of Presidential election which the constitution had +intended to fix as permanent, the Presidents were generally +re-elected for a second term. Of the seven first Presidents five +were sent back to the White House for a second period of four years. +But this has never been done since the days of General Jackson; nor +will it be done, unless a stronger conservative reaction takes place +than the country even as yet seems to promise. As things have lately +ordered themselves, it may almost be said that no man in the Union +would be so improbable a candidate for the Presidency as the outgoing +President. And it has been only natural that it should be so. Looking +at the men themselves who have lately been chosen, the fault has not +consisted in their non-reelection, but in their original selection. +There has been no desire for great men; no search after a man of such +a nature, that when tried the people should be anxious to keep him. +"It will not be in my time," says the expiring President. And so, +without dismay, he sees the empire of his country slide away from +him. + +A President, with the possibility of re-election before him, would +be as a minister who goes out, knowing that he may possibly come +in again before the session is over,--and perhaps believing that +the chances of his doing so are in his favour. Under the existing +political phase of things in the United States, no President has any +such prospect;--but the ministers of the President have that chance. +It is no uncommon thing at present for a minister under one President +to reappear as a minister under another; but a statesman has no +assurance that he will do so because he has shown ministerial +capacity. We know intimately the names of all our possible +ministers,--too intimately as some of us think,--and would be taken +much by surprise if a gentleman without an official reputation were +placed at the head of a high office. If something of this feeling +prevailed as to the President's cabinet, if there were some assurance +that competent statesmen would be appointed as Secretaries of State, +a certain amount of national responsibility would by degrees attach +itself to them, and the President's shoulders would, to that amount, +be lightened. As it is, the President pretends to bear a burden +which, if really borne, would indicate the possession of Herculean +shoulders. But, in fact, the burden at present is borne by no one. +The government of the United States is not in truth responsible +either to the people or to Congress. + +But these ministers, if it be desired that they shall have weight +in the country, should sit in Congress either as senators or as +representatives. That they cannot so sit without an amendment of the +constitution I have explained in the previous chapter; and any such +amendment cannot be very readily made. Without such seats they cannot +really share the responsibility of the President, or be in any degree +amenable to public opinion for the advice which they give in their +public functions. It will be said that the constitution has expressly +intended that they should not be responsible, and such, no doubt, has +been the case. But the constitution, good as it is, cannot be taken +as perfect. The government has become greater than seems to have been +contemplated when that code was drawn up. It has spread itself as it +were over a wider surface, and has extended to matters which it was +not then necessary to touch. That theory of governing by the means +of little men was very well while the government itself was small. +A President and his clerks may have sufficed when there were from +thirteen to eighteen States; while there were no territories, or none +at least that required government; while the population was still +below five millions; while a standing army was an evil not known and +not feared; while foreign politics was a troublesome embroglio in +which it was quite unnecessary that the United States should take a +part. Now there are thirty-four States. The territories populated by +American citizens stretch from the States on the Atlantic to those on +the Pacific. There is a population of thirty million souls. At the +present moment the United States are employing more soldiers than any +other nation, and have acknowledged the necessity of maintaining a +large army even when the present troubles shall be over. In addition +to this the United States have occasion for the use of statecraft +with all the great kingdoms of Europe. That theory of ruling by +little men will not do much longer. It will be well that they should +bring forth their big men and put them in the place of rulers. + +The President has at present seven ministers. They are the Secretary +of State, who is supposed to have the direction of Foreign Affairs; +the Secretary of the Treasury, who answers to our Chancellor of the +Exchequer; the Secretaries of the Army and of the Navy; the Minister +of the Interior; the Attorney-General; and the Postmaster-General. +If these officers were allowed to hold seats in one House or in the +other,--or rather if the President were enjoined to place in these +offices men who were known as members of Congress, not only would the +position of the President's ministers be enhanced and their weight +increased, but the position also of Congress would be enhanced +and the weight of Congress would be increased. I may, perhaps, +best exemplify this by suggesting what would be the effect on +our Parliament by withdrawing from it the men who at the present +moment,--or at any moment,--form the Queen's cabinet. I will not say +that by adding to Congress the men who usually form the President's +cabinet, a weight would be given equal to that which the withdrawal +of the British cabinet would take from the British Parliament. I +cannot pay that compliment to the President's choice of servants. But +the relationship between Congress and the President's ministers would +gradually come to resemble that which exists between Parliament and +the Queen's ministers. The Secretaries of State and of the Treasury +would after a while obtain that honour of leading the Houses which is +exercised by our high political officers, and the dignity added to +the positions would make the places worthy of the acceptance of great +men. It is hardly so at present. The career of one of the President's +ministers is not a very high career as things now stand; nor is the +man supposed to have achieved much who has achieved that position. I +think it would be otherwise if the ministers were the leaders of the +legislative Houses. To Congress itself would be given the power of +questioning and ultimately of controlling these ministers. The power +of the President would no doubt be diminished as that of Congress +would be increased. But an alteration in that direction is in itself +desirable. It is the fault of the present system of government in the +United States that the President has too much of power and weight, +while the Congress of the nation lacks power and weight. As matters +now stand, Congress has not that dignity of position which it should +hold; and it is without it because it is not endowed with that +control over the officers of the government which our Parliament is +enabled to exercise. + +The want of this close connection with Congress and the President's +ministers has been so much felt, that it has been found necessary +to create a medium of communication. This has been done by a system +which has now become a recognized part of the machinery of the +government, but which is, I believe, founded on no regularly +organized authority. At any rate no provision is made for it in the +constitution; nor, as far as I am aware, has it been established by +any special enactment or written rule. Nevertheless, I believe I +am justified in saying that it has become a recognized link in the +system of government adopted by the United States. In each House +standing committees are named, to which are delegated the special +consideration of certain affairs of state. There are, for instance, +committees of foreign affairs, of finance, the judiciary committee, +and others of a similar nature. To these committees are referred all +questions which come before the House bearing on the special subject +to which each is devoted. Questions of taxation are referred to the +finance committee before they are discussed in the House; and the +House, when it goes into such discussion, has before it the report of +the committee. In this way very much of the work of the legislature +is done by branches of each House, and by selected men whose time and +intellects are devoted to special subjects. It is easy to see that +much time and useless debate may be thus saved, and I am disposed +to believe that this system of committees has worked efficiently +and beneficially. The mode of selection of the members has been +so contrived as to give to each political party that amount of +preponderance in each committee which such party holds in the House. +If the democrats have in the Senate a majority, it would be within +their power to vote none but democrats into the committee on finance; +but this would be manifestly unjust to the republican party, and the +injustice would itself frustrate the object of the party in power; +therefore the democrats simply vote to themselves a majority in each +committee, keeping to themselves as great a preponderance in the +committee as they have in the whole House, and arranging also that +the chairman of the committee shall belong to their own party. By +these committees the chief legislative measures of the country are +originated and inaugurated,--as they are with us by the ministers of +the Crown, and the chairman of each committee is supposed to have +a certain amicable relation with that minister who presides over +the office with which his committee is connected. Mr. Sumner is at +present chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, and he is +presumed to be in connection with Mr. Seward, who, as Secretary of +State, has the management of the foreign relations of the Government. + +But it seems to me that this supposed connection between the +committees and the ministers is only a makeshift, showing by its +existence the absolute necessity of close communication between the +executive and the legislative, but showing also by its imperfections +the great want of some better method of communication. In the first +place the chairman of the committee is in no way bound to hold any +communication with the minister. He is simply a senator, and as such +has no ministerial duties, and can have none. He holds no appointment +under the President, and has no palpable connection with the +executive. And then it is quite as likely that he may be opposed in +politics to the minister as that he may agree with him. If the two +be opposed to each other on general politics, it may be presumed +that they cannot act together in union on one special subject. +Nor, whether they act in union or do not so act, can either have +any authority over the other. The minister is not responsible to +Congress, nor is the chairman of the committee in any way bound +to support the minister. It is presumed that the chairman must +know the minister's secrets, but the chairman may be bound by party +considerations to use those secrets against the minister. + +The system of committees appears to me to be good as regards the work +of legislation. It seems well adapted to effect economy of time and +the application of special men to special services. But I am driven +to think that that connection between the chairmen of the committees +and the ministers, which I have attempted to describe, is an +arrangement very imperfect in itself, but plainly indicating the +necessity of some such close relation between the executive and the +legislature of the United States as does exist in the political +system of Great Britain. With us the Queen's minister has a greater +weight in Parliament than the President's minister could hold in +Congress, because the Queen is bound to employ a minister in whom the +Parliament has confidence. As soon as such confidence ceases, the +minister ceases to be minister. As the Crown has no politics of its +own, it is simply necessary that the minister of the day should hold +the politics of the people as testified by their representatives. The +machinery of the President's Government cannot be made to work after +this fashion. The President himself is a political officer, and the +country is bound to bear with his politics for four years, whatever +those politics may be. The ministry which he selects on coming to +his seat will probably represent a majority in Congress, seeing that +the same suffrages which have elected the President will also have +elected the Congress. But there exists no necessity on the part of +the President to employ ministers who shall carry with them the +support of Congress. If, however, the ministers sat in Congress,--if +it were required of each minister that he should have a seat either +in one House or in the other,--the President would, I think, find +himself constrained to change a ministry in which Congress should +decline to confide. It might not be so at first, but there would be a +tendency in that direction. + +The governing powers do not rest exclusively with the President, or +with the President and his ministers; they are shared in a certain +degree with the Senate, which sits from time to time in executive +Session, laying aside at such periods its legislative character. It +is this executive authority which lends so great a dignity to the +Senate, gives it the privilege of preponderating over the other +House, and makes it the political safeguard of the nation. The +questions of government as to which the Senate is empowered to +interfere are soon told. All treaties made by the President must be +sanctioned by the Senate; and all appointments made by the President +must be confirmed by the Senate. The list is short, and one is +disposed to think, when first hearing it, that the thing itself does +not amount to much. But it does amount to very much; it enables the +Senate to fetter the President, if the Senate should be so inclined, +both as regards foreign politics and home politics. A Secretary +for Foreign Affairs at Washington may write what despatches he +pleases without reference to the Senate; but the Senate interferes +before those despatches can have resulted in any fact which may +be detrimental to the nation. It is not only that the Senate is +responsible for such treaties as are made, but that the President +is deterred from the making of treaties for which the Senate would +decline to make itself responsible. Even though no treaty should +ever be refused its sanction by the Senate, the protecting power of +the Senate in that matter would not on that account have been less +necessary or less efficacious. Though the bars with which we protect +our house may never have been tried by a thief, we do not therefore +believe that our house would have been safe if such bars had +been known to be wanting. And then, as to that matter of state +appointments, is it not the fact that all governing powers consist in +the selection of the agents by whom the action of Government shall +be carried on? It must come to this, I imagine, when the argument +is pushed home. The power of the most powerful man depends only +on the extent of his authority over his agents. According to the +constitution of the United States, the President can select no agent +either at home or abroad, for purposes either of peace or war, or +to the employment of whom the Senate does not agree with him. Such +a rule as this should save the nation from the use of disreputable +agents as public servants. It might, perhaps, have done more towards +such salvation than it has as yet effected;--and it may well be hoped +that it will do more in future. + +Such are the executive powers of the Senate; and it is, I think, +remarkable that the Senate has always used these powers with extreme +moderation. It has never shown a factious inclination to hinder +Government by unnecessary interference, or a disposition to clip +the President's wings by putting itself altogether at variance with +him. I am not quite sure whether some fault may not have lain on the +other side; whether the Senate may not have been somewhat slack in +exercising the protective privileges given to it by the constitution. +And here I cannot but remark how great is the deference paid to all +governors and edicts of Government throughout the United States. +One would have been disposed to think that such a feeling would be +stronger in an old country such as Great Britain than in a young +country such as the States. But I think that it is not so. There +is less disposition to question the action of government either at +Washington or at New York, than there is in London. Men in America +seem to be content when they have voted in their governors, and to +feel that for them all political action is over until the time shall +come for voting for others. And this feeling, which seems to prevail +among the people, prevails also in both Houses of Congress. Bitter +denunciations against the President's policy or the President's +ministers are seldom heard. Speeches are not often made with the +object of impeding the action of Government. That so small and so +grave a body as the Senate should abstain from factious opposition to +the Government when employed on executive functions was perhaps to +be expected. It is of course well that it should be so. I confess, +however, that it has appeared to me that the Senate has not used the +power placed in its hands as freely as the constitution has intended. +But I look at the matter as an Englishman, and as an Englishman I +can endure no government action which is not immediately subject to +Parliamentary control. + +Such are the governing powers of the United States. I think it will +be seen that they are much more limited in their scope of action than +with us; but within that scope of action much more independent and +self-sufficient. And, in addition to this, those who exercise power +in the United States are not only free from immediate responsibility, +but are not made subject to the hope or fear of future judgment. +Success will bring no award, and failure no punishment. I am not +aware that any political delinquency has ever yet brought down +retribution on the head of the offender in the United States, or +that any great deed has been held as entitling the doer of it to his +country's gratitude. Titles of nobility they have none; pensions they +never give; and political disgrace is unknown. The line of politics +would seem to be cold and unalluring. It is cold;--and would be +unalluring, were it not that as a profession it is profitable. In +much of this I expect that a change will gradually take place. The +theory has been that public affairs should be in the hands of little +men. The theory was intelligible while the public affairs were small; +but they are small no longer, and that theory, I fancy, will have +to alter itself. Great men are needed for the government, and in +order to produce great men a career of greatness must be opened to +them. I can see no reason why the career and the men should not be +forthcoming. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE LAW COURTS AND LAWYERS OF THE UNITED STATES. + + +I do not propose to make any attempt to explain in detail the +practices and rules of the American Courts of Law. No one but a +lawyer should trust himself with such a task, and no lawyer would be +enabled to do so in the few pages which I shall here devote to the +subject. My present object is to explain, as far as I may be able to +do so, the existing political position of the country. As this must +depend more or less upon the power vested in the hands of the judges, +and upon the tenure by which those judges hold their offices, I shall +endeavour to describe the circumstances of the position in which the +American judges are placed; the mode in which they are appointed; the +difference which exists between the national judges and the State +judges; and the extent to which they are or are not held in high +esteem by the general public whom they serve. + +It will, I think, be acknowledged that this last matter is one of +almost paramount importance to the welfare of a country. At home in +England we do not realize the importance to us in a political as +well as social view of the dignity and purity of our judges, because +we take from them all that dignity and purity can give as a matter +of course. The honesty of our bench is to us almost as the honesty +of heaven. No one dreams that it can be questioned or become +questionable, and therefore there are but few who are thankful for +its blessings. Few Englishmen care to know much about their own +courts of law, or are even aware that the judges are the protectors +of their liberties and property. There are the men, honoured on +all sides, trusted by every one, removed above temptation, holding +positions which are coveted by all lawyers. That it is so is enough +for us; and as the good thence derived comes to us so easily, we +forget to remember that we might possibly be without it. The law +courts of the States have much in their simplicity and the general +intelligence of their arrangements to recommend them. In all ordinary +causes justice is done with economy, with expedition, and I believe +with precision. But they strike an Englishman at once as being +deficient in splendour and dignity, as wanting that reverence which +we think should be paid to words falling from the bench, and as being +in danger as to that purity, without which a judge becomes a curse +among a people, a chief of thieves, and an arch-minister of the Evil +One. I say as being in danger;--not that I mean to hint that such +want of purity has been shown, or that I wish it to be believed that +judges with itching palms do sit upon the American bench; but because +the present political tendency of the State arrangements threatens +to produce such danger. We in England trust implicitly in our +judges,--not because they are Englishmen, but because they are +Englishmen carefully selected for their high positions. We should +soon distrust them if they were elected by universal suffrage from +all the barristers and attorneys practising in the different courts; +and so elected only for a period of years, as is the case with +reference to many of the State judges in America. Such a mode of +appointment would, in our estimation, at once rob them of their +prestige. And our distrust would not be diminished if the pay +accorded to the work were so small that no lawyer in good practice +could afford to accept the situation. When we look at a judge in +court, venerable beneath his wig and adorned with his ermine, we do +not admit to ourselves that that high officer is honest because he +is placed above temptation by the magnitude of his salary. We do not +suspect that he, as an individual, would accept bribes and favour +suitors if he were in want of money. But, still, we know as a fact +that an honest man, like any other good article, must be paid for at +a high price. Judges and bishops expect those rewards which all men +win who rise to the highest steps on the ladder of their profession. +And the better they are paid, within measure, the better they will be +as judges and bishops. Now, the judges in America are not well paid, +and the best lawyers cannot afford to sit upon the bench. + +With us the practice of the law and the judicature of our law courts +are divided. We have Chancery barristers and Common Law barristers; +and we have Chancery Courts and Courts of Common Law. In the States +there is no such division. It prevails neither in the national or +federal courts of the United States, nor in the courts of any of the +separate States. The code of laws used by the Americans is taken +almost entirely from our English laws,--or rather, I should say, the +federal code used by the nation is so taken, and also the various +codes of the different States,--as each State takes whatever laws it +may think fit to adopt. Even the precedents of our courts are held as +precedents in the American courts, unless they chance to jar against +other decisions given specially in their own courts with reference to +cases of their own. In this respect the founders of the American law +proceedings have shown a conservation bias and a predilection for +English written and traditional law, which are much at variance with +that general democratic passion for change by which we generally +presume the Americans to have been actuated at their revolution. But +though they have kept our laws, and still respect our reading of +those laws, they have greatly altered and simplified our practice. +Whether a double set of courts for Law and Equity are or are not +expedient, either in the one country or in the other, I do not +pretend to know. It is, however, the fact that there is no such +division in the States. + +Moreover there is no division in the legal profession. With us +we have barristers and attorneys. In the States the same man is +both barrister and attorney; and, which is perhaps in effect more +startling, every lawyer is presumed to undertake law cases of every +description. The same man makes your will, sells your property, +brings an action for you of trespass against your neighbour, +defends you when you are accused of murder, recovers for you +two-and-sixpence, and pleads for you in an argument of three days' +length when you claim to be the sole heir to your grandfather's +enormous property. I need not describe how terribly distinct with +us is the difference between an attorney and a barrister, or how +much further than the poles asunder is the future Lord Chancellor, +pleading before the Lords Justices at Lincoln's Inn, from the +gentleman who at the Old Bailey is endeavouring to secure the +personal liberty of the ruffian who a week or two since walked off +with all your silver spoons. In the States no such differences are +known. A lawyer there is a lawyer, and is supposed to do for any +client any work that a lawyer may be called on to perform. But though +this is the theory, and as regards any difference between attorney +and barrister is altogether the fact, the assumed practice is not, +and cannot be maintained as regards the various branches of a +lawyer's work. When the population was smaller, and the law cases +were less complicated, the theory and the practice were no doubt +alike. As great cities have grown up, and properties large in amount +have come under litigation, certain lawyers have found it expedient +and practicable to devote themselves to special branches of their +profession. But this, even up to the present time, has not been done +openly as it were, or with any declaration made by a man as to his +own branch of his calling. I believe that no such declaration on his +part would be in accordance with the rules of the profession. He +takes a partner, however, and thus attains his object;--or more than +one partner, and then the business of the house is divided among them +according to their individual specialities. One will plead in court, +another will give chamber-counsel, and a third will take that lower +business which must be done, but which first-rate men hardly like to +do. + +It will easily be perceived that law in this way will be made +cheaper to the litigant. Whether or no that may be an unadulterated +advantage, I have my doubts. I fancy that the united professional +incomes of all the lawyers in the States would exceed in amount those +made in England. In America every man of note seems to be a lawyer, +and I am told that any lawyer who will work may make a sure income. +If it be so, it would seem that Americans per head pay as much or +more for their law as men do in England. It may be answered that they +get more law for their money. That may be possible, and even yet +they may not be gainers. I have been inclined to think that there +is an unnecessarily slow and expensive ceremonial among us in the +employment of barristers through a third party; it has seemed that +the man of learning, on whose efforts the litigant really depends, is +divided off from his client and employer by an unfair barrier, used +only to enhance his own dignity and give an unnecessary grandeur +to his position. I still think that the fault with us lies in this +direction. But I feel that I am less inclined to demand an immediate +alteration in our practice than I was before I had seen any of the +American courts of law. + +It should be generally understood that lawyers are the leading men in +the States, and that the governance of the country has been almost +entirely in their hands ever since the political life of the nation +became full and strong. All public business of importance falls +naturally into their hands, as with us it falls into the hands of men +of settled wealth and landed property. Indeed, the fact on which I +insist is much more clear and defined in the States than it is with +us. In England the lawyers also obtain no inconsiderable share of +political and municipal power. The latter is perhaps more in the +hands of merchants and men in trade than of any other class; and even +the highest seats of political greatness are more open with us to the +world at large than they seem to be in the States to any that are not +lawyers. Since the days of Washington every President of the United +States has, I think, been a lawyer, excepting General Taylor. Other +Presidents have been generals, but then they have also been lawyers. +General Jackson was a successful lawyer. Almost all the leading +politicians of the present day are lawyers. Seward, Cameron, Welles, +Stanton, Chase, Sumner, Crittenden, Harris, Fessenden, are all +lawyers. Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Cass were lawyers. Hamilton and +Jay were lawyers. Any man with an ambition to enter upon public life +becomes a lawyer as a matter of course. It seems as though a study +and practice of the law were necessary ingredients in a man's +preparation for political life. I have no doubt that a very large +proportion of both Houses of legislature would be found to consist of +lawyers. I do not remember that I know of the circumstance of more +than one senator who is not a lawyer. Lawyers form the ruling class +in America as the landowners do with us. With us that ruling class is +the wealthiest class; but this is not so in the States. It might be +wished that it were so. + +The great and ever-present difference between the national or federal +affairs of the United States government, and the affairs of the +government of each individual State should be borne in mind at all +times by those who desire to understand the political position of the +States. Till this be realized no one can have any correct idea of the +bearings of politics in that country. As a matter of course we in +England have been inclined to regard the Government and Congress of +Washington as paramount throughout the States, in the same way that +the Government of Downing Street and the Parliament of Westminster +are paramount through the British isles. Such a mistake is natural; +but not the less would it be a fatal bar to any correct understanding +of the constitution of the United States. The national and State +governments are independent of each other, and so also are the +national and State tribunals. Each of these separate tribunals has +its own judicature, its own judges, its own courts, and its own +functions. Nor can the supreme tribunal at Washington exercise any +authority over the proceedings of the Courts in the different States, +or influence the decisions of their judges. For not only are the +national judges and the State judges independent of each other; but +the laws in accordance with which they are bound to act, may be +essentially different. The two tribunals, those of the nation and +of the State, are independent and final in their several spheres. +On a matter of State jurisprudence no appeal lies from the supreme +tribunal of New York or Massachusetts to the supreme tribunal of the +nation at Washington. + +The national tribunals are of two classes. First, there is the +Supreme Court specially ordained by the constitution. And then there +are such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time see fit to +establish. Congress has no power to abolish the Supreme Court, or to +erect another tribunal superior to it. This court sits at Washington, +and is a final court of appeal from the inferior national courts +of the federal empire. A system of inferior courts, inaugurated by +Congress, has existed for about sixty years. Each State for purposes +of national jurisprudence is constituted as a district; some few +large States, such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, being +divided into two districts. Each district has one district court +presided over by one judge. National causes in general, both civil +and criminal, are commenced in these district courts, and those +involving only small amounts are ended there. Above these district +courts are the national circuit courts, the districts or States +having been grouped into circuits as the counties are grouped with +us. To each of these circuits is assigned one of the judges of the +Supreme Court of Washington, who is the ex-officio judge of that +circuit, and who therefore travels as do our Common Law judges. In +each district he sits with the judge of that district, and they two +together form the circuit court. Appeals from the district court +lie to the circuit court in cases over a certain amount, and also +in certain criminal cases. It follows therefore that appeals lie +from one judge to the same judge when sitting with another,--an +arrangement which would seem to be fraught with some inconvenience. +Certain causes, both civil and criminal, are commenced in the circuit +courts. From the circuit courts the appeal lies to the Supreme Court +at Washington; but such appeal beyond the circuit court is not +allowed in cases which are of small magnitude or which do not involve +principles of importance. If there be a division of opinion in the +circuit court the case goes to the Supreme Court;--from whence it +might be inferred that all cases brought from the district court to +the circuit court would be sent on to the Supreme Court, unless the +circuit judge agreed with the district judge; for the district judge +having given his judgment in the inferior court, would probably +adhere to it in the superior court. No appeal lies to the Supreme +Court at Washington in criminal cases. + +All questions that concern more than one State, or that are litigated +between citizens of different States, or which are international in +their bearing, come before the national judges. All cases in which +foreigners are concerned, or the rights of foreigners, are brought +or may be brought into the national courts. So also are all causes +affecting the Union itself, or which are governed by the laws of +Congress and not by the laws of any individual State. All questions +of Admiralty law and maritime jurisdiction, and cases affecting +ambassadors or consuls, are there tried. Matters relating to the +Post-office, to the Customs, the collection of national taxes, to +patents, to the army and navy, and to the mint, are tried in the +national courts. The theory is that the national tribunals shall +expound and administer the national laws and treaties, protect +national offices and national rights; and that foreigners and +citizens of other States shall not be required to submit to the +decisions of the State tribunals;--in fact, that national tribunals +shall take cognizance of all matters as to which the general +government of the nation is responsible. In most of such cases the +national tribunals have exclusive jurisdiction. In others it is +optional with the plaintiff to select his tribunal. It is then +optional with the defendant, if brought into a State court, to +remain there or to remove his cause into the national tribunal. The +principle is, that either at the beginning, or ultimately, such +questions shall or may be decided by the national tribunals. If in +any suit properly cognizable in a State court the decision should +turn on a clause in the constitution, or on a law of the United +States, or on the act of a national offence, or on the validity of +a national act, an appeal lies to the Supreme Court of the United +States and to its officers. The object has been to give to the +national tribunals of the nation full cognizance of its own laws, +treaties, and congressional acts. + +The judges of all the national tribunals, of whatever grade or rank, +hold their offices for life, and are removable only on impeachment. +They are not even removable on an address of Congress; thus holding +on a firmer tenure even than our own judges, who may, I believe, be +moved on an address by Parliament. The judges in America are not +entitled to any pension or retiring allowances; and as there is not, +as regards the judges of the national courts, any proviso that they +shall cease to sit after a certain age, they are, in fact, immoveable +whatever may be their infirmities. Their position in this respect +is not good, seeing that their salaries will hardly admit of their +making adequate provision for the evening of life. The salary of +the Chief Justice of the United States is only L1300 per annum. All +judges of the national courts of whatever rank are appointed by the +President, but their appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. +This proviso, however, gives to the Senate practically but little +power, and is rarely used in opposition to the will of the President. +If the President name one candidate, who on political grounds is +distasteful to a majority of the Senate, it is not probable that a +second nomination made by him will be more satisfactory. This seems +now to be understood, and the nomination of the cabinet ministers +and of the judges, as made by the President, are seldom set aside or +interfered with by the Senate, unless on grounds of purely personal +objection. + +The position of the national judges as to their appointments and mode +of tenure is very different from that of the State judges, to whom in +a few lines I shall more specially allude. This should, I think, be +specially noticed by Englishmen when criticising the doings of the +American courts. I have observed statements made to the effect that +decisions given by American judges as to international or maritime +affairs affecting English interests could not be trusted, because +the judges so giving them would have been elected by popular vote, +and would be dependent on the popular voice for reappointment. This +is not so. Judges are appointed by popular vote in very many of +the States. But all matters affecting shipping, and all questions +touching foreigners are tried in the national courts before judges +who have been appointed for life. I should not myself have had any +fear with reference to the ultimate decision in the affair of Slidell +and Mason had the "Trent" been carried into New York. I would, +however, by no means say so much had the cause been one for trial +before the tribunals of the State of New York. + +I have been told that we in England have occasionally fallen into +the error of attributing to the Supreme Court at Washington a quasi +political power which it does not possess. This court can give no +opinion to any department of the Government, nor can it decide upon +or influence any subject that has not come before it as a regularly +litigated case in law. Though especially founded by the constitution, +it has no peculiar power under the constitution, and stands in no +peculiar relation either to that or to Acts of Congress. It has no +other power to decide on the constitutional legality of an act of +Congress or an act of a State legislature or of a public officer than +every court, State and national, high and low, possesses and is bound +to exercise. It is simply the national court of last appeal. + +In the different States such tribunals have been established as each +State by its constitution and legislation has seen fit to adopt. The +States are entirely free on this point. The usual course is to have +one Supreme Court, sometimes called by that name, sometimes the +Court of Appeals, and sometimes the Court of Errors. Then they have +such especial courts as their convenience may dictate. The State +jurisprudence includes all causes not expressly or by necessary +implication secured to the national courts. The tribunals of the +States have exclusive control over domestic relations, religion, +education, the tenure and descent of land, the inheritance of +property, police regulations, municipal economy, and all matters +of internal trade. In this category of course come the relations +of husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, owner +and slave, guardian and ward, tradesman and apprentice. So also +do all police and criminal regulations not external in their +character,--highways, railroads, canals, schools, colleges, the +relief of paupers, and those thousand other affairs of the world +by which men are daily surrounded in their own homes and their own +districts. As to such subjects Congress can make no law, and over +them Congress and the national tribunals have no jurisdiction. +Congress cannot say that a man shall be hung for murder in New York; +nor if a man be condemned to be hung in New York can the President +pardon him. The legislature of New York must say whether or no +hanging shall be the punishment adjudged to murder in that State; +and the Governor of the State of New York must pronounce the man's +pardon,--if it be that he is to be pardoned. But Congress must decide +whether or no a man shall be hung for murder committed on the high +seas, or in the national forts or arsenals; and in such a case it is +for the President to give or to refuse the pardon. + +The judges of the States are appointed as the constitution or the +laws of each State may direct in that matter. The appointments, I +think, in all the old States were formerly vested in the Governor. In +some States such is still the case. In some, if I am not mistaken, +the nomination is now made, directly, by the legislature. But in +most of the States the power of appointing has been claimed by the +people, and the judges are voted in by popular election, just as the +President of the Union and the Governors of the different States +are voted in. There has for some years been a growing tendency in +this direction, and the people in most of the States have claimed +the power;--or rather the power has been given to the people by +politicians who have wished to get into their hands in this way the +patronage of the courts. But now, at the present moment, there is +arising a strong feeling of the inexpediency of appointing judges in +such a manner. An antidemocratic bias is taking possession of men's +minds, causing a reaction against that tendency to universal suffrage +in everything which prevailed before the war began. As to this matter +of the mode of appointing judges, I have heard but one opinion +expressed; and I am inclined to think that a change will be made in +one State after another, as the constitutions of the different States +are revised. Such revisions take place generally at periods of about +twenty-five years' duration. If, therefore, it be acknowledged that +the system be bad, the error can be soon corrected. + +Nor is this mode of appointment the only evil that has been adopted +in the State judicatures. The judges in most of the States are not +appointed for life, nor even during good behaviour. They enter their +places for a certain term of years, varying from fifteen down, I +believe, to seven. I do not know whether any are appointed for a term +of less than seven years. When they go out they have no pensions; and +as a lawyer who has been on the bench for seven years can hardly +recall his practice, and find himself at once in receipt of his old +professional income, it may easily be imagined how great will be +the judge's anxiety to retain his position on the bench. This he +can do only by the universal suffrages of the people, by political +popularity, and a general standing of that nature which enables a man +to come forth as the favourite candidate of the lower orders. This +may or may not be well when the place sought for is one of political +power,--when the duties required are political in all their bearings. +But no one can think it well when the place sought for is a judge's +seat on the bench;--when the duties required are solely judicial. +Whatever hitherto may have been the conduct of the judges in the +courts of the different States, whether or no impurity has yet crept +in, and the sanctity of justice has yet been outraged, no one can +doubt the tendency of such an arrangement. At present even a few +visits to the courts constituted in this manner will convince an +observer that the judges on the bench are rather inferior than +superior to the lawyers who practise before them. The manner of +address, the tone of voice, the lack of dignity in the judge, and the +assumption by the lawyer before him of a higher authority than his, +all tell this tale. And then the judges in these courts are not paid +at a rate which will secure the services of the best men. They vary +in the different States, running from about L600 to about L1000 per +annum. But a successful lawyer practising in the courts in which +these judges sit, not unfrequently earns L3000 a year. A professional +income of L2000 a year is not considered very high. When the +different conditions of the bench are considered, when it is +remembered that the judge may lose his place after a short term of +years, and that during that short term of years he receives a payment +much less than that earned by his successful professional brethren, +it can hardly be expected that first-rate judges should be found. The +result is seen daily in society. You meet Judge This and Judge That, +not knowing whether they are ex-judges or in-judges; but you soon +learn that your friends do not hold any very high social position on +account of their forensic dignity. + +It is, perhaps, but just to add that in Massachusetts, which I cannot +but regard as in many respects the noblest of the States, the judges +are appointed by the Governor, and are appointed for life. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE FINANCIAL POSITION. + + +The Americans are proud of much that they have done in this war, and +indeed much has been done which may justify pride; but of nothing are +they so proud as of the noble dimensions and quick growth of their +Government debt. That Mr. Secretary Chase, the American Chancellor +of the Exchequer, participates in this feeling I will not venture to +say; but if he do not, he is well nigh the only man in the States +who does not do so. The amount of expenditure has been a subject of +almost national pride, and the two million of dollars a day which has +been roughly put down as the average cost of the war, has always been +mentioned by northern men in a tone of triumph. This feeling is, I +think, intelligible; and although we cannot allude to it without a +certain amount of inward sarcasm,--a little gentle laughing in the +sleeve, at the nature of this national joy, I am not prepared to say +that it is altogether ridiculous. If the country be found able and +willing to pay the bill, this triumph in the amount of the cost will +hereafter be regarded as having been anything but ridiculous. In +private life an individual will occasionally be known to lavish his +whole fortune on the accomplishment of an object which he conceives +to be necessary to his honour. If the object be in itself good, and +if the money be really paid, we do not laugh at such a man for the +sacrifices which he makes. + +For myself, I think that the object of the northern States in this +war has been good. I think that they could not have avoided the +war without dishonour, and that it was incumbent on them to make +themselves the arbiters of the future position of the South, whether +that future position shall or shall not be one of secession. This +they could only do by fighting. Had they acceded to secession +without a civil war, they would have been regarded throughout Europe +as having shown themselves inferior to the South, and would for +many years to come have lost that prestige which their spirit and +energy had undoubtedly won for them; and in their own country such +submission on their part would have practically given to the South +the power of drawing the line of division between the two new +countries. That line, so drawn, would have given Virginia, Maryland, +Kentucky, and Missouri to the southern Republic. The great effect of +the war to the North will be, that the northern men will draw the +line of secession, if any such line be drawn. I still think that such +line will ultimately be drawn, and that the southern States will be +allowed to secede. But if it be so, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri will not be found among these seceding States; and the line +may not improbably be driven south of North Carolina and Tennessee. +If this can be so, the object of the war will, I think, hereafter +be admitted to have been good. Whatever may be the cost in money of +joining the States which I have named to a free-soil northern people, +instead of allowing them to be buried in that dismal swamp, which +a confederacy of southern slave States will produce, that cost can +hardly be too much. At the present moment there exists in England a +strong sympathy with the South, produced partly by the unreasonable +vituperation with which the North treated our Government at the +beginning of the war, and by the capture of Mason and Slidell; partly +also by that feeling of good-will which a looker-on at a combat +always has for the weaker side. But, although this sympathy does +undoubtedly exist, I do not imagine that many Englishmen are of +opinion that a confederacy of southern slave States will ever offer +to the general civilization of the world very many attractions. It +cannot be thought that the South will equal the North in riches, in +energy, in education, or general well-being. Such has not been our +experience of any slave country; such has not been our experience of +any tropical country; and such especially has not been our experience +of the southern States of the North American Union. I am no +abolitionist; but to me it seems impossible that any Englishman +should really advocate the cause of slavery against the cause of +free soil. There are the slaves, and I know that they cannot be +abolished,--neither they nor their chains; but, for myself, I will +not willingly join my lot with theirs. I do not wish to have dealings +with the African negro either as a free man or as a slave, if I can +avoid them, believing that his employment by me in either capacity +would lead to my own degradation.* Such, I think, are the feelings of +Englishmen generally on this matter. And if such be the case, will it +not be acknowledged that the northern men have done well to fight for +a line which shall add five or six States to that Union which will in +truth be a union of free men, rather than to that Confederacy which, +even if successful, must owe its success to slavery? + + *In saying this I fear that I shall be misunderstood, let me + use what foot-note or other mode of protestation I may to guard + myself. In thus speaking of the African negro, I do not venture to + despise the work of God's hands. That He has made the negro, for + His own good purposes, as He has the Esquimaux, I am aware. And I + am aware that it is my duty, as it is the duty of us all, to see + that no injury be done to him, and, if possible, to assist him in + his condition. When I declare that I desire no dealings with the + negro, I speak of him in the position in which I now find him, + either as a free servant or a slave. In either position he impedes + the civilization and the progress of the white man. + +In considering this matter it must be remembered that the five +or six States of which we are speaking are at present slave +States, but that, with the exception of Virginia,--of part only of +Virginia,--they are not wedded to slavery. But even in Virginia, +great as has been the gain which has accrued to that unhappy State +from the breeding of slaves for the southern market,--even in +Virginia slavery would soon die out if she were divided from the +South, and joined to the North. In those other States, in Maryland, +in Kentucky, and in Missouri there is no desire to perpetuate the +institution. They have been slave States, and as such have resented +the rabid abolition of certain northern orators. Had it not been for +those orators, and their oratory, the soil of Kentucky would now have +been free. Those five or six States are now slave States; but a line +of secession drawn south of them will be the line which cuts off +slavery from the North. If those States belong to the North when +secession shall be accomplished, they will belong to it as free +States; but if they belong to the South, they will belong to the +South as slave States. If they belong to the North, they will become +rich as the North is, and will share in the education of the North. +If they belong to the South they will become poor as the South +is, and will share in the ignorance of the South. If we presume +that secession will be accomplished,--and I for one am of that +opinion,--has it not been well that a war should be waged with +such an object as this? If those five or six States can be gained, +stretching east and west from the Atlantic to the centre of the +continent, hundreds of miles beyond the Mississippi, and north and +south over four degrees of latitude,--if that extent of continent can +be added to the free soil of the northern territory, will not the +contest that has done this have been worth any money that can have +been spent on it? + +So much as to the object to be gained by the money spent on the war! +And I think that in estimating the nature of the financial position +which the war has produced, it was necessary that we should consider +the value of the object which has been in dispute. The object I +maintain has been good. Then comes the question whether or no the +bill will be fairly paid;--whether they who have spent the money will +set about that disagreeable task of settling the account with a true +purpose and an honest energy. And this question splits itself into +two parts. Will the Americans honestly wish to pay the bill; and if +they do so wish, will they have the power to pay it? Again that last +question must be once more divided. Will they have the power to pay, +as regards the actual possession of the means, and if possessing +them, will they have the power of access to those means? + +The nation has obtained for itself an evil name for repudiation. We +all know that Pennsylvania behaved badly about her money affairs, +although she did at last pay her debts. We all know that Mississippi +has behaved very badly about her money affairs, and has never paid +her debts, nor does she intend to pay them. And, which is worse than +this, for it applies to the nation generally and not to individual +States, we all know that it was made a matter of boast in the States +that in the event of a war with England the enormous amount of +property held by Englishmen in the States should be confiscated. +That boast was especially made in the mercantile city of New York; +and when the matter was discussed it seemed as though no American +realized the iniquity of such a threat. It was not apparently +understood that such a confiscation on account of a war would be an +act of national robbery justified simply by the fact that the power +of committing it would be in the hands of the robbers. Confiscation +of so large an amount of wealth would be a smart thing, and men did +not seem to perceive that any disgrace would attach to it in the eyes +of the world at large. I am very anxious not to speak harsh words of +the Americans; but when questions arise as to pecuniary arrangements +I find myself forced to acknowledge that great precaution is at any +rate necessary. + +But, nevertheless, I am not sure that we shall be fair if we allow +ourselves to argue as to the national purpose in this matter from +such individual instances of dishonesty as those which I have +mentioned. I do not think it is to be presumed that the United States +as a nation will repudiate its debts because two separate States may +have been guilty of repudiation. Nor am I disposed to judge of the +honesty of the people generally from the dishonest threatenings of +New York, made at a moment in which a war with England was considered +imminent. I do believe that the nation, as a nation, will be as ready +to pay for the war as it has been ready to carry on the war. That +"ignorant impatience of taxation," to which it is supposed that we +Britons are very subject, has not been a complaint rife among the +Americans generally. We, in England, are inclined to believe that +hitherto they have known nothing of the merits and demerits of +taxation, and have felt none of its annoyances, because their entire +national expenditure has been defrayed by light Custom duties; but +the levies made in the separate States for State purposes, or chiefly +for municipal purposes, have been very heavy. They are, however, +collected easily, and, as far as I am aware, without any display of +ignorant impatience. Indeed, an American is rarely impatient of any +ordained law. Whether he be told to do this, or to pay for that, or +to abstain from the other, he does do and pay and abstain without +grumbling, provided that he has had a hand in voting for those +who made the law and for those who carry out the law. The people +generally have, I think, recognized the fact that they will have to +put their necks beneath the yoke, as the peoples of other nations +have put theirs, and support the weight of a great national debt. +When the time comes for the struggle,--for the first uphill heaving +against the terrible load which they will henceforth have to drag +with them in their career, I think it will be found that they are not +ill-inclined to put their shoulders to the work. + +Then as to their power of paying the bill! We are told that the +wealth of a nation consists in its labour, and that that nation is +the most wealthy which can turn out of hand the greatest amount of +work. If this be so the American States must form a very wealthy +nation, and as such be able to support a very heavy burden. No one, +I presume, doubts that that nation which works the most, or works +rather to the best effect, is the richest. On this account England is +richer than other countries, and is able to bear, almost without the +sign of an effort, a burden which would crush any other land. But +of this wealth the States own almost as much as Great Britain owns. +The population of the northern States is industrious, ambitious of +wealth, and capable of work as is our population. It possesses, or is +possessed by, that restless longing for labour which creates wealth +almost unconsciously. Whether this man be rich or be a bankrupt, +whether the bankers of that city fail or make their millions, the +creative energies of the American people will not become dull. +Idleness is impossible to them, and therefore poverty is impossible. +Industry and intellect together will always produce wealth; and +neither industry nor intellect is ever wanting to an American. They +are the two gifts with which the fairy has endowed him. When she +shall have added honesty as a third, the tax-gatherer can desire no +better country in which to exercise his calling. + +I cannot myself think that all the millions that are being spent +would weigh upon the country with much oppression, if the weight were +once properly placed upon the muscles that will have to bear it. The +difficulty will be in the placing of the weight. It has, I know, +been argued that the circumstances under which our national debt +has extended itself to its present magnificent dimensions cannot be +quoted as parallel to those of the present American debt, because we, +while we were creating the debt, were taxing ourselves very heavily, +whereas the Americans have gone a-head with the creation of their +debt before they have levied a shilling on themselves towards the +payment of those expenses for which the debt has been encountered. +But this argument, even if it were true in its gist, goes no way +towards proving that the Americans will be unable to pay. The +population of the present free-soil States is above eighteen +millions; that of the States which will probably belong to the Union +if secession be accomplished is about twenty-two millions. At a time +when our debt had amounted to six hundred millions sterling, we +had no population such as that to bear the burden. It may be said +that we had more amassed wealth than they have. But I take it that +the amassed wealth of any country can go but a very little way in +defraying the wants or in paying the debts of a people. We again come +back to the old maxim, that the labour of a country is its wealth; +and that a country will be rich or poor in accordance with the +intellectual industry of its people. + +But the argument drawn from that comparison between our own conduct +when we were creating our debt, and the conduct of the Americans +while they have been creating their debt,--during the twelve months +from April 1, 1861, to March 31, 1862, let us say,--is hardly a fair +argument. We, at any rate, knew how to tax ourselves,--if only the +taxes might be forthcoming. We were already well used to the work; +and a minister with a willing House of Commons had all his material +ready to his hand. It has not been so in the United States. The +difficulty has not been with the people who should pay the taxes, but +with the minister and the Congress which did not know how to levy +them. Certainly not as yet have those who are now criticising the +doings on the other side of the water, a right to say that the +American people are unwilling to make personal sacrifices for the +carrying out of this war. No sign has as yet been shown of an +unwillingness on the part of the people to be taxed. But wherever +a sign could be given, it has been given on the other side. The +separate States have taxed themselves very heavily for the support +of the families of the absent soldiers. The extra allowances made +to maimed men, amounting generally to twenty-four shillings a month, +have been paid by the States themselves, and have been paid almost +with too much alacrity. + +I am of opinion that the Americans will show no unwillingness to pay +the amount of taxation which must be exacted from them; and I also +think that as regards their actual means they will have the power +to pay it. But as regards their power of obtaining access to those +means, I must confess that I see many difficulties in their way. +In the first place they have no financier,--no man who by natural +aptitude and by long continued contact with great questions of +finance, has enabled himself to handle the money affairs of a nation +with a master's hand. In saying this I do not intend to impute any +blame to Mr. Chase, the present Secretary at the Treasury. Of his +ability to do the work properly, had he received the proper training, +I am not able to judge. It is not that Mr. Chase is incapable. He may +be capable or incapable. But it is that he has not had the education +of a national financier, and that he has no one at his elbow to help +him who has had that advantage. + +And here we are again brought to that general absence of state craft +which has been the result of the American system of government. I am +not aware that our Chancellors of the Exchequer have in late years +always been great masters of finance; but they have at any rate been +among money men and money matters, and have had financiers at their +elbows if they have not deserved the name themselves. The very fact +that a Chancellor of the Exchequer sits in the House of Commons and +is forced in that House to answer all questions on the subject of +finance, renders it impossible that he should be ignorant of the +rudiments of the science. If you put a white cap on a man's head and +place him in a kitchen, he will soon learn to be a cook. But he will +never be made a cook by standing in the dining-room and seeing the +dishes as they are brought up. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is our +cook; and the House of Commons, not the Treasury chambers, is his +kitchen. Let the Secretary of the United States Treasury sit in the +House of Representatives. He would learn more there by contest with +opposing members than he can do by any amount of study in his own +chamber. + +But the House of Representatives itself has not as yet learned its +own lesson with reference to taxation. When I say that the United +States are in want of a financier, I do not mean that the deficiency +rests entirely with Mr. Chase. This necessity for taxation, and for +taxation at so tremendous a rate, has come suddenly, and has found +the representatives of the people unprepared for such work. To us, as +I conceive, the science of taxation, in which we certainly ought to +be great, has come gradually. We have learned by slow lessons what +taxes will be productive, under what circumstances they will be most +productive, and at what point they will be made unproductive by their +own weight. We have learned what taxes may be levied so as to afford +funds themselves, without injuring the proceeds of other taxes, and +we know what taxes should be eschewed as being specially oppressive +to the general industry and injurious to the well-being of the +nation. This has come of much practice, and even we, with all our +experience, have even got something to learn. But the public men +in the States who are now devoting themselves to this matter of +taxing the people have, as yet, no such experience. That they +have inclination enough for the work is, I think, sufficiently +demonstrated by the national tax bill, the wording of which is now +before me, and which will have been passed into law before this +volume can be published. It contains a list of every taxable article +on the earth or under the earth. A more sweeping catalogue of +taxation was probably never put forth. The Americans, it has been +said by some of us, have shown no disposition to tax themselves for +this war; but before the war has as yet been well twelve months in +operation, a bill has come out with a list of taxation so oppressive, +that it must, as regards many of its items, act against itself and +cut its own throat. It will produce terrible fraud in its evasion, +and create an army of excise officers who will be as locusts over +the face of the country. Taxes are to be laid on articles which I +should have said that universal consent had declared to be unfit for +taxation. Salt, soap, candles, oil, and other burning fluids, gas, +pins, paper, ink, and leather, are to be taxed. It was at first +proposed that wheat-flour should be taxed, but that item has, I +believe, been struck out of the bill in its passage through the +House. All articles manufactured of cotton, wool, silk, worsted, +flax, hemp, jute, india-rubber, gutta percha, wood (?), glass, +pottery wares, leather, paper, iron, steel, lead, tin, copper, zinc, +brass, gold and silver, horn, ivory, bone, bristles, wholly or in +part, or of other materials, are to be taxed;--provided always that +books, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, and reviews shall not be +regarded as manufactures. It will be said that the amount of taxation +to be levied on the immense number of manufactured articles which +must be included in this list will be light,--the tax itself being +only 3 per cent. ad valorem. But with reference to every article, +there will be the necessity of collecting this 3 per cent.! As +regards each article that is manufactured, some government official +must interfere to appraise its value and to levy the tax. Who shall +declare the value of a barrel of wooden nutmegs; or how shall +the Excise-officer get his tax from every cobbler's stall in the +country? And then tradesmen are to pay licences for their trades,--a +confectioner L2, a tallow-chandler L2, a horsedealer L2. Every man +whose business it is to sell horses shall be a horsedealer. True. But +who shall say whether or no it be a man's business to sell horses? +An apothecary L2, a photographer L2, a pedlar L4, L3, L2, or L1, +according to his mode of travelling. But if the gross receipts of any +of the confectioners, tallow-chandlers, horsedealers, apothecaries, +photographers, pedlars, or the like do not exceed L200 a year, then +such tradesmen shall not be required to pay for any licence at all. +Surely such a proviso can only have been inserted with the express +view of creating fraud and ill blood! But the greatest audacity has, +I think, been shown in the levying of personal taxes,--such taxes +as have been held to be peculiarly disagreeable among us, and have +specially brought down upon us the contempt of lightly-taxed people, +who, like the Americans, have known nothing of domestic interference. +Carriages are to be taxed,--as they are with us. Pianos also are to +be taxed, and plate. It is not signified by this clause that such +articles shall pay a tax, once for all, while in the maker's hands, +which tax would no doubt fall on the future owner of such piano or +plate; in such case the owner would pay, but would pay without any +personal contact with the tax-gatherer. But every owner of a piano or +of plate is to pay annually according to the value of the articles +he owns. But perhaps the most audacious of all the proposed taxes +is that on watches. Every owner of a watch is to pay 4_s._ a year +for a gold watch and 2_s._ a year for a silver watch! The American +tax-gatherers will not like to be cheated. They will be very keen in +searching for watches. But who can say whether they or the carriers +of watches will have the best of it in such a hunt. The tax-gatherers +will be as hounds ever at work on a cold scent. They will now be +hot and angry, and then dull and disheartened. But the carriers of +watches who do not choose to pay will generally, one may predict, be +able to make their points good. + +With such a tax bill,--which I believe came into action on the 1st of +May, 1862,--the Americans are not fairly open to the charge of being +unwilling to tax themselves. They have avoided none of the irritating +annoyances of taxation, as also they have not avoided, or attempted +to lighten for themselves, the dead weight of the burden. The dead +weight they are right to endure without flinching; but their mode of +laying it on their own backs justifies me, I think, in saying that +they do not yet know how to obtain access to their own means. But +this bill applies simply to matters of excise. As I have said before, +Congress, which has hitherto supported the government by custom +duties, has also the power of levying excise duties, and now, in its +first session since the commencement of the war, has begun to use +that power without much hesitation or bashfulness. As regards their +taxes levied at the Custom House, the government of the United States +has always been inclined to high duties, with the view of protecting +the internal trade and manufactures of the country. The amount +required for national expenses was easily obtained, and these duties +were not regulated, as I think, so much with a view to the amount +which might be collected, as to that of the effect which the tax +might have in fostering native industry. That, if I understand it, +was the meaning of Mr. Morrill's bill, which was passed immediately +on the secession of the southern members of Congress, and which +instantly enhanced the price of all foreign manufactured goods in the +States. But now the desire for protection, simply as protection, has +been swallowed up in the acknowledged necessity for revenue; and the +only object to be recognized in the arrangement of the custom duties +is the collection of the greatest number of dollars. This is fair +enough. If the country can at such a crisis raise a better revenue +by claiming a shilling a pound on coffee than it can by claiming +sixpence, the shilling may be wisely claimed, even though many may +thus be prohibited from the use of coffee. But then comes the great +question, What duty will really give the greatest product? At what +rate shall we tax coffee so as to get at the people's money? If it be +so taxed that people won't use it, the tax cuts its own throat. There +is some point at which the tax will be most productive; and also +there is a point up to which the tax will not operate to the serious +injury of the trade. Without the knowledge which should indicate +these points, a Chancellor of the Exchequer, with his myrmidons, +would be groping in the dark. As far as we can yet see, there is not +much of such knowledge either in the Treasury Chambers or the House +of Representatives at Washington. + +But the greatest difficulty which the States will feel in obtaining +access to their own means of taxation, is that which is created by +the constitution itself, and to which I alluded when speaking of +the taxing powers which the constitution had given to Congress, and +those which it had denied to Congress. As to custom duties and excise +duties, Congress can do what it pleases, as can the House of Commons. +But Congress cannot levy direct taxation according to its own +judgment. In those matters of customs and excise, Congress and the +Secretary of the Treasury will probably make many blunders; but +having the power they will blunder through, and the money will be +collected. But direct taxation, in an available shape, is beyond the +power of Congress under the existing rule of the constitution. No +income-tax, for instance, can be laid on the general incomes of the +United States, that shall be universal throughout the States. An +income-tax can be levied, but it must be levied in proportion to the +representation. It is as though our Chancellor of the Exchequer, in +collecting an income-tax, were obliged to demand the same amount of +contribution from the town of Chester as from the town of Liverpool, +because both Chester and Liverpool return two Members to Parliament. +In fitting his tax to the capacity of Chester, he would be forced to +allow Liverpool to escape unscathed. No skill in money matters on +the part of the Treasury Secretary, and no aptness for finance on +the part of the Committee on Ways and Means, can avail here. The +constitution must apparently be altered before any serviceable resort +can be had to direct taxation. And yet, at such an emergency as +that now existing, direct taxation would probably give more ready +assistance than can be afforded either by the Customs or the Excise. + +It has been stated to me that this difficulty in the way of direct +taxation can be overcome without any change in the constitution. +Congress could only levy from Rhode Island the same amount of +income-tax that it might levy from Iowa; but it will be competent to +the legislature of Rhode Island itself to levy what income-tax it may +please on itself; and to devote the proceeds to national or federal +purposes. Rhode Island may do so; and so may Massachusetts, New +York, Connecticut, and the other rich Atlantic States. They may +tax themselves according to their riches, while Iowa, Illinois, +Wisconsin, and such-like States are taxing themselves according to +their poverty. I cannot myself think that it would be well to trust +to the generosity of the separate States for the finances needed by +the national Government. We should not willingly trust to Yorkshire +or Sussex to give us their contributions to the national income, +especially if Yorkshire and Sussex had small Houses of Commons of +their own, in which that question of giving might be debated. It may +be very well for Rhode Island or New York to be patriotic! But what +shall be done with any State that declines to evince such patriotism? +The legislatures of the different States may be invited to impose a +tax of 5 per cent. on all incomes in each State; but what will be +done if Pennsylvania, for instance, should decline, or Illinois +should hesitate? What if the legislature of Massachusetts should +offer 6 per cent., or that of New Jersey decide that 4 per cent. +was sufficient? For a while the arrangement might possibly be made +to answer the desired purpose. During the first ebullition of high +feeling, the different States concerned might possibly vote the +amount of taxes required for federal purposes. I fear it would not be +so, but we may allow that the chance is on the card. But it is not +conceivable that such an arrangement should be continued when, after +a year or two, men came to talk over the war with calmer feelings +and a more critical judgment. The State legislatures would become +inquisitive, opinionative, and probably factious. They would be +unwilling to act in so great a matter under the dictation of the +federal Congress; and by degrees one, and then another, would decline +to give its aid to the central government. However broadly the +acknowledgment may have been made, that the levying of direct taxes +was necessary for the nation, each State would be tempted to argue +that a wrong mode and a wrong rate of levying had been adopted, and +words would be forthcoming instead of money. A resort to such a mode +of taxation would be a bad security for government Stock. + +All matters of taxation, moreover, should be free from any taint +of generosity. A man who should attempt to lessen the burdens of +his country by gifts of money to its Exchequer would be laying his +country under an obligation, for which his country would not thank +him. The gifts here would be from States, and not from individuals; +but the principle would be the same. I cannot imagine that the United +States' Government would be willing to owe its revenue to the good +will of different States, or its want of revenue to their caprice. If +under such an arrangement the western States were to decline to vote +the quota of income-tax or property-tax to which the eastern States +had agreed,--and in all probability they would decline,--they would +in fact be seceding. They would thus secede from the burdens of their +general country; but in such event no one could accuse such States of +unconstitutional secession. + +It is not easy to ascertain with precision what is the present amount +of debt due by the United States; nor probably has any tolerably +accurate guess been yet given of the amount to which it may be +extended during the present war. A statement made in the House of +Representatives, by Mr. Spaulding, a member of the Committee of Ways +and Means, on the 29th of January last, may perhaps be taken as +giving as trustworthy information as any that can be obtained. I have +changed Mr. Spaulding's figures from dollars into pounds, that they +may be more readily understood by English readers. + + + There was Due up to July 1,1861 L18,173,566 + " Added in July and August 5,379,357 + " Borrowed in August 10,000,000 + " Borrowed in October 10,000,000 + " Borrowed in November 10,000,000 + " Amount of Treasury Demand + Notes issued 7,800,000 + ----------- + L61,352,923 + + +This was the amount of the debt due up to January 15th, 1862. Mr. +Spaulding then calculates that the sum required to carry on the +Government up to July 1st, 1862, will be L68,647,077. And that a +further sum of L110,000,000 will be wanted on or before the 1st +of July, 1863. Thus the debt at that latter date would stand as +follows:-- + + + Amount of Debt up to January, 1862 L61,352,923 + Added by July 1st, 1862 68,647,077 + Again added by July 1st, 1863 110,000,000 + ------------ + L240,000,000 + + +The first of these items may no doubt be taken as accurate. The +second has probably been founded on facts which leave little doubt +as to its substantial truth. The third, which professes to give the +proposed expense of the war for the forthcoming year, viz. from 1st +July, 1862, to 30th June, 1863, must necessarily have been obtained +by a very loose estimate. No one can say what may be the condition of +the country during the next year,--whether the war may then be raging +throughout the southern States, or whether the war may not have +ceased altogether. The North knows little or nothing of the capacity +of the South. How little it knows may be surmised from the fact that +the whole southern army of Virginia retreated from their position at +Manassas before the northern generals knew that they were moving; and +that when they were gone no word whatever was left of their numbers. +I do not believe that the northern Government is even yet able to +make any probable conjecture as to the number of troops which the +southern confederacy is maintaining, and if this be so, they can +certainly make no trustworthy estimates as to their own expenses for +the ensuing year. + +Two hundred and forty millions is, however, the sum named by a +gentleman presumed to be conversant with the matter, as the amount +of debt which may be expected by midsummer, 1863; and if the war +be continued till then, it will probably be found that he has not +exceeded the mark. It is right, however, to state that Mr. Chase in +his estimate does not rate the figures so high. He has given it as +his opinion that the debt will be about one hundred and four millions +in July, 1862, and one hundred and eighty millions in July, 1863. As +to the first amount, with reference to which a tolerably accurate +calculation may probably be made, I am inclined to prefer the +estimate as given by the member of the committee; and as to the +other, which hardly, as I think, admits of any calculation, his +calculation is at any rate as good as that made in the Treasury. + +But it is the immediate want of funds, and not the prospective debt +of the country, which is now doing the damage. In this opinion Mr. +Chase will probably agree with me; but readers on this side of the +water will receive what I say with a smile. Such a state of affairs +is certainly one that has not uncommonly been reached by financiers; +it has also often been experienced by gentlemen in the management of +their private affairs. It has been common in Ireland, and in London +has created the wealth of the pawnbrokers. In the States at the +present time the government is very much in this condition. The +prospective wealth of the country is almost unbounded, but there is +great difficulty in persuading any pawnbroker to advance money on the +pledge. In February last Mr. Chase was driven to obtain the sanction +of the legislature for paying the national creditors by bills drawn +at twelve months' date, and bearing 6 per cent. interest. It is the +old story of the tailor who calls with his little account, and draws +on his insolvent debtor at ninety days. If the insolvent debtor be +not utterly gone as regards solvency he will take up the bill when +due, even though he may not be able to pay a simple debt. But then, +if he be utterly insolvent, he can do neither the one nor the other! +The Secretary of the Treasury, when he asked for permission to +accept these bills,--or to issue these certificates, as he calls +them,--acknowledged to pressing debts of over five millions sterling +which he could not pay; and to further debts of eight millions +which he could not pay, but which he termed floating;--debts, if +I understand him, which were not as yet quite pressing. Now I +imagine that to be a lamentable condition for any Chancellor of an +Exchequer,--especially as a confession is at the same time made +that no advantageous borrowing is to be done under the existing +circumstances. When a Chancellor of the Exchequer confesses that he +cannot borrow on advantageous terms, the terms within his reach must +be very bad indeed. This position is indeed a sad one, and at any +rate justifies me in stating that the immediate want of funds is +severely felt. + +But the very arguments which have been used to prove that the country +will be ultimately crushed by the debt, are those which I should use +to prove that it will not be crushed. A comparison has more than once +been made between the manner in which our debt was made, and that in +which the debt of the United States is now being created; and the +great point raised in our favour is, that while we were borrowing +money we were also taxing ourselves, and that we raised as much by +taxes as we did by loans. But it is too early in the day to deny to +the Americans the credit which we thus take to ourselves. We were a +tax-paying nation when we commenced those wars which made our great +loans necessary, and only went on in that practice which was habitual +to us. I do not think that the Americans could have taxed themselves +with greater alacrity than they have shown. Let us wait, at any rate, +till they shall have had time for the operation, before we blame +them for not making it. It is then argued that we in England did not +borrow nearly so fast as they have borrowed in the States. That is +true. But it must be remembered that the dimensions and proportions +of wars now are infinitely greater than they were when we began to +borrow. Does any one imagine that we would not have borrowed faster, +if by faster borrowing we could have closed the war more speedily? +Things go faster now than they did then. Borrowing for the sake of a +war may be a bad thing to do,--as also it may be a good thing; but if +it be done at all, it should be so done as to bring the war to the +end with what greatest despatch may be possible. + +The only fair comparison, as it seems to me, which can be drawn +between the two countries with reference to their debts, and the +condition of each under its debt, should be made to depend on the +amount of the debt and probable ability of the country to bear that +burden. The amount of the debt must be calculated by the interest +payable on it, rather than by the figures representing the actual sum +due. If we debit the United States Government with seven per cent. +on all the money borrowed by them, and presume that amount to have +reached in July, 1863, the sum named by Mr. Spaulding, they will then +have loaded themselves with an annual charge of L16,800,000 sterling. +It will have been an immense achievement to have accomplished in so +short a time, but it will by no means equal the annual sum with which +we are charged. And, moreover, the comparison will have been made in +a manner that is hardly fair to the Americans. We pay our creditors +three per cent. now that we have arranged our affairs, and have +settled down into the respectable position of an old gentleman whose +estates, though deeply mortgaged, are not over-mortgaged. But we did +not get our money at three per cent. while our wars were on hand, and +there yet existed some doubt as to the manner in which they might be +terminated. + +This attempt, however, at guessing what may be the probable amount of +the debt at the close of the war is absolutely futile. No one can as +yet conjecture when the war may be over, or what collateral expenses +may attend its close. It may be the case that the government in +fixing some boundary between the future United States and the future +southern Confederacy, will be called on to advance a very large sum +of money as compensation for slaves who shall have been liberated +in the border States, or have been swept down south into the cotton +regions with the retreating hordes of the southern army. The total +of the bill cannot be reckoned up while the work is still unfinished. +But, after all, that question as to the amount of the bill is not +to us the question of the greatest interest. Whether the debt +shall amount to two, or three, or even to four hundred millions +sterling,--whether it remain fixed at its present modest dimensions, +or swell itself out to the magnificent proportions of our British +debt,--will the resources of the country enable it to bear such +a burden? Will it be found that the Americans share with us that +elastic power of endurance which has enabled us to bear a weight that +would have ruined any other people of the same number? Have they the +thews and muscles, the energy and endurance, the power of carrying +which we possess? They have got our blood in their veins, and have +these qualities gone with the blood? It is of little avail either +to us or to the truth that we can show some difference between our +position and their position which may seem to be in our favour. They, +doubtless, could show other points of difference on the other side. +With us, in the early years of this century, it was a contest for +life and death, in which we could not stop to count the cost,--in +which we believed that we were fighting for all that we cared to call +our own, and in which we were resolved that we would not be beaten, +as long as we had a man to fight and a guinea to spend. Fighting in +this mind we won. Had we fought in any other mind, I think I may say +that we should not have won. To the Americans of the northern States +this also is a contest for life and death. I will not here stay to +argue whether this need have been so. I think they are right; but +this at least must be accorded to them--that having gone into this +matter of civil war, it behoves them to finish it with credit to +themselves. There are many Englishmen who think that we were wrong to +undertake the French war; but there is, I take it, no Englishman who +thinks that we ought to have allowed ourselves to be beaten when we +had undertaken it. To the Americans it is now a contest of life and +death. They also cannot stop to count the cost. They also will go on +as long as they have a dollar to spend or a man to fight. + +It appears that we were paying fourteen millions a year interest on +our national debt in the year 1796. I take this statement from an +article in "The Times," in which the question of the finances of the +United States is handled. But our population in 1796 was only sixteen +millions. I estimate the population of the northern section of the +United States, as the States will be after the war, at twenty-two +millions. In the article alluded to these northern Americans are now +stated to be twenty millions. If then we, in 1796, could pay fourteen +millions a year with a population of sixteen millions, the United +States, with a population of twenty or twenty-two millions, will be +able to pay the sixteen or seventeen millions sterling of interest +which will become due from them,--if their circumstances of payment +are as good as were ours. They can do that and more than that if +they have the same means per man as we had. And as the means per man +resolves itself at last into the labour per man, it may be said that +they can pay what we could pay, if they can and will work as hard as +we could and did work. That which did not crush us will not crush +them, if their future energy be equal to our past energy. + +And on this question of energy I think that there is no need for +doubt. Taking man for man and million for million, the Americans are +equal to the English in intellect and industry. They create wealth at +any rate as fast as we have done. They develop their resources, and +open out the currents of trade, with an energy equal to our own. They +are always at work, improving, utilizing, and creating. Austria, as I +take it, is succumbing to monetary difficulties, not because she has +been extravagant, but because she has been slow at progress;--because +it has been the work of her rulers to repress rather than encourage +the energies of her people; because she does not improve, utilize, +and create. England has mastered her monetary difficulties because +the genius of her government and her people has been exactly opposite +to the genius of Austria. And the States of America will master +their money difficulties, because they are born of England, and are +not born of Austria. What! Shall our eldest child become bankrupt +in its first trade difficulty; be utterly ruined by its first +little commercial embarrassment? The child bears much too strong a +resemblance to its parent for me to think so. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE POST-OFFICE. + + +Any Englishman or Frenchman residing in the American States +cannot fail to be struck with the inferiority of the Post-office +arrangements in that country to those by which they are accommodated +in their own country. I have not been a resident in the States, and +as a traveller might probably have passed the subject without special +remark, were it not that the service of the Post-office has been my +own profession for many years. I could therefore hardly fail to +observe things which to another man would have been of no material +moment. At first I was inclined to lean heavily in my judgment upon +the deficiencies of a department which must be of primary importance +to a commercial nation. It seemed that among a people so intelligent, +and so quick in all enterprises of trade, a well arranged Post-office +would have been held to be absolutely necessary, and that all +difficulties would have been made to succumb in their efforts to +put that establishment, if no other, upon a proper footing. But +as I looked into the matter, and in becoming acquainted with +the circumstances of the Post-office learned the extent of the +difficulties absolutely existing, I began to think that a very great +deal had been done, and that the fault, as to that which had been +left undone, rested, not with the Post-office officials, but was +attributable partly to political causes altogether outside the +Post-office, and partly,--perhaps chiefly,--to the nature of the +country itself. + +It is, I think, undoubtedly true that the amount of accommodation +given by the Post-office of the States is small,--as compared with +that afforded in some other countries, and that that accommodation +is lessened by delays and uncertainty. The point which first struck +me was the inconvenient hours at which mails were brought in and +despatched. Here, in England, it is the object of our Post-office to +carry the bulk of our letters at night; to deliver them as early as +possible in the morning, and to collect them and take them away for +despatch as late as may be in the day;--so that the merchant may +receive his letters before the beginning of his day's business, and +despatch them after its close. The bulk of our letters is handled in +this manner, and the advantage of such an arrangement is manifest. +But it seemed that in the States no such practice prevailed. Letters +arrived at any hour in the day miscellaneously, and were despatched +at any hour, and I found that the postmaster at one town could never +tell me with certainty when letters would arrive at another. If the +towns were distant, I would be told that the conveyance might take +about two or three days; if they were near, that my letter would get +to hand "some time to-morrow." I ascertained, moreover, by painful +experience that the whole of a mail would not always go forward by +the first despatch. As regarded myself this had reference chiefly to +English letters and newspapers.--"Only a part of the mail has come," +the clerk would tell me. With us the owners of that part which did +not "come," would consider themselves greatly aggrieved and make +loud complaint. But, in the States, complaints made against official +departments are held to be of little moment. + +Letters also in the States are subject to great delays by +irregularities on railways. One train does not hit the town of its +destination before another train, to which it is nominally fitted, +has been started on its journey. The mail trains are not bound to +wait; and thus, in the large cities, far distant from New York, +great irregularity prevails. It is, I think, owing to this,--at any +rate partly to this,--that the system of telegraphing has become so +prevalent. It is natural that this should be so between towns which +are in the due course of post perhaps forty-eight hours asunder; but +the uncertainty of the post increases the habit, to the profit, of +course, of the companies which own the wires,--but to the manifest +loss of the Post-office. + +But the deficiency which struck me most forcibly in the American +Post-office, was the absence of any recognized official delivery of +letters. The United States Post-office does not assume to itself +the duty of taking letters to the houses of those for whom they are +intended, but holds itself as having completed the work for which +the original postage has been paid, when it has brought them to the +window of the Post-office of the town to which they are addressed. +It is true that in most large towns,--though by no means in all,--a +separate arrangement is made by which a delivery is afforded to those +who are willing to pay a further sum for that further service; but +the recognized official mode of delivery is from the office window. +The merchants and persons in trade have boxes at the windows, for +which they pay. Other old-established inhabitants in towns, and +persons in receipt of a considerable correspondence, receive their +letters by the subsidiary carriers and pay for them separately. But +the poorer classes of the community, those persons among which it +is of such paramount importance to increase the blessing of letter +writing, obtain their letters from the Post-office windows. + +In each of these cases the practice acts to the prejudice of the +department. In order to escape the tax on delivery, which varies +from two cents to one cent a letter, all men in trade, and many who +are not in trade, hold office boxes; consequently immense space is +required. The space given at Chicago, both to the public without and +to the officials within, for such delivery, is more than four times +that required at Liverpool for the same purpose. But Liverpool is +three times the size of Chicago. The corps of clerks required for the +window delivery is very great, and the whole affair is cumbrous in +the extreme. The letters at most offices are given out through little +windows, to which the inquirer is obliged to stoop. There he finds +himself opposite to a pane of glass with a little hole; and when the +clerk within shakes his head at him, he rarely believes but what his +letters are there if he could only reach them. But in the second +case, the tax on the delivery, which is intended simply to pay the +wages of the men who take them out, is paid with a bad grace; it robs +the letter of its charm, and forces it to present itself in the +guise of a burden. It makes that disagreeable which for its own sake +the Post-office should strive in every way to make agreeable. This +practice, moreover, operates as a direct prevention to a class of +correspondence, which furnishes in England a large proportion of the +revenue of the Post-office. Mercantile houses in our large cities +send out thousands of trade circulars, paying postage on them; but +such circulars would not be received, either in England or elsewhere, +if a demand for postage were made on their delivery. Who does not +receive these circulars in our country by the dozen, consigning them +generally to the waste-paper basket, after a most cursory inspection? +As regards the sender, the transaction seems to us often to be very +vain; but the Post-office gets its penny. So also would the American +Post-office get its three cents. + +But the main objection in my eyes to the American Post-office system +is this,--that it is not brought nearer to the poorer classes. +Everybody writes or can write in America, and therefore the +correspondence of their millions should be, million for million, at +any rate equal to ours. But it is not so: and this, I think, comes +from the fact that communication by Post-office is not made easy to +the people generally. Such communication is not found to be easy by +a man who has to attend at a Post-office window on the chance of +receiving a letter. When no arrangement more comfortable than that +is provided, the Post-office will be used for the necessities of +letter-writing, but will not be esteemed as a luxury. And thus not +only do the people lose a comfort which they might enjoy, but the +Post-office also loses that revenue which it might make. + +I have said that the correspondence circulating in the United States +is less than that of the United Kingdom. In making any comparison +between them I am obliged to arrive at facts, or rather at the +probabilities of facts, in a somewhat circuitous mode, as the +Americans have kept no account of the number of letters which pass +through their post-offices in a year. We can, however, make an +estimate which, if incorrect, shall not at any rate be incorrect +against them. The gross postal revenue of the United States, for the +year ended 30th June, 1861, was in round figures L1,700,000. This was +the amount actually earned, exclusive of a sum of L140,000 paid to +the Post-office by the government for the carriage of what is called +in that country free mail matter; otherwise, books, letters, and +parcels franked by members of Congress. The gross postal revenue +of the United Kingdom was in the last year, in round figures, +L3,358,000, exclusive of a sum of L179,000 claimed as earned for +carrying official postage, and also exclusive of L127,866, that +being the amount of money order commission which in this country is +considered a part of the Post-office revenue. In the United States +there is at present no money order office. In the United Kingdom +the sum of L3,358,000 was earned by the conveyance and delivery of + + + 593 millions of letters, + 73 millions of newspapers, + 12 millions of books. + + +What number of each was conveyed through the post in the United +States we have no means of knowing; but presuming the average rate +of postage on each letter in the States to be the same as it is in +England, and presuming also that letters, newspapers, and books +circulated in the same proportion there as they do with us, the sum +above named of L1,700,000 will have been earned by carrying about 300 +millions of letters. But the average rate of postage in the States +is, in fact, higher than it is in England. The ordinary single rate +of postage there is three cents or three half-pence, whereas with us +it is a penny; and if three half-pence might be taken as the average +rate in the United States, the number of letters would be reduced +from 300 to 200 millions a year. There is however a class of letters +which in the States are passed through the Post-office at the rate of +one halfpenny a letter, whereas there is no rate of postage with us +less than a penny. Taking these halfpenny letters into consideration, +I am disposed to regard the average rate of American postage at +about five farthings, which would give the number of letters at 250 +millions. We shall at any rate be safe in saying that the number is +considerably less than 300 millions, and that it does not amount to +half the number circulated with us. But the difference between our +population and their population is not great. The population of the +States during the year in question was about 27 millions, exclusive +of slaves, and that of the British isles was about 29 millions. No +doubt, in the year named, the correspondence of the States had been +somewhat disturbed by the rebellion; but that disturbance, up to +the end of June, 1861, had been very trifling. The division of +the southern from the northern States, as far as the Post-office +was concerned, did not take place till the end of May, 1861; and +therefore but one month in the year was affected by the actual +secession of the South. The gross postal revenue of the States which +have seceded was, for the year prior to secession, twelve hundred +thousand five hundred dollars, and for that one month of June +it would therefore have been a little over one hundred thousand +dollars, or L20,000. That sum may therefore be presumed to have +been abstracted by secession from the gross annual revenue of the +Post-office. Trade, also, was no doubt injured by the disturbance +in the country, and the circulation of letters was, as a matter +of course, to some degree affected by this injury; but it seems +that the gross revenue of 1861 was less than that of 1860 by only +one thirty-sixth. I think, therefore, that we may say, making all +allowance that can be fairly made, that the number of letters +circulating in the United Kingdom is more than double that which +circulates, or ever has circulated, in the United States. + +That this is so, I attribute not to any difference in the people +of the two countries,--not to an aptitude for letter writing +among us which is wanting with the Americans,--but to the greater +convenience and wider accommodation of our own Post-office. As I +have before stated, and will presently endeavour to show, this wider +accommodation is not altogether the result of better management on +our part. Our circumstances as regards the Post-office have had in +them less of difficulties than theirs. But it has arisen in great +part from better management; and in nothing is their deficiency so +conspicuous as in the absence of a free delivery for their letters. + +In order that the advantages of the Post-office should reach all +persons, the delivery of letters should extend not only to towns, +but to the country also. In France all letters are delivered free. +However remote may be the position of a house or cottage, it is not +too remote for the postman. With us all letters are not delivered; +but the exceptions refer to distant solitary houses and to localities +which are almost without correspondence. But in the United States +there is no free delivery, and there is no delivery at all except in +the large cities. In small towns, in villages, even in the suburbs +of the largest cities, no such accommodation is given. Whatever may +be the distance, people expecting letters must send for them to the +Post-office;--and they who do not expect them, leave their letters +uncalled for. Brother Jonathan goes out to fish in these especial +waters with a very large net. The little fish, which are profitable, +slip through; but the big fish, which are by no means profitable, are +caught,--often at an expense greater than their value. + +There are other smaller sins upon which I could put my finger,--and +would do so were I writing an official report upon the subject of +the American Post-office. In lieu of doing so, I will endeavour +to explain how much the States' office has done in this matter of +affording Post-office accommodation,--and how great have been the +difficulties in the way of Post-office reformers in that country. + +In the first place, when we compare ourselves to them, we must +remember that we live in a tea-cup, and they in a washing-tub. As +compared with them we inhabit towns which are close to each other. +Our distances, as compared with theirs, are nothing. From London to +Liverpool the line of railway traverses about two hundred miles, but +the mail train which conveys the bags for Liverpool, carries the +correspondence of probably four or five millions of persons. The +mail train from New York to Buffalo passes over about four hundred +miles, and on its route serves not one million. A comparison of this +kind might be made with the same effect between any of our great +internal mail routes and any of theirs. Consequently, the expense of +conveyance to them is, per letter, very much greater than with us, +and the American Post-office is as a matter of necessity driven to +an economy in the use of railways for the Post-office service, which +we are not called on to practise. From New York to Chicago is nearly +1000 miles. From New York to St. Louis is over 1600. I need not say +that in England we know nothing of such distances, and that therefore +our task has been comparatively easy. Nevertheless the States have +followed in our track, and have taken advantage of Sir Rowland Hill's +wise audacity in the reduction of postage with greater quickness than +any other nation but our own. Through all the States letters pass for +three cents over a distance less than 3000 miles. For distances above +3000 miles the rate is ten cents or five-pence. This increased rate +has special reference to the mails for California, which are carried +daily across the whole continent at a cost to the States Government +of two hundred thousand pounds a year. + +With us the chief mail trains are legally under the management of the +Postmaster-General. He fixes the hours at which they shall start and +arrive, being of course bound by certain stipulations as to pace. He +can demand trains to run over any line at any hour, and can in this +way secure the punctuality of mail transportation. Of course such +interference on the part of a government official in the working of +a railway is attended with a very heavy expense to the Government. +Though the British Post-office can demand the use of trains at any +hour, and as regards those trains can make the despatch of mails +paramount to all other matters, the British Post-office cannot +fix the price to be paid for such work. This is generally done by +arbitration, and of course for such services the payment is very +high. No such practice prevails in the States. The Government has no +power of using the mail lines as they are used by our Post-office, +nor could the expense of such a practice be borne or nearly borne by +the proceeds of letters in the States. Consequently the Post-office +is put on a par with ordinary customers, and such trains are used +for mail matter as the directors of each line may see fit to use for +other matter. Hence it occurs that no offence against the Post-office +is committed when the connection between different mail trains +is broken. The Post-office takes the best it can get, paying as +other customers pay, and grumbling as other customers grumble when +the service rendered falls short of that which has been promised. + +It may, I think, easily be seen that any system such as ours, +carried across so large a country, would go on increasing in cost +at an enormous ratio. The greater the distance, the greater is the +difficulty in securing the proper fitting of fast-running trains. +And moreover, it must be remembered that the American lines have +been got up on a very different footing from ours, at an expense per +mile of probably less than a fifth of that laid out on our railways. +Single lines of rail are common, even between great towns with large +traffic. At the present moment--May, 1862--the only railway running +into Washington, that namely from Baltimore, is a single line over +the greater distance. The whole thing is necessarily worked at a +cheaper rate than with us; not because the people are poorer, but +because the distances are greater. As this is the case throughout +the whole railway system of the country, it cannot be expected that +such despatch and punctuality should be achieved in America as are +achieved here, in England, or in France. As population and wealth +increase, it will come. In the mean time that which has been already +done over the extent of the vast North American continent is +very wonderful. I think, therefore, that complaint should not +be made against the Washington Post-office, either on account +of the inconvenience of the hours, or on the head of occasional +irregularity. So much has been done in reducing the rate to three +cents, and in giving a daily mail throughout the States, that the +department should be praised for energy, and not blamed for apathy. + +In the year ended 30th June, 1861, the gross revenue of the +Post-office of the States was, as I have stated, L1,700,000. In +the same year its expenditure was in round figures L2,720,000. +Consequently there was an actual loss, to be made up out of general +taxation, amounting to L1,020,000. In the accounts of the American +officers this is lessened by L140,000, that sum having been +arbitrarily fixed by the Government as the amount earned by the +Post-office in carrying free mail matter. We have a similar system in +computing the value of the service rendered by our Post-office to the +Government in carrying government despatches; but with us the amount +named as the compensation depends on the actual weight carried. If +the matter so carried be carried solely on the Government service, +as is I believe the case with us, any such claim on behalf of the +Post-office is apparently unnecessary. The Crown works for the Crown, +as the right hand works for the left. The Post-office pays no rates +or taxes, contributes nothing to the poor, runs its mails on turnpike +roads free of toll, and gives receipts on unstamped paper. With us +no payment is in truth made, though the Post-office in its accounts +presumes itself to have received the money. But in the States the +sum named is handed over by the State Treasury to the Post-office +Treasury. Any such statement of credit does not in effect alter the +real fact, that over a million sterling is required as a subsidy by +the American Post-office, in order that it may be enabled to pay its +way. In estimating the expenditure of the office the department at +Washington debits itself with the sums paid for the ocean transit of +its mails, amounting to something over L150,000. We also now do the +same, with the much greater sum paid by us for such service, which +now amounts to L949,228, or nearly a million sterling. Till lately +this was not paid out of the Post-office moneys, and the Post-office +revenue was not debited with the amount. + +Our gross Post-office revenue is, as I have said, L3,358,250. As +before explained, this is exclusive of the amount earned by the +money order department, which, though managed by the authorities of +the Post-office, cannot be called a part of the Post-office; and +exclusive also of the official postage, which is, in fact, never +received. The expenditure of our British Post-office, inclusive of +the sum paid for the ocean mail service, is L3,064,527. We therefore +make a net profit of L293,723 out of the Post-office, as compared +with a loss of L1,020,000, on the part of the United States. + +But perhaps the greatest difficulty with which the American +Post-office is burdened, is that "free mail matter" to which I have +alluded, for carrying which, the Post-office claims to earn L140,000, +and for the carriage of which, it might as fairly claim to earn +L1,350,000, or half the amount of its total expenditure, for I was +informed by a gentleman whose knowledge on the subject could not be +doubted, that the free mail matter so carried, equalled in bulk and +weight all that other matter which was not carried free. To such an +extent has the privilege of franking been carried in the States! All +members of both Houses frank what they please,--for in effect the +privilege is stretched to that extent. All Presidents of the Union, +past and present, can frank, as, also, all Vice-Presidents, past and +present; and there is a special act, enabling the widow of President +Polk to frank! Why it is that widows of other Presidents do not +agitate on the matter, I cannot understand. And all the Secretaries +of State can frank; and ever so many other public officers. There is +no limit in number to the letters so franked, and the nuisance has +extended itself to so huge a size, that members of Congress in giving +franks, cannot write the franks themselves. It is illegal for them +to depute to others the privilege of signing their names for this +purpose, but it is known at the Post-office that it is done. But even +this is not the worst of it. Members of the House of Representatives +have the power of sending through the post all those huge books +which, with them as with us, grow out of Parliamentary debates and +workings of Committees. This, under certain stipulations, is the +case also in England; but in England, luckily, no one values them. +In America, however, it is not so. A voter considers himself to be +noticed if he gets a book. He likes to have the book bound, and the +bigger the book may be, the more the compliment is relished. Hence it +comes to pass that an enormous quantity of useless matter is printed +and bound, only that it may be sent down to constituents and make a +show on the parlour shelves of constituents' wives. The Post-office +groans and becomes insolvent, and the country pays for the paper, the +printing, and the binding. While the public expenses of the nation +were very small, there was, perhaps, no reason why voters should not +thus be indulged; but now the matter is different, and it would be +well that the conveyance by post of these Congressional libraries +should be brought to an end. I was also assured that members very +frequently obtain permission for the printing of a speech which has +never been delivered,--and which never will be delivered,--in order +that copies may be circulated among their constituents. There is in +such an arrangement an ingenuity which is peculiarly American in its +nature. Everybody concerned is no doubt cheated by the system. The +constituents are cheated; the public, which pays, is cheated; and the +Post-office is cheated. But the House is spared the hearing of the +speech, and the result on the whole is perhaps beneficial. + +We also, within the memory of many of us, had a franking privilege, +which was peculiarly objectionable inasmuch as it operated towards +giving a free transmission of their letters by post to the rich, +while no such privilege was within reach of the poor. But with us it +never stretched itself to such an extent as it has now achieved in +the States. The number of letters for members was limited. The whole +address was written by the franking member himself, and not much +was sent in this way that was bulky. I am disposed to think that +all government and Congressional jobs in the States bear the same +proportion to government and Parliamentary jobs which have been +in vogue among us. There has been an unblushing audacity in the +public dishonesty,--what I may perhaps call the State dishonesty,--at +Washington, which I think was hardly ever equalled in London. +Bribery, I know, was disgracefully current in the days of Walpole, of +Newcastle, and even of Castlereagh;--so current, that no Englishman +has a right to hold up his own past government as a model of purity. +But the corruption with us did blush and endeavour to hide itself. +It was disgraceful to be bribed, if not so to offer bribes. But at +Washington corruption has been so common that I can hardly understand +how any honest man can have held up his head in the vicinity of the +Capitol, or of the State office. + +But the country has, I think, become tired of this. Hitherto it +has been too busy about its more important concerns, in extending +commerce, in making railways, in providing education for its youth, +to think very much of what was being done at Washington. While the +taxes were light and property was secure, while increasing population +gave daily increasing strength to the nation, the people as a body +were content with that theory of being governed by their little men. +They gave a bad name to politicians, and allowed politics, as they +say, "to slide." But all this will be altered now. The tremendous +expenditure of the last twelve months has allowed dishonesty of so +vast a grasp to make its ravages in the public pockets, that the evil +will work its own cure. Taxes will be very high, and the people will +recognize the necessity of having honest men to look after them. The +nation can no longer afford to be indifferent about its Government, +and will require to know where its money goes, and why it goes. This +franking privilege is already doomed, if not already dead. When I was +in Washington a Bill was passed through the Lower House by which it +would be abolished altogether. When I left America its fate in the +Senate was still doubtful, and I was told by many that that Bill +would not be allowed to become law without sundry alterations. But, +nevertheless, I regard the franking privilege as doomed, and offer to +the Washington Post-office officials my best congratulations on their +coming deliverance. + +The Post-office in the States is also burdened by another terrible +political evil, which in itself is so heavy, that one would at first +sight declare it to be enough to prevent anything like efficiency. +The whole of its staff is removeable every fourth year,--that is +to say, on the election of every new President. And a very large +proportion of its staff is thus removed periodically to make way +for those for whom a new President is bound to provide, by reason +of their services in sending him to the White House. They have +served him and he thus repays them by this use of his patronage in +their favour. At four hundred and thirty-four Post-offices in the +States,--those being the offices to which the highest salaries are +attached,--the President has this power, and exercises it as a +matter of course. He has the same power with reference, I believe, +to all the appointments held in the Post-office at Washington. +This practice applies by no means to the Post-office only. All the +government clerks,--clerks employed by the central government at +Washington,--are subject to the same rule. And the rule has also been +adopted in the various States with reference to State offices. + +To a stranger this practice seems so manifestly absurd, that he can +hardly conceive it possible that a government service should be +conducted on such terms. He cannot, in the first place, believe that +men of sufficient standing before the world could be found to accept +office under such circumstances; and is led to surmise that men of +insufficient standing must be employed, and that there are other +allurements to the office beyond the very moderate salaries which +are allowed. He cannot, moreover, understand how the duties can +be conducted, seeing that men must be called on to resign their +places as soon as they have learned to make themselves useful. And, +finally, he is lost in amazement as he contemplates this barefaced +prostitution of the public employ to the vilest purposes of political +manoeuvring. With us also patronage has been used for political +purposes, and to some small extent is still so used. We have not yet +sufficiently recognized the fact, that in selecting a public servant +nothing should be regarded but the advantage of the service in which +he is to be employed. But we never, in the lowest times of our +political corruption, ventured to throw over the question of service +altogether, and to declare publicly, that the one and only result to +be obtained by Government employment was political support. In the +States political corruption has become so much a matter of course, +that no American seems to be struck with the fact that the whole +system is a system of robbery. + +From sheer necessity some of the old hands are kept on when these +changes are made. Were this not done the work would come absolutely +to a dead lock. But it may be imagined how difficult it must be for +men to carry through any improvements in a great department, when +they have entered an office under such a system, and are liable to +be expelled under the same. It is greatly to the praise of those who +have been allowed to grow old in the service that so much has been +done. No men, however, are more apt at such work than Americans, +or more able to exert themselves at their posts. They are not +idle. Independently of any question of remuneration, they are not +indifferent to the well-being of the work they have in hand. They are +good public servants, unless corruption come in their way. + +While speaking on the subject of patronage, I cannot but allude +to two appointments which had been made by political interest, +and with the circumstances of which I became acquainted. In both +instances a good place had been given to a gentleman by the incoming +President,--not in return for political support, but from motives of +private friendship,--either his own friendship or that of some mutual +friend. In both instances I heard the selection spoken of with the +warmest praise, as though a noble act had been done in the nomination +of a private friend instead of a political partisan. And yet in each +case a man was appointed who knew nothing of his work; who, from +age and circumstances, was not likely to become acquainted with +his work; who, by his appointment, kept out of the place those who +did understand the work, and had earned a right to promotion by +so understanding it. Two worthy gentlemen,--for they were both +worthy,--were pensioned on the government for a term of years under +a false pretence. That this should have been done is not perhaps +remarkable; but it did seem remarkable to me that everybody regarded +such appointments as a good deed--as a deed so exceptionably good as +to be worthy of great praise. I do not allude to these selections on +account of the political vice shown by the Presidents in making them, +but on account of the political virtue;--in order that the nature +of political virtue in the States may be understood. It had never +occurred to any one to whom I spoke on the subject, that a President +in bestowing such places was bound to look for efficient work in +return for the public money which was to be paid. + +Before I end this chapter I must insert a few details respecting the +Post-office of the States, which, though they may not be specially +interesting to the general reader, will give some idea of the extent +of the department. The total number of post-offices in the States on +30th June, 1861, was 28,586. With us the number in England, Scotland, +and Ireland, at the same period was about 11,400. The population +served may be regarded as nearly the same. Our lowest salary is L3 +per annum. In the States the remuneration is often much lower. It +consists of a commission on the letters, and is sometimes less than +ten shillings a year. The difficulty of obtaining persons to hold +these offices, and the amount of work which must thereby be thrown on +what is called the "appointment branch," may be judged by the fact +that 9235 of these offices were filled up by new nominations during +the last year. When the patronage is of such a nature it is difficult +to say which give most trouble, the places which nobody wishes to +have, or those which everybody wishes to have. + +The total amount of postage on European letters, _i.e._, letters +passing between the States and Europe, in the last year as to which +accounts were kept between Washington and the European post-offices, +was L275,000. Of this over L150,000 was on letters for the United +Kingdom; and L130,000 was on letters carried by the Cunard packets. + +According to the accounts kept by the Washington office, the letters +passing from the States to Europe and from Europe to the States are +very nearly equal in number, about 101 going to Europe for every 100 +received from Europe. But the number of newspapers sent from the +States is more than double the number received in the States from +Europe. + +On 30th June, 1861, mails were carried through the then loyal States +of the Union over 140,400 miles daily. Up to 31st May preceding, at +which time the Government mails were running all through the United +States, 96,000 miles were covered in those States which had then +virtually seceded, and which in the following month were taken out +from the Post-office accounts,--making a total of 236,400 miles +daily. Of this mileage something less than one third is effected by +railways, at an average cost of about sixpence a mile. Our total +mileage per day is 151,000 miles, of which 43,823 are done by +railway, at a cost of about sevenpence-halfpenny per mile. + +As far as I could learn the servants of the Post-office are less +liberally paid in the States than with us,--excepting as regards two +classes. The first of these is that class which is paid by weekly +wages,--such as letter-carriers and porters. Their remuneration is +of course ruled by the rate of ordinary wages in the country; and +as ordinary wages are higher in the States than with us, such men +are paid accordingly. The other class is that of postmasters at +second-rate towns. They receive the same compensation as those at the +largest towns;--unless indeed there be other compensation than those +written in the books at Washington. A postmaster is paid a certain +commission on letters, till it amounts to L400 per annum: all above +that going back to the Government. So also out of the fees paid for +boxes at the window he receives any amount forthcoming, not exceeding +L400 a year; making in all a maximum of L800. The postmaster of New +York can get no more. But any moderately large town will give as +much, and in this way an amount of patronage is provided which in a +political view is really valuable. + +But with all this the people have made their way, because they have +been intelligent, industrious, and in earnest. And as the people have +made their way, so has the Post-office. The number of its offices, +the mileage it covers, its extraordinary cheapness, the rapidity with +which it has been developed, are all proofs of great things done; +and it is by no means standing still even in these evil days of war. +Improvements are even now on foot, copied in a great measure from +ourselves. Hitherto the American office has not taken upon itself +the task of returning to their writers undelivered and undeliverable +letters. This it is now going to do. It is, as I have said, shaking +off from itself that terrible incubus the franking privilege. And +the expediency of introducing a money-order office into the States, +connected with the Post-office as it is with us, is even now under +consideration. Such an accommodation is much needed in the country; +but I doubt whether the present moment, looking at the fiscal state +of the country, is well adapted for establishing it. + +I was much struck by the great extravagance in small things +manifested by the Post-office through the States, and have reason +to believe that the same remark would be equally true with regard +to other public establishments. They use needless forms without +end,--making millions of entries which no one is ever expected to +regard. Their expenditure in stationery might, I think, be reduced +by one half, and the labour might be saved which is now wasted in +the abuse of that useless stationery. Their mail-bags are made +in a costly manner, and are often large beyond all proportion or +necessity. I could greatly lengthen this list if I were addressing +myself solely to Post-office people; but as I am not doing so, I will +close these semi-official remarks with an assurance to my colleagues +in Post-office work on the other side of the water that I greatly +respect what they have done, and trust that before long they may have +renewed opportunities for the prosecution of their good work. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +AMERICAN HOTELS. + + +I find it impossible to resist the subject of inns. As I have gone on +with my journey, I have gone on with my book, and have spoken here +and there of American hotels as I have encountered them. But in the +States the hotels are so large an institution, having so much closer +and wider a bearing on social life than they do in any other country, +that I feel myself bound to treat them in a separate chapter as a +great national feature in themselves. They are quite as much thought +of in the nation as the legislature, or judicature, or literature of +the country; and any falling off in them, or any improvement in the +accommodation given, would strike the community as forcibly as a +change in the constitution, or an alteration in the franchise. + +Moreover I consider myself as qualified to write a chapter on +hotels;--not only on the hotels of America but on hotels generally. +I have myself been much too frequently a sojourner at hotels. I think +I know what an hotel should be, and what it should not be; and am +almost inclined to believe, in my pride, that I could myself fill the +position of a landlord with some chance of social success, though +probably with none of satisfactory pecuniary results. + +Of all hotels known to me, I am inclined to think that the Swiss +are the best. The things wanted at an hotel are, I fancy, mainly +as follows:--a clean bedroom with a good and clean bed,--and with +it also plenty of water. Good food, well dressed and served at +convenient hours, which hours should on occasions be allowed to +stretch themselves. Wines that shall be drinkable. Quick attendance. +Bills that shall not be absolutely extortionate, smiling faces, +and an absence of foul smells. There are many who desire more than +this;--who expect exquisite cookery, choice wines, subservient +domestics, distinguished consideration, and the strictest economy. +But they are uneducated travellers who are going through the +apprenticeship of their hotel lives;--who may probably never become +free of the travellers' guild, or learn to distinguish that which +they may fairly hope to attain from that which they can never +accomplish. + +Taking them as a whole I think that the Swiss hotels are the best. +They are perhaps a little close in the matter of cold water, but +even as to this, they generally give way to pressure. The pressure, +however, must not be violent, but gentle rather, and well continued. +Their bedrooms are excellent. Their cookery is good, and to the +outward senses is cleanly. The people are civil. The whole work of +the house is carried on upon fixed rules which tend to the comfort of +the establishment. They are not cheap, and not always quite honest. +But the exorbitance or dishonesty of their charges rarely exceeds a +certain reasonable scale, and hardly ever demands the bitter misery +of a remonstrance. + +The inns of the Tyrol are, I think, the cheapest I have known, +affording the traveller what he requires for half the price, or less +than half, that demanded in Switzerland. But the other half is taken +out in stench and nastiness. As tourists scatter themselves more +profusely, the prices of the Tyrol will no doubt rise. Let us hope +that increased prices will bring with them besoms, scrubbing-brushes, +and other much needed articles of cleanliness. + +The inns of the north of Italy are very good, and indeed, the Italian +inns throughout, as far as I know them, are much better than the name +they bear. The Italians are a civil, kindly people, and do for you, +at any rate, the best they can. Perhaps the unwary traveller may +be cheated. Ignorant of the language, he may be called on to pay +more than the man who speaks it, and who can bargain in the Italian +fashion as to price. It has often been my lot, I doubt not, to be +so cheated. But then I have been cheated with a grace that has been +worth all the money. The ordinary prices of Italian inns are by no +means high. + +I have seldom thoroughly liked the inns of Germany which I have +known. They are not clean, and water is very scarce. Smiles too are +generally wanting, and I have usually fancied myself to be regarded +as a piece of goods out of which so much profit was to be made. + +The dearest hotels I know are the French;--and certainly not the +best. In the provinces they are by no means so cleanly as those of +Italy. Their wines are generally abominable, and their cookery often +disgusting. In Paris grand dinners may no doubt be had, and luxuries +of every description,--except the luxury of comfort. Cotton-velvet +sofas and ormolu clocks stand in the place of convenient furniture, +and logs of wood, at a franc a log, fail to impart to you the heat +which the freezing cold of a Paris winter demands. They used to make +good coffee in Paris, but even that is a thing of the past. I fancy +that they import their brandy from England, and manufacture their own +cigars. French wines you may get good at a Paris hotel; but you would +drink them as good and much cheaper if you bought them in London and +took them with you. + +The worst hotels I know are in the Havana. Of course I do not speak +here of chance mountain huts, or small far-off roadside hostels in +which the traveller may find himself from time to time. All such +are to be counted apart, and must be judged on their merits, by the +circumstances which surround them. But with reference to places of +wide resort, nothing can beat the hotels of the Havana in filth, +discomfort, habits of abomination, and absence of everything which +the traveller desires. All the world does not go to the Havana, +and the subject is not, therefore, one of general interest. But in +speaking of hotels at large, so much I find myself bound to say. + +In all the countries to which I have alluded the guests of the house +are expected to sit down together at one table. Conversation is at +any rate possible, and there is the show if not the reality of +society. + +And now one word as to English inns. I do not think that we +Englishmen have any great right to be proud of them. The worst about +them is that they deteriorate from year to year instead of becoming +better. We used to hear much of the comfort of the old English +wayside inn, but the old English wayside inn has gone. The railway +hotel has taken its place, and the railway hotel is too frequently +gloomy, desolate, comfortless, and almost suicidal. In England too, +since the old days are gone, there are wanting the landlord's bow, +and the kindly smile of his stout wife. Who now knows the landlord of +an inn, or cares to inquire whether or no there be a landlady? The +old welcome is wanting, and the cheery warm air which used to atone +for the bad port and tough beef has passed away;--while the port is +still bad and the beef too often tough. + +In England, and only in England, as I believe, is maintained in hotel +life the theory of solitary existence. The sojourner at an English +inn,--unless he be a commercial traveller, and, as such, a member of +a universal, peripatetic tradesman's club,--lives alone. He has his +breakfast alone, his dinner alone, his pint of wine alone, and his +cup of tea alone. It is not considered practicable that two strangers +should sit at the same table, or cut from the same dish. Consequently +his dinner is cooked for him separately, and the hotel keeper can +hardly afford to give him a good dinner. He has two modes of life +from which to choose. He either lives in a public room,--called +a coffee-room,--and there occupies during his comfortless meal a +separate small table too frequently removed from fire and light, +though generally exposed to draughts; or else he indulges in the +luxury of a private sitting-room, and endeavours to find solace on +an old horse-hair sofa, at the cost of seven shillings a day. His +bedroom is not so arranged that he can use it as a sitting-room. +Under either phase of life he can rarely find himself comfortable, +and therefore he lives as little at an hotel as the circumstances +of his business or of his pleasure will allow. I do not think that +any of the requisites of a good inn are habitually to be found +in perfection at our Kings' Heads and White Horses, though the +falling-off is not so lamentably distressing as it sometimes is in +other countries. The bedrooms are dingy rather than dirty. Extra +payment to servants will generally produce a tub of cold water. The +food is never good, but it is usually eatable, and you may have it +when you please. The wines are almost always bad, but the traveller +can fall back upon beer. The attendance is good, provided always that +the payment for it is liberal. The cost is generally too high, and +unfortunately grows larger and larger from year to year. Smiling +faces are out of the question unless specially paid for; and as +to that matter of foul smells there is often room for improvement. +An English inn to a solitary traveller without employment is an +embodiment of dreary desolation. The excuse to be made for this is +that English men and women do not live much at inns in their own +country. + +The American inn differs from all those of which I have made mention, +and is altogether an institution apart, and a thing of itself. Hotels +in America are very much larger and more numerous than in other +countries. They are to be found in all towns, and I may almost say +in all villages. In England and on the Continent we find them on the +recognized routes of travel and in towns of commercial or social +importance. On unfrequented roads and in villages there is usually +some small house of public entertainment in which the unexpected +traveller may obtain food and shelter, and in which the expected boon +companions of the neighbourhood smoke their nightly pipes, and drink +their nightly tipple. But in the States of America the first sign +of an incipient settlement is an hotel five stories high, with an +office, a bar, a cloak-room, three gentlemen's parlours, two ladies' +parlours, a ladies' entrance, and two hundred bedrooms. + +These, of course, are all built with a view to profit, and it may be +presumed that in each case the originators of the speculation enter +into some calculation as to their expected guests. Whence are to come +the sleepers in those two hundred bedrooms, and who is to pay for the +gaudy sofas and numerous lounging chairs of the ladies' parlours? In +all other countries the expectation would extend itself simply to +travellers;--to travellers or to strangers sojourning in the land. +But this is by no means the case as to these speculations in America. +When the new hotel rises up in the wilderness, it is presumed that +people will come there with the express object of inhabiting it. The +hotel itself will create a population,--as the railways do. With us +railways run to the towns; but in the States the towns run to the +railways. It is the same thing with the hotels. + +Housekeeping is not popular with young married people in America, and +there are various reasons why this should be so. Men there are not +fixed in their employment as they are with us. If a young Benedict +cannot get along as a lawyer at Salem, perhaps he may thrive as a +shoemaker at Thermopylae. Jefferson B. Johnson fails in the lumber +line at Eleutheria, but hearing of an opening for a Baptist preacher +at Big Mud Creek moves himself off with his wife and three children +at a week's notice. Aminadab Wiggs takes an engagement as a clerk +at a steam-boat office on the Pongowonga river, but he goes to his +employment with an inward conviction that six months will see him +earning his bread elsewhere. Under such circumstances even a large +wardrobe is a nuisance, and a collection of furniture would be as +appropriate as a drove of elephants. Then, again, young men and women +marry without any means already collected on which to commence their +life. They are content to look forward and to hope that such means +will come. In so doing they are guilty of no imprudence. It is +the way of the country; and, if the man be useful for anything, +employment will certainly come to him. But he must live on the fruits +of that employment, and can only pay his way from week to week and +from day to day. And as a third reason I think I may allege that +the mode of life found in these hotels is liked by the people who +frequent them. It is to their taste. They are happy, or at any rate +contented, at these hotels, and do not wish for household cares. As +to the two first reasons which I have given I can agree as to the +necessity of the case, and quite concur as to the expediency of +marriage under such circumstances. But as to that matter of taste, +I cannot concur at all. Anything more forlorn than a young married +woman at an American hotel, it is impossible to conceive. + +Such are the guests expected for those two hundred bedrooms. The +chance travellers are but chance additions to these, and are not +generally the main stay of the house. As a matter of course the +accommodation for travellers which these hotels afford increases +and creates travelling. Men come because they know they will be fed +and bedded at a moderate cost, and in an easy way, suited to their +tastes. With us, and throughout Europe, inquiry is made before an +unaccustomed journey is commenced, on that serious question of +wayside food and shelter. But in the States no such question is +needed. A big hotel is a matter of course, and therefore men travel. +Everybody travels in the States. The railways and the hotels have +between them so churned up the people that an untravelled man or +woman is a rare animal. We are apt to suppose that travellers make +roads, and that guests create hotels; but the cause and effect run +exactly in the other way. I am almost disposed to think that we +should become cannibals if gentlemen's legs and ladies' arms were +hung up for sale in purveyors' shops. + +After this fashion and with these intentions hotels are built. Size +and an imposing exterior are the first requisitions. Everything about +them must be on a large scale. A commanding exterior, and a certain +interior dignity of demeanour is more essential than comfort or +civility. Whatever an hotel may be it must not be "mean." In the +American vernacular the word "mean" is very significant. A mean white +in the South is a man who owns no slaves. Men are often mean, but +actions are seldom so called. A man feels mean when the bluster is +taken out of him. A mean hotel, conducted in a quiet unostentatious +manner, in which the only endeavour made had reference to the comfort +of a few guests, would find no favour in the States. These hotels +are not called by the name of any sign, as with us in our provinces. +There are no "Presidents' Heads" or "General Scotts." Nor by the name +of the landlord, or of some former landlord, as with us in London, +and in many cities of the Continent. Nor are they called from some +country or city which may have been presumed at some time to have +had special patronage for the establishment. In the nomenclature of +American hotels the speciality of American hero-worship is shown, +as in the nomenclature of their children. Every inn is a house, +and these houses are generally named after some hero, little known +probably in the world at large, but highly estimated in that locality +at the moment of the christening. + +They are always built on a plan which to a European seems to be most +unnecessarily extravagant in space. It is not unfrequently the case +that the greater portion of the ground-floor is occupied by rooms and +halls which make no return to the house whatever. The visitor enters +a great hall by the front door, and almost invariably finds it full +of men who are idling about, sitting round on stationary seats, +talking in a listless manner, and getting through their time as +though the place were a public lounging room. And so it is. The +chances are that not half the crowd are guests at the hotel. I will +now follow the visitor as he makes his way up to the office. Every +hotel has an office. To call this place the bar, as I have done too +frequently, is a lamentable error. The bar is held in a separate room +appropriated solely to drinking. To the office, which is in fact a +long open counter, the guest walks up, and there inscribes his name +in a book. This inscription was to me a moment of misery which I +could never go through with equanimity. As the name is written, and +as the request for accommodation is made, half a dozen loungers look +over your name and listen to what you say. They listen attentively, +and spell your name carefully, but the great man behind the bar does +not seem to listen or to heed you. Your destiny is never imparted +to you on the instant. If your wife or any other woman be with you, +(the word "lady" is made so absolutely distasteful in American hotels +that I cannot bring myself to use it in writing of them) she has been +carried off to a lady's waiting room, and there remains in august +wretchedness till the great man at the bar shall have decided on her +fate. I have never been quite able to fathom the mystery of these +delays. I think they must have originated in the necessity of waiting +to see what might be the influx of travellers at the moment, and then +have become exaggerated and brought to their present normal state by +the gratified feeling of almost divine power with which for the time +it invests that despotic arbiter. I have found it always the same, +though arriving with no crowd, by a conveyance of my own, when no +other expectant guests were following me. The great man has listened +to my request in silence, with an imperturbable face, and has usually +continued his conversation with some loafing friend, who at the time +is probably scrutinizing my name in the book. I have often suffered +in patience; but patience is not specially the badge of my tribe, +and I have sometimes spoken out rather freely. If I may presume +to give advice to my travelling countrymen how to act under such +circumstances I should recommend to them freedom of speech rather +than patience. The great man when freely addressed generally opens +his eyes, and selects the key of your room without further delay. I +am inclined to think that the selection will not be made in any way +to your detriment by reason of that freedom of speech. The lady in +the ballad who spoke out her own mind to Lord Bateman was sent to her +home honourably in a coach and three. Had she held her tongue we are +justified in presuming that she would have been returned on a pillion +behind a servant. + +I have been greatly annoyed by that silence on the part of the hotel +clerk. I have repeatedly asked for room, and received no syllable +in return. I have persisted in my request, and the clerk has nodded +his head at me. Until a traveller is known, these gentlemen are +singularly sparing of speech,--especially in the West. The same +economy of words runs down from the great man at the office all +through the servants of the establishment. It arises, I believe, +entirely from that want of courtesy which democratic institutions +create. The man whom you address has to make a battle against the +state of subservience, presumed to be indicated by his position, and +he does so by declaring his indifference to the person on whose wants +he is paid to attend. I have been honoured on one or two occasions by +the subsequent intimacy of these great men at the hotel offices, and +have then found them ready enough at conversation. + +That necessity of making your request for rooms before a public +audience is not in itself agreeable, and sometimes entails a +conversation which might be more comfortably made in private. "What +do you mean by a dressing-room, and why do you want one?" Now that +is a question which an Englishman feels awkward at answering before +five-and-twenty Americans, with open mouths and eager eyes; but +it has to be answered. When I left England, I was assured that +I should not find any need for a separate sitting-room, seeing +that drawing-rooms more or less sumptuous were prepared for the +accommodation of "ladies." At first we attempted to follow the advice +given to us, but we broke down. A man and his wife travelling from +town to town, and making no sojourn on his way, may eat and sleep +at an hotel without a private parlour. But an Englishwoman cannot +live in comfort for a week, or even, in comfort, for a day, at any +of these houses, without a sitting-room for herself. The ladies' +drawing-room is a desolate wilderness. The American women themselves +do not use it. It is generally empty, or occupied by some forlorn +spinster, eliciting harsh sounds from the wretched piano which it +contains. + +The price at these hotels throughout the Union is nearly always the +same, viz., two and a half dollars a day, for which a bedroom is +given, and as many meals as the guest can contrive to eat. This +is the price for chance guests. The cost to monthly boarders is, +I believe, not more than the half of this. Ten shillings a day, +therefore, covers everything that is absolutely necessary, servants +included. And this must be said in praise of these inns: that the +traveller can compute his expenses accurately, and can absolutely +bring them within that daily sum of ten shillings. This includes +a great deal of eating, a great deal of attendance, the use of +reading-rooms and smoking-rooms--which, however, always seem to +be open to the public as well as to the guests,--and a bedroom +with accommodation which is at any rate as good as the average +accommodation of hotels in Europe. In the large Eastern towns baths +are attached to many of the rooms. I always carry my own, and have +never failed in getting water. It must be acknowledged that the price +is very low. It is so low that I believe it affords, as a rule, no +profit whatsoever. The profit is made upon extra charges, and they +are higher than in any other country that I have visited. They are so +high that I consider travelling in America, for an Englishman with +his wife or family, to be more expensive than travelling in any part +of Europe. First in the list of extras comes that matter of the +sitting-room, and by that for a man and his wife the whole first +expense is at once doubled. The ordinary charge is five dollars, or +one pound a day! A guest intending to stay for two or three weeks +at an hotel, or perhaps for one week, may, by agreement, have this +charge reduced. At one inn I stayed a fortnight, and having made no +such agreement was charged the full sum. I felt myself stirred up to +complain, and did in that case remonstrate. I was asked how much I +wished to have returned,--for the bill had been paid,--and the sum I +suggested was at once handed to me. But even with such reduction the +price is very high, and at once makes the American hotel expensive. +Wine also at these houses is very costly, and very bad. The usual +price is two dollars, or eight shillings, a bottle. The people of the +country rarely drink wine at dinner in the hotels. When they do so, +they drink champagne; but their normal drinking is done separately, +at the bar, chiefly before dinner, and at a cheap rate. "A drink," +let it be what it may, invariably costs a dime, or fivepence. But +if you must have a glass of sherry with your dinner, it costs two +dollars; for sherry does not grow into pint bottles in the States. +But the guest who remains for two days can have his wine kept for +him. Washing also is an expensive luxury. The price of this is +invariable, being always fourpence for everything washed. A cambric +handkerchief or muslin dress all come out at the same price. For +those who are cunning in the matter this may do very well; but +for men and women whose cuffs and collars are numerous it becomes +expensive. The craft of those who are cunning is shown, I think, in +little internal washings, by which the cambric handkerchiefs are kept +out of the list, while the muslin dresses are placed upon it. I am +led to this surmise by the energetic measures taken by the hotel +keepers to prevent such domestic washings, and by the denunciations +which in every hotel are pasted up in every room against the +practice. I could not at first understand why I was always warned +against washing my own clothes in my own bedroom, and told that no +foreign laundress could on any account be admitted into the house. +The injunctions given on this head are almost frantic in their +energy, and therefore I conceive that hotel keepers find themselves +exposed to much suffering in the matter. At these hotels they wash +with great rapidity, sending you back your clothes in four or five +hours if you desire it. + +Another very stringent order is placed before the face of all +visitors at American hotels, desiring them on no account to leave +valuable property in their rooms. I presume that there must have been +some difficulty in this matter in bygone years, for in every State a +law has been passed declaring that hotel keepers shall not be held +responsible for money or jewels stolen out of rooms in their houses, +provided that they are furnished with safes for keeping such money, +and give due caution to their guests on the subject. The due caution +is always given, but I have seldom myself taken any notice of it. I +have always left my portmanteau open, and have kept my money usually +in a travelling desk in my room. But I never to my knowledge lost +anything. The world, I think, gives itself credit for more thieves +than it possesses. As to the female servants at American inns, they +are generally all that is disagreeable. They are uncivil, impudent, +dirty, slow,--provoking to a degree. But I believe that they keep +their hands from picking and stealing. + +I never yet made a single comfortable meal at an American hotel, or +rose from my breakfast or dinner with that feeling of satisfaction +which should, I think, be felt at such moments in a civilized land in +which cookery prevails as an art. I have had enough, and have been +healthy and am thankful. But that thankfulness is altogether a matter +apart, and does not bear upon the question. If need be I can eat food +that is disagreeable to my palate, and make no complaint. But I hold +it to be compatible with the principles of an advanced Christianity +to prefer food that is palatable. I never could get any of that +kind at an American hotel. All meal-times at such houses were to me +periods of disagreeable duty; and at this moment, as I write these +lines at the hotel in which I am still staying, I pine for an English +leg of mutton. But I do not wish it to be supposed that the fault +of which I complain,--for it is a grievous fault,--is incidental to +America as a nation. I have stayed in private houses, and have daily +sat down to dinners quite as good as any my own kitchen could afford +me. Their dinner parties are generally well done, and as a people +they are by no means indifferent to the nature of their comestibles. +It is of the hotels that I speak, and of them I again say that +eating in them is a disagreeable task,--a painful labour. It is as a +schoolboy's lesson, or the six hours' confinement of a clerk at his +desk. + +The mode of eating is as follows. Certain feeding hours are named, +which generally include nearly all the day. Breakfast from six till +ten. Dinner from one till five. Tea from six till nine. Supper from +nine till twelve. When the guest presents himself at any of these +hours he is marshalled to a seat, and a bill is put into his hand +containing the names of all the eatables then offered for his choice. +The list is incredibly and most unnecessarily long. Then it is that +you will see care written on the face of the American hotel liver, +as he studies the programme of the coming performance. With men this +passes off unnoticed, but with young girls the appearance of the +thing is not attractive. The anxious study, the elaborate reading +of the daily book, and then the choice proclaimed with clear +articulation. "Boiled mutton and caper sauce, roast duck, hashed +venison, mashed potatoes, poached eggs and spinach, stewed tomatoes. +Yes; and waiter,--some squash." There is no false delicacy in the +voice by which this order is given, no desire for a gentle whisper. +The dinner is ordered with the firm determination of an American +heroine, and in some five minutes' time all the little dishes appear +at once, and the lady is surrounded by her banquet. + +How I did learn to hate those little dishes and their greasy +contents! At a London eating-house things are often not very nice, +but your meat is put on a plate and comes before you in an edible +shape. At these hotels it is brought to you in horrid little oval +dishes, and swims in grease. Gravy is not an institution at American +hotels, but grease has taken its place. It is palpable, undisguised +grease, floating in rivers,--not grease caused by accidental bad +cookery, but grease on purpose. A beef-steak is not a beef-steak +unless a quarter of a pound of butter be added to it. Those horrid +little dishes! If one thinks of it how could they have been made to +contain Christian food? Every article in that long list is liable +to the call of any number of guests for four hours. Under such +circumstances how can food be made eatable? Your roast mutton is +brought to you raw;--if you object to that you are supplied with meat +that has been four times brought before the public. At hotels on the +continent of Europe different dinners are cooked at different hours, +but here the same dinner is kept always going. The house breakfast +is maintained on a similar footing. Huge boilers of tea and coffee +are stewed down and kept hot. To me those meals were odious. It is +of course open to any one to have separate dinners and separate +breakfasts in his own room; but by this little is gained and much +is lost. He or she who is so exclusive pays twice over for such +meals,--as they are charged as extras on the bill; and, after all, +receives the advantage of no exclusive cooking. Particles from the +public dinners are brought to the private room, and the same odious +little dishes make their appearance. + +But the most striking peculiarity of the American hotels is in their +public rooms. Of the ladies' drawing-room I have spoken. There +are two and sometimes three in one hotel, and they are generally +furnished at any rate expensively. It seems to me that the space +and the furniture are almost thrown away. At watering places, and +sea-side summer hotels they are, I presume, used; but at ordinary +hotels they are empty deserts. The intention is good, for they are +established with the view of giving to ladies at hotels the comforts +of ordinary domestic life; but they fail in their effect. Ladies will +not make themselves happy in any room, or with ever so much gilded +furniture, unless some means of happiness be provided for them. Into +these rooms no book is ever brought, no needle-work is introduced; +from them no clatter of many tongues is ever heard. On a marble table +in the middle of the room always stands a large pitcher of iced +water, and from this a cold, damp, uninviting air is spread through +the atmosphere of the ladies' drawing-room. + +Below, on the ground floor, there is, in the first place, the huge +entrance hall, at the back of which, behind a bar, the great man of +the place keeps the keys and holds his court. There are generally +seats around it, in which smokers sit,--or men not smoking but +ruminating. Opening off from this are reading rooms, smoking rooms, +shaving rooms, drinking rooms, parlours for gentlemen in which +smoking is prohibited, and which are generally as desolate as the +ladies' sitting-rooms above. In those other more congenial chambers +is always gathered together a crowd, apparently belonging in no way +to the hotel. It would seem that a great portion of an American +inn is as open to the public as an Exchange, or as the wayside of +the street. In the West, during the early months of this war, the +traveller would always see many soldiers among the crowd,--not +only officers, but privates. They sit in public seats, silent but +apparently contented, sometimes for an hour together. All Americans +are given to gatherings such as these. It is the much-loved +institution to which the name of "loafing" has been given. + +I do not like the mode of life which prevails in the American +hotels. I have come across exceptions, and know one or two that are +comfortable,--always excepting that matter of eating and drinking. +But taking them as a whole I do not like their mode of life. I feel, +however, bound to add that the hotels of Canada, which are kept, +I think, always after the same fashion, are infinitely worse than +those of the United States. I do not like the American hotels; but +I must say in their favour that they afford an immense amount of +accommodation. The traveller is rarely told that an hotel is full, so +that travelling in America is without one of those great perils to +which it is subject in Europe. It must also be acknowledged that for +the ordinary purposes of a traveller they are very cheap. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LITERATURE. + + +In speaking of the literature of any country we are, I think, too +much inclined to regard the question as one appertaining exclusively +to the writers of books,--not acknowledging, as we should do, that +the literary character of a people will depend much more upon what +it reads than what it writes. If we can suppose any people to have +an intimate acquaintance with the best literary efforts of other +countries, we should hardly be correct in saying that such a people +had no literary history of their own because it had itself produced +nothing in literature. And, with reference to those countries which +have been most fertile in the production of good books, I doubt +whether their literary histories would not have more to tell of those +ages in which much has been read than of those in which much has been +written. + +The United States have been by no means barren in the production +of literature. The truth is so far from this that their literary +triumphs are perhaps those which of all their triumphs are the most +honourable to them, and which, considering their position as a young +nation, are the most permanently satisfactory. But though they +have done much in writing, they have done much more in reading. As +producers they are more than respectable, but as consumers they are +the most conspicuous people on the earth. It is impossible to speak +of the subject of literature in America without thinking of the +readers rather than of the writers. In this matter their position is +different from that of any other great people, seeing that they share +the advantages of our language. An American will perhaps consider +himself to be as little like an Englishman as he is like a Frenchman. +But he reads Shakespeare through the medium of his own vernacular, +and has to undergo the penance of a foreign tongue before he can +understand Moliere. He separates himself from England in politics and +perhaps in affection; but he cannot separate himself from England in +mental culture. It may be suggested that an Englishman has the same +advantages as regards America; and it is true that he is obtaining +much of such advantage. Irving, Prescott, and Longfellow are the same +to England as though she herself had produced them. But the balance +of advantage must be greatly in favour of America. We have given her +the work of four hundred years, and have received back in return the +work of fifty. + +And of this advantage the Americans have not been slow to avail +themselves. As consumers of literature they are certainly the most +conspicuous people on the earth. Where an English publisher contents +himself with thousands of copies an American publisher deals with +ten thousands. The sale of a new book, which in numbers would amount +to a considerable success with us, would with them be a lamentable +failure. This of course is accounted for, as regards the author +and the publisher, by the difference of price at which the book is +produced. One thousand in England will give perhaps as good a return +as the ten thousand in America. But as regards the readers there can +be no such equalization. The thousand copies cannot spread themselves +as do the ten thousand. The one book at a guinea cannot multiply +itself, let Mr. Mudie do what he will, as do the ten books at a +dollar. Ultimately there remain the ten books against the one; and +if there be not the ten readers against the one, there are five, +or four, or three. Everybody in the States has books about his +house. "And so has everybody in England," will say my English +reader, mindful of the libraries, or book-rooms, or book-crowded +drawing-rooms of his friends and acquaintances. But has my English +reader who so replies examined the libraries of many English cabmen, +of ticket porters, of warehousemen, and of agricultural labourers? +I cannot take upon myself to say that I have done so with any close +search in the States. But when it has been in my power I have done +so, and I have always found books in such houses as I have entered. +The amount of printed matter which is poured forth in streams from +the printing-presses of the great American publishers is, however, a +better proof of the truth of what I say than anything that I can have +seen myself. + +But of what class are the books that are so read? There are many +who think that reading in itself is not good unless the matter +read be excellent. I do not myself quite agree with this, thinking +that almost any reading is better than none; but I will of course +admit that good matter is better than bad matter. The bulk of the +literature consumed in the States is no doubt composed of novels,--as +it is also, now-a-days, in this country. Whether or no an unlimited +supply of novels for young people is or is not advantageous, I will +not here pretend to say. The general opinion with ourselves I take it +is, that novels are bad reading if they be bad of their kind. Novels +that are not bad are now-a-days accepted generally as indispensable +to our households. Whatever may be the weakness of the American +literary taste in this respect, it is, I think, a weakness which we +share. There are more novel readers among them than with us, but +only, I think, in the proportion that there are more readers. + +I have no hesitation in saying, that works by English authors are +more popular in the States than those written by themselves; and, +among English authors of the present day, they by no means confine +themselves to the novelists. The English names of whom I heard +most during my sojourn in the States were perhaps those of Dickens, +Tennyson, Buckle, Tom Hughes, Martin Tupper, and Thackeray. As the +owners of all these names are still living, I am not going to take +upon myself the delicate task of criticising the American taste. +I may not perhaps coincide with them in every respect. But if I be +right as to the names which I have given, such a selection shows that +they do get beyond novels. I have little doubt but that many more +copies of Dickens's novels have been sold during the last three +years, than of the works either of Tennyson or of Buckle; but such +also has been the case in England. It will probably be admitted +that one copy of the "Civilization" should be held as being equal +to five-and-twenty of "Nicholas Nickleby," and that a single "In +Memoriam" may fairly weigh down half-a-dozen "Pickwicks." Men and +women after their day's work are not always up to the "Civilization." +As a rule they are generally up to "Proverbial Philosophy," and this, +perhaps, may have had something to do with the great popularity of +that very popular work. + +I would not have it supposed that American readers despise their own +authors. The Americans are very proud of having a literature of their +own. Among the literary names which they honour, there are none, I +think, more honourable than those of Cooper and Irving. They like to +know that their modern historians are acknowledged as great authors, +and as regards their own poets will sometimes demand your admiration +for strains with which you hardly find yourself to be familiar. But +English books are, I think, the better loved;--even the English books +of the present day. And even beyond this,--with those who choose +to indulge in the costly luxuries of literature,--books printed in +England are more popular than those which are printed in their own +country; and yet the manner in which the American publishers put +out their work is very good. The book sold there at a dollar, or a +dollar and a quarter, quite equals our ordinary five shilling volume. +Nevertheless English books are preferred,--almost as strongly as are +French bonnets. Of books absolutely printed and produced in England +the supply in the States is of course small. They must necessarily be +costly, and as regards new books, are always subjected to the rivalry +of a cheaper American copy. But of the reprinted works of English +authors the supply is unlimited, and the sale very great. Almost +everything is reprinted; certainly everything which can be said to +attain any home popularity. I do not know how far English authors +may be aware of the fact; but it is undoubtedly a fact that their +influence as authors is greater on the other side of the Atlantic +than on this. It is there that they have their most numerous school +of pupils. It is there that they are recognized as teachers by +hundreds of thousands. It is of those thirty millions that they +should think, at any rate in part, when they discuss within their +own hearts that question which all authors do discuss, whether that +which they write shall in itself be good or bad,--be true or false. +A writer in England may not, perhaps, think very much of this with +reference to some trifle of which his English publisher proposes to +sell some seven or eight hundred copies. But he begins to feel that +he should have thought of it when he learns that twenty or thirty +thousand copies of the same have been scattered through the length +and breadth of the United States. The English author should feel that +he writes for the widest circle of readers ever yet obtained by the +literature of any country. He provides not only for his own country +and for the States, but for the readers who are rising by millions +in the British colonies. Canada is supplied chiefly from the presses +of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, but she is supplied with +the works of the mother country. India, as I take it, gets all her +books direct from London, as do the West Indies. Whether or no the +Australian colonies have as yet learned to reprint our books I do not +know, but I presume that they cannot do so as cheaply as they can +import them. London with us, and the three cities which I have named +on the other side of the Atlantic, are the places at which this +literature is manufactured; but the demand in the western hemisphere +is becoming more brisk than that which the old world creates. There +is, I have no doubt, more literary matter printed in London than in +all America put together. A greater extent of letter-press is put up +in London than in the three publishing cities of the States. But the +number of copies issued by the American publishers is so much greater +than those which ours put forth, that the greater bulk of literature +is with them. If this be so, the demand with them is of course +greater than it is with us. + +I have spoken here of the privilege which an English author enjoys +by reason of the ever widening circle of readers to whom he writes. +I speak of the privilege of an English author as distinguished from +that of an American author. I profess my belief that in the United +States an English author has an advantage over one of that country +merely in the fact of his being English, as a French milliner has +undoubtedly an advantage in her nationality let her merits or +demerits as a milliner be what they may. I think that English books +are better liked because they are English. But I do not know that +there is any feeling with us either for or against an author because +he is American. I believe that Longfellow stands in our judgment +exactly where he would have stood had he been a tutor at a college in +Oxford instead of a Professor at Cambridge in Massachusetts. Prescott +is read among us as an historian without any reference as to his +nationality, and by many, as I take it, in absolute ignorance of +his nationality. Hawthorne, the novelist, is quite as well known in +England as he is in his own country. But I do not know that to either +of these three is awarded any favour or is denied any justice because +he is an American. Washington Irving published many of his works in +this country, receiving very large sums for them from Mr. Murray, and +I fancy that in dealing with his publisher he found neither advantage +nor disadvantage in his nationality;--that is, of course, advantage +or disadvantage in reference to the light in which his works would be +regarded. It must be admitted that there is no jealousy in the States +against English authors. I think that there is a feeling in their +favour, but no one can at any rate allege that there is a feeling +against them. I think I may also assert on the part of my own country +that there is no jealousy here against American authors. As regards +the tastes of the people, the works of each country flow freely +through the other. That is as it should be. But when we come to the +mode of supply, things are not exactly as they should be; and I do +not believe that any one will contradict me when I say that the fault +is with the Americans. + +I presume that all my readers know the meaning of the word copyright. +A man's copyright, or right in his copy, is that amount of legal +possession in the production of his brains which has been secured to +him by the laws of his own country and by the laws of others. Unless +an author were secured by such laws, his writings would be of but +little pecuniary value to him, as the right of printing and selling +them would be open to all the world. In England and in America, and +as I conceive in all countries possessing a literature, there is such +a law securing to authors and to their heirs for a term of years the +exclusive right over their own productions. That this should be so +in England as regards English authors is so much a matter of course, +that the copyright of an author would seem to be as naturally his +own as a gentleman's deposit at his bank or his little investment in +the three per cents. The right of an author to the value of his own +productions in other countries than his own is not so much a matter +of course; but nevertheless, if such productions have any value in +other countries, that value should belong to him. This has been felt +to be the case between England and France, and treaties have been +made securing his own property to the author in each country. The +fact that the languages of England and France are different makes the +matter one of comparatively small moment. But it has been found to be +for the honour and profit of the two countries, that there should be +such a law, and an international copyright does exist. But if such +an arrangement be needed between two such countries as France and +England,--between two countries which do not speak the same language +or share the same literature,--how much more necessary must it be +between England and the United States? The literature of the one +country is the literature of the other. The poem that is popular +in London will certainly be popular in New York. The novel that is +effective among American ladies will be equally so with those of +England. There can be no doubt as to the importance of having a +law of copyright between the two countries. The only question can +be as to the expediency and the justice. At present there is no +international copyright between England and the United States, and +there is none because the States have declined to sanction any such +law. It is known by all who are concerned in the matter on either +side of the water that as far as Great Britain is concerned such a +law would meet with no impediment. + +Therefore it is to be presumed that the legislators of the States +think it expedient and just to dispense with any such law. I have +said that there can be no doubt as to the importance of the question, +seeing that the price of English literature in the States must be +most materially affected by it. Without such a law the Americans are +enabled to import English literature without paying for it. It is +open to any American publisher to reprint any work from an English +copy, and to sell his reprints without any permission obtained from +the English author or from the English publisher. The absolute +material which the American publisher sells, he takes, or can take, +for nothing. The paper, ink, and composition he supplies in the +ordinary way of business; but of the very matter which he professes +to sell,--of the book which is the object of his trade, he is enabled +to possess himself for nothing. If you, my reader, be a popular +author, an American publisher will take the choicest work of your +brain and make dollars out of it, selling thousands of copies of it +in his country, whereas you can, perhaps, only sell hundreds of it +in your own; and will either give you nothing for that he takes,--or +else will explain to you that he need give you nothing, and that in +paying you anything he subjects himself to the danger of seeing the +property which he has bought taken again from him by other persons. +If this be so that question whether or no there shall be a law +of international copyright between the two countries cannot be +unimportant. + +But it may be inexpedient that there shall be such a law. It may be +considered well, that as the influx of English books into America +is much greater than the out-flux of American books back to England, +the right of obtaining such books for nothing should be reserved, +although the country in doing so robs its own authors of the +advantage which should accrue to them from the English market. It +might perhaps be thought anything but smart to surrender such an +advantage by the passing of an international copyright bill. There +are not many trades in which the tradesman can get the chief of his +goods for nothing; and it may be thought, that the advantage arising +to the States from such an arrangement of circumstances should not +be abandoned. But how then about the justice? It would seem that +the less said upon that subject the better. I have heard no one say +that an author's property in his own works should not, in accordance +with justice, be insured to him in the one country as well as in the +other. I have seen no defence of the present position of affairs, +on the score of justice. The price of books would be enhanced by an +international copyright law, and it is well that books should be +cheap. That is the only argument used. So would mutton be cheap, if +it could be taken out of a butcher's shop for nothing! + +But I absolutely deny the expediency of the present position of the +matter, looking simply to the material advantage of the American +people in the matter, and throwing aside altogether that question +of justice. I must here, however, explain that I bring no charge +whatsoever against the American publishers. The English author is +a victim in their hands, but it is by no means their fault that he +is so. As a rule, they are willing to pay for the works of popular +English writers, but in arranging as to what payments they can make, +they must of course bear in mind the fact that they have no exclusive +right whatsoever in the things which they purchase. It is natural, +also, that they should bear in mind when making their purchases, +and arranging their prices, that they can have the very thing they +are buying without any payment at all, if the price asked do not +suit them. It is not of the publishers that I complain, or of any +advantage which they take; but of the legislators of the country, and +of the advantage which accrues, or is thought by them to accrue to +the American people from the absence of an international copyright +law. It is mean on their part to take such advantage if it existed; +and it is foolish in them to suppose that any such advantage can +accrue. The absence of any law of copyright no doubt gives to the +American publisher the power of reprinting the works of English +authors without paying for them,--seeing that the English author is +undefended. But the American publisher who brings out such a reprint +is equally undefended in his property. When he shall have produced +his book, his rival in the next street may immediately reprint it +from him, and destroy the value of his property by underselling him. +It is probable that the first American publisher will have made some +payment to the English author for the privilege of publishing the +book honestly,--of publishing it without recurrence to piracy,--and +in arranging his price with his customers he will be, of course, +obliged to debit the book with the amount so paid. If the author +receive ten cents a copy on every copy sold, the publisher must add +that ten cents to the price he charges for it. But he cannot do this +with security, because the book can be immediately reprinted, and +sold without any such addition to the price. The only security which +the American publisher has against the injury which may be so done to +him, is the power of doing other injury in return. The men who stand +high in the trade, and who are powerful because of the largeness of +their dealings, can in a certain measure secure themselves in this +way. Such a firm would have the power of crushing a small tradesman +who should interfere with him. But if the large firm commits any +such act of injustice, the little men in the trade have no power of +setting themselves right by counter injustice. I need hardly point +out what must be the effect of such a state of things upon the whole +publishing trade; nor need I say more to prove that some law which +shall regulate property in foreign copyrights would be as expedient +with reference to America, as it would be just towards England. But +the wrong done by America to herself does not rest here. It is true +that more English books are read in the States than American books +in England, but it is equally true that the literature of America is +daily gaining readers among us. That injury to which English authors +are subjected from the want of protection in the States, American +authors suffer from the want of protection here. One can hardly +believe that the legislators of the States would willingly place the +brightest of their own fellow countrymen in this position, because in +the event of a copyright bill being passed, the balance of advantage +would seem to accrue to England! + +Of the literature of the United States, speaking of literature in its +ordinary sense, I do not know that I need say much more. I regard +the literature of a country as its highest produce, believing it to +be more powerful in its general effect, and more beneficial in its +results, than either statesmanship, professional ability, religious +teaching, or commerce. And in no part of its national career have +the United States been so successful as in this. I need hardly +explain that I should commit a monstrous injustice were I to make a +comparison in this matter between England and America. Literature is +the child of leisure and wealth. It is the produce of minds which by +a happy combination of circumstances have been enabled to dispense +with the ordinary cares of the world. It can hardly be expected to +come from a young country, or from a new and still struggling people. +Looking around at our own magnificent colonies I hardly remember +a considerable name which they have produced, except that of my +excellent old friend, Sam Slick. Nothing, therefore, I think, shows +the settled greatness of the people of the States more significantly +than their firm establishment of a national literature. This +literature runs over all subjects. American authors have excelled in +poetry, in science, in history, in metaphysics, in law, in theology, +and in fiction. They have attempted all, and failed in none. What +Englishman has devoted a room to books, and devoted no portion of +that room to the productions of America? + +But I must say a word of literature in which I shall not speak of it +in its ordinary sense, and shall yet speak of it in that sense which +of all perhaps, in the present day, should be considered the most +ordinary. I mean the every-day periodical literature of the press. +Most of those who can read, it is to be hoped, read books; but all +who can read do read newspapers. Newspapers in this country are so +general that men cannot well live without them; but to men, and to +women also, in the United States they may be said to be the one chief +necessary of life. And yet in the whole length and breadth of the +United States there is not published a single newspaper which seems +to me to be worthy of praise. + +A really good newspaper,--one excellent at all points,--would indeed +be a triumph of honesty and of art! Not only is such a publication +much to be desired in America, but it is still to be desired in +Great Britain also. I used, in my younger days, to think of such +a newspaper as a possible publication, and in a certain degree I +then looked for it. Now I expect it only in my dreams. It should be +powerful without tyranny, popular without triumph, political without +party passion, critical without personal feeling, right in its +statements and just in its judgments, but right and just without +pride. It should be all but omniscient, but not conscious of its +omniscience; it should be moral, but not strait-laced; it should be +well-assured, but yet modest; though never humble, it should be free +from boasting. Above all these things it should be readable; and +above that again it should be true. I used to think that such a +newspaper might be produced, but I now sadly acknowledge to myself +the fact that humanity is not capable of any work so divine. + +The newspapers of the States generally may not only be said to have +reached none of the virtues here named, but to have fallen into +all the opposite vices. In the first place they are never true. In +requiring truth from a newspaper the public should not be anxious to +strain at gnats. A statement setting forth that a certain gooseberry +was five inches in circumference, whereas in truth its girth was only +two and a half, would give me no offence. Nor would I be offended at +being told that Lord Derby was appointed to the premiership, while in +truth the Queen had only sent for his lordship, having as yet come to +no definite arrangement. The demand for truth which may reasonably be +made upon a newspaper amounts to this,--that nothing should be stated +not believed to be true, and that nothing should be stated as to +which the truth is important, without adequate ground for such +belief. If a newspaper accuse me of swindling, it is not sufficient +that the writer believe me to be a swindler. He should have ample +and sufficient ground for such belief;--otherwise in making such a +statement he will write falsely. In our private life we all recognize +the fact that this is so. It is understood that a man is not a +whit the less a slanderer because he believes the slander which +he promulgates. But it seems to me that this is not sufficiently +recognized by many who write for the public press. Evil things are +said, and are probably believed by the writers; they are said with +that special skill for which newspaper writers have in our days +become so conspicuous, defying alike redress by law or redress by +argument; but they are too often said falsely. The words are not +measured when they are written, and they are allowed to go forth +without any sufficient inquiry into their truth. But if there be any +ground for such complaint here in England, that ground is multiplied +ten times--twenty times--in the States. This is not only shown in +the abuse of individuals, in abuse which is as violent as it is +perpetual, but in the treatment of every subject which is handled. +All idea of truth has been thrown overboard. It seems to be admitted +that the only object is to produce a sensation, and that it is +admitted by both writer and reader that sensation and veracity are +incompatible. Falsehood has become so much a matter of course with +American newspapers that it has almost ceased to be falsehood. Nobody +thinks me a liar because I deny that I am at home when I am in my +study. The nature of the arrangement is generally understood. So also +is it with the American newspapers. + +But American newspapers are also unreadable. It is very bad that +they should be false, but it is very surprising that they should +be dull. Looking at the general intelligence of the people, one +would have thought that a readable newspaper, put out with all +pleasant appurtenances of clear type, good paper, and good internal +arrangement, would have been a thing specially within their reach. +But they have failed in every detail. Though their papers are always +loaded with sensation headings, there are seldom sensation paragraphs +to follow. The paragraphs do not fit the headings. Either they cannot +be found, or if found they seem to have escaped from their proper +column to some distant and remote portion of the sheet. One is led to +presume that no American editor has any plan in the composition of +his newspaper. I never know whether I have as yet got to the very +heart's core of the daily journal, or whether I am still to go on +searching for that heart's core. Alas, it too often happens that +there is no heart's core! The whole thing seems to have been put +out at hap-hazard. And then the very writing is in itself below +mediocrity;--as though a power of expression in properly arranged +language was not required by a newspaper editor, either as regards +himself or as regards his subordinates. One is driven to suppose that +the writers for the daily press are not chosen with any view to such +capability. A man ambitious of being on the staff of an American +newspaper should be capable of much work, should be satisfied with +small pay, should be indifferent to the world's good usage, should +be rough, ready, and of long sufferance; but, above all, he should +be smart. The type of almost all American newspapers is wretched--I +think I may say of all;--so wretched that that alone forbids one to +hope for pleasure in reading them. They are ill-written, ill-printed, +ill-arranged, and in fact are not readable. They are bought, glanced +at, and thrown away. + +They are full of boastings,--not boastings simply as to their +country, their town, or their party,--but of boastings as to +themselves. And yet they possess no self-assurance. It is always +evident that they neither trust themselves, nor expect to be trusted. +They have made no approach to that omniscience which constitutes the +great marvel of our own daily press; but finding it necessary to +write as though they possessed it, they fall into blunders which +are almost as marvellous. Justice and right judgment are out of +the question with them. A political party end is always in view, +and political party warfare in America admits of any weapons. No +newspaper in America is really powerful or popular; and yet they are +tyrannical and overbearing. The "New York Herald" has, I believe, the +largest sale of any daily newspaper; but it is absolutely without +political power, and in these times of war has truckled to the +Government more basely than any other paper. It has an enormous sale, +but so far is it from having achieved popularity, that no man on any +side ever speaks a good word for it. All American newspapers deal in +politics as a matter of course; but their politics have ever regard +to men and never to measures. Vituperation is their natural political +weapon; but since the President's ministers have assumed the power +of stopping newspapers which are offensive to them, they have shown +that they can descend to a course of eulogy which is even below +vituperation. + +I shall be accused of using very strong language against the +newspaper press of America. I can only say that I do not know how to +make that language too strong. Of course there are newspapers as to +which the editors and writers may justly feel that my remarks, if +applied to them, are unmerited. In writing on such a subject, I can +only deal with the whole as a whole. During my stay in the country, +I did my best to make myself acquainted with the nature of its +newspapers, knowing in how great a degree its population depends on +them for its daily store of information. Newspapers in the States of +America have a much wider, or rather closer circulation, than they +do with us. Every man and almost every woman sees a newspaper daily. +They are very cheap, and are brought to every man's hand without +trouble to himself, at every turn that he takes in his day's work. It +would be much for the advantage of the country, that they should be +good of their kind; but, if I am able to form a correct judgment on +the matter, they are not good. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CONCLUSION. + + +In one of the earlier chapters of this volume,--now some seven or +eight chapters past,--I brought myself on my travels back to Boston. +It was not that my way homewards lay by that route, seeing that my +fate required me to sail from New York; but I could not leave the +country without revisiting my friends in Massachusetts. I have told +how I was there in the sleighing time, and how pleasant were the +mingled slush and frost of the snowy winter. In the morning the +streets would be hard and crisp, and the stranger would surely fall +if he were not prepared to walk on glaciers. In the afternoon he +would be wading through rivers,--and if properly armed at all points +with india-rubber, would enjoy the rivers as he waded. But the air +would be always kindly, and the east wind there, if it was east as +I was told, had none of that power of dominion which makes us all so +submissive to its behests in London. For myself, I believe that the +real east wind blows only in London. + +And when the snow went in Boston I went with it. The evening before +I left I watched them as they carted away the dirty uncouth blocks +which had been broken up with pickaxes in Washington Street, and was +melancholy as I reflected that I too should no longer be known in the +streets. My weeks in Boston had not been very many, but nevertheless +there were haunts there which I knew as though my feet had trodden +them for years. There were houses to which I could have gone with +my eyes blindfold; doors of which the latches were familiar to my +hands; faces which I knew so well that they had ceased to put on +for me the fictitious smiles of courtesy. Faces, houses, doors, and +haunts, where are they now? For me they are as though they had never +been. They are among the things which one would fain remember as +one remembers a dream. Look back on it as a vision and it is all +pleasant. But if you realize your vision and believe your dream to be +a fact, all your pleasure is obliterated by regret. + +I know that I shall never again be at Boston, and that I have said +that about the Americans which would make me unwelcome as a guest if +I were there. It is in this that my regret consists;--for this reason +that I would wish to remember so many social hours as though they had +been passed in sleep. They who will expect blessings from me, will +say among themselves that I have cursed them. As I read the pages +which I have written I feel that words which I intended for blessings +when I prepared to utter them have gone nigh to turn themselves into +curses. + +I have ever admired the United States as a nation. I have loved their +liberty, their prowess, their intelligence, and their progress. I +have sympathized with a people who themselves have had no sympathy +with passive security and inaction. I have felt confidence in them, +and have known, as it were, that their industry must enable them to +succeed as a people, while their freedom would insure to them success +as a nation. With these convictions I went among them wishing to +write of them good words,--words which might be pleasant for them to +read, while they might assist perhaps in producing a true impression +of them here at home. But among my good words there are so many which +are bitter, that I fear I shall have failed in my object as regards +them. And it seems to me, as I read once more my own pages, that in +saying evil things of my friends, I have used language stronger than +I intended; whereas I have omitted to express myself with emphasis +when I have attempted to say good things. Why need I have told of the +mud of Washington, or have exposed the nakedness of Cairo? Why did +I speak with such eager enmity of those poor women in the New York +cars, who never injured me, now that I think of it? Ladies of New +York, as I write this, the words which were written among you, are +printed and cannot be expunged; but I tender to you my apologies from +my home in England. And as to that Van Wyck committee! Might I not +have left those contractors to be dealt with by their own Congress, +seeing that that Congress committee was by no means inclined to spare +them? I might have kept my pages free from gall, and have sent my +sheets to the press unhurt by the conviction that I was hurting those +who had dealt kindly by me! But what then? Was any people ever truly +served by eulogy; or an honest cause furthered by undue praise? + +O my friends with thin skins,--and here I protest that a thick skin +is a fault not to be forgiven in a man or a nation, whereas a thin +skin is in itself a merit, if only the wearer of it will be the +master and not the slave of his skin,--O, my friends with thin skins, +ye whom I call my cousins and love as brethren, will ye not forgive +me these harsh words that I have spoken? They have been spoken in +love,--with a true love, a brotherly love, a love that has never been +absent from the heart while the brain was coining them. I had my task +to do, and I could not take the pleasant and ignore the painful. It +may perhaps be that as a friend I had better not have written either +good or bad. But no! To say that would indeed be to speak calumny of +your country. A man may write of you truly, and yet write that which +you would read with pleasure;--only that your skins are so thin! +The streets of Washington are muddy and her ways are desolate. The +nakedness of Cairo is very naked. And those ladies of New York--is +it not to be confessed that they are somewhat imperious in their +demands? As for the Van Wyck committee, have I not repeated the tale +which you have told yourselves? And is it not well that such tales +should be told? + +And yet ye will not forgive me; because your skins are thin, and +because the praise of others is the breath of your nostrils. + +I do not know that an American as an individual is more thin-skinned +than an Englishman; but as the representative of a nation it may +almost be said of him that he has no skin at all. Any touch comes +at once upon the net-work of his nerves and puts in operation all +his organs of feeling with the violence of a blow. And for this +peculiarity he has been made the mark of much ridicule. It shows +itself in two ways; either by extreme displeasure when anything is +said disrespectful of his country; or by the strong eulogy with which +he is accustomed to speak of his own institutions and of those of his +countrymen whom at the moment he may chance to hold in high esteem. +The manner in which this is done is often ridiculous. "Sir, what +do you think of our Mr. Jefferson Brick? Mr. Jefferson Brick, +sir, is one of our most remarkable men." And again. "Do you like +our institutions, sir? Do you find that philanthropy, religion, +philosophy, and the social virtues are cultivated on a scale +commensurate with the unequalled liberty and political advancement of +the nation?" There is something absurd in such a mode of address when +it is repeated often. But hero-worship and love of country are not +absurd; and do not these addresses show capacity for hero-worship +and an aptitude for the love of country? Jefferson Brick may not be +a hero; but a capacity for such worship is something. Indeed the +capacity is everything, for the need of a hero will at last produce +the hero needed. And it is the same with that love of country. +A people that are proud of their country will see that there is +something in their country to justify their pride. Do we not all of +us feel assured by the intense nationality of an American that he +will not desert his nation in the hour of her need? I feel that +assurance respecting them; and at those moments in which I am moved +to laughter by the absurdities of their addresses, I feel it the +strongest. + +I left Boston with the snow, and returning to New York found that +the streets there were dry and that the winter was nearly over. As +I had passed through New York to Boston the streets had been by no +means dry. The snow had lain in small mountains over which the +omnibuses made their way down Broadway, till at the bottom of that +thoroughfare, between Trinity Church and Bowling Green, alp became +piled upon alp, and all traffic was full of danger. The accursed love +of gain still took men to Wall Street, but they had to fight their +way thither through physical difficulties which must have made even +the state of the money market a matter almost of indifference to +them. They do not seem to me to manage the winter in New York so well +as they do in Boston. But now, on my last return thither, the alps +were gone, the roads were clear, and one could travel through the +city with no other impediment than those of treading on women's +dresses if one walked, or having to look after women's band-boxes and +pay their fares and take their change, if one used the omnibuses. + +And now had come the end of my adventures, and as I set my foot +once more upon the deck of the Cunard steamer I felt that my work +was done. Whether it were done ill or well, or whether indeed any +approach to the doing of it had been attained, all had been done that +I could accomplish. No further opportunity remained to me of seeing, +hearing, or of speaking. I had come out thither, having resolved to +learn a little that I might if possible teach that little to others; +and now the lesson was learned, or must remain unlearned. But in +carrying out my resolution I had gradually risen in my ambition, and +had mounted from one stage of inquiry to another, till at last I had +found myself burdened with the task of ascertaining whether or no the +Americans were doing their work as a nation well or ill; and now, if +ever, I must be prepared to put forth the result of my inquiry. As I +walked up and down the deck of the steamboat I confess I felt that I +had been somewhat arrogant. + +I had been a few days over six months in the States, and I was +engaged in writing a book of such a nature that a man might well +engage himself for six years, or perhaps for sixty, in obtaining the +materials for it. There was nothing in the form of government, or +legislature, or manners of the people, as to which I had not taken +upon myself to say something. I was professing to understand their +strength and their weakness; and was daring to censure their faults +and to eulogize their virtues. "Who is he," an American would say, +"that he comes and judges us? His judgment is nothing." "Who is he," +an Englishman would say, "that he comes and teaches us? His teaching +is of no value." + +In answer to this I have but a small plea to make. I have done +my best. I have nothing "extenuated, and have set down nought in +malice." I do feel that my volumes have blown themselves out into +proportions greater than I had intended;--greater not in mass of +pages, but in the matter handled. I am frequently addressing my own +muse, who I am well aware is not Clio, and asking her whither she +is wending. "Cease, thou wrong-headed one, to meddle with these +mysteries." I appeal to her frequently, but ever in vain. One cannot +drive one's muse, nor yet always lead her. Of the various women with +which a man is blessed, his muse is by no means the least difficult +to manage. + +But again I put in my slight plea. In doing as I have done, I have +at least done my best. I have endeavoured to judge without prejudice, +and to hear with honest ears, and to see with honest eyes. The +subject, moreover, on which I have written, is one which, though +great, is so universal in its bearings, that it may be said to admit +of being handled without impropriety by the unlearned as well as the +learned;--by those who have grown gray in the study of constitutional +lore, and by those who have simply looked on at the government of men +as we all look on at those matters which daily surround us. There are +matters as to which a man should never take a pen in hand unless he +has given to them much labour. The botanist must have learned to +trace the herbs and flowers before he can presume to tell us how God +has formed them. But the death of Hector is a fit subject for a boy's +verses though Homer also sang of it. I feel that there is scope for a +book on the United States' form of government as it was founded, and +as it has since framed itself, which might do honour to the life-long +studies of some one of those great constitutional pundits whom we +have among us; but, nevertheless, the plain words of a man who is no +pundit need not disgrace the subject, if they be honestly written, +and if he who writes them has in his heart an honest love of liberty. +Such were my thoughts as I walked the deck of the Cunard steamer. +Then I descended to my cabin, settled my luggage, and prepared +for the continuance of my work. It was fourteen days from that +time before I reached London, but the fourteen days to me were not +unpleasant. The demon of sea-sickness usually spares me, and if I can +find on board one or two who are equally fortunate--who can eat with +me, drink with me, and talk with me--I do not know that a passage +across the Atlantic is by any means a terrible evil. + +In finishing these volumes after the fashion in which they have been +written throughout, I feel that I am bound to express a final opinion +on two or three points, and that if I have not enabled myself to +do so, I have travelled through the country in vain. I am bound by +the very nature of my undertaking to say whether, according to such +view as I have enabled myself to take of them, the Americans have +succeeded as a nation politically and socially; and in doing this I +ought to be able to explain how far slavery has interfered with such +success. I am bound also, writing at the present moment, to express +some opinion as to the result of this war, and to declare whether the +North or the South may be expected to be victorious,--explaining in +some rough way what may be the results of such victory, and how such +results will affect the question of slavery. And I shall leave my +task unfinished if I do not say what may be the possible chances of +future quarrel between England and the States. That there has been +and is much hot blood and angry feeling no man doubts; but such angry +feeling has existed among many nations without any probability of +war. In this case, with reference to this ill-will that has certainly +established itself between us and that other people, is there any +need that it should be satisfied by war and allayed by blood? + +No one, I think, can doubt that the founders of the great American +Commonwealth made an error in omitting to provide some means for the +gradual extinction of slavery throughout the States. That error did +not consist in any liking for slavery. There was no feeling in favour +of slavery on the part of those who made themselves prominent at the +political birth of the nation. I think I shall be justified in saying +that at that time the opinion that slavery is itself a good thing, +that it is an institution of divine origin and fit to be perpetuated +among men as in itself excellent, had not found that favour in the +southern States in which it is now held. Jefferson, who has been +regarded as the leader of the southern or democratic party, has +left ample testimony that he regarded slavery as an evil. It is, I +think, true that he gave such testimony much more freely when he was +speaking or writing as a private individual than he ever allowed +himself to do when his words were armed with the weight of public +authority. But it is clear that, on the whole, he was opposed to +slavery, and I think there can be little doubt that he and his party +looked forward to a natural death for that evil. Calculation was made +that slavery when not recruited afresh from Africa could not maintain +its numbers, and that gradually the negro population would become +extinct. This was the error made. It was easier to look forward +to such a result and hope for such an end of the difficulty, than +to extinguish slavery by a great political movement, which must +doubtless have been difficult and costly. The northern States got +rid of slavery by the operation of their separate legislatures, some +at one date and some at others. The slaves were less numerous in +the North than in the South, and the feeling adverse to slaves was +stronger in the North than in the South. Mason and Dixon's line, +which now separates slave soil from free soil, merely indicates the +position in the country at which the balance turned. Maryland and +Virginia were not inclined to make great immediate sacrifices for the +manumission of their slaves; but the gentlemen of those States did +not think that slavery was a divine institution, destined to flourish +for ever as a blessing in their land. + +The maintenance of slavery was, I think, a political mistake;--a +political mistake, not because slavery is politically wrong, but +because the politicians of the day made erroneous calculations as +to the probability of its termination. So the income tax may be a +political blunder with us;--not because it is in itself a bad tax, +but because those who imposed it conceived that they were imposing it +for a year or two, whereas, now, men do not expect to see the end of +it. The maintenance of slavery was a political mistake; and I cannot +think that the Americans in any way lessen the weight of their own +error by protesting, as they occasionally do, that slavery was a +legacy made over to them from England. They might as well say, that +travelling in carts without springs, at the rate of three miles an +hour, was a legacy made over to them by England. On that matter of +travelling they have not been contented with the old habits left +to them, but have gone ahead and made railroads. In creating those +railways the merit is due to them; and so also is the demerit of +maintaining those slaves. + +That demerit and that mistake have doubtless brought upon the +Americans the grievances of their present position; and will, as I +think, so far be accompanied by ultimate punishment that they will +be the immediate means of causing the first disintegration of their +nation. I will leave it to the Americans themselves to say, whether +such disintegration must necessarily imply that they have failed in +their political undertaking. The most loyal citizens of the northern +States would have declared a month or two since,--and for aught +I know would declare now,--that any disintegration of the States +implied absolute failure. One stripe erased from the banner, one star +lost from the firmament, would entail upon them all the disgrace +of national defeat! It had been their boast that they would always +advance, never retreat. They had looked forward to add ever State +upon State, and territory to territory, till the whole continent +should be bound together in the same union. To go back from that now, +to fall into pieces and be divided, to become smaller in the eyes +of the nations,--to be absolutely halfed, as some would say of such +division, would be national disgrace, and would amount to political +failure. "Let us fight for the whole," such men said, and probably do +say. "To lose anything is to lose all!" + +But the citizens of the States who speak and think thus, though they +may be the most loyal, are perhaps not politically the most wise. And +I am inclined to think that that defiant claim of every star, that +resolve to possess every stripe upon the banner, had become somewhat +less general when I was leaving the country than I had found it to be +at the time of my arrival there. While things were going badly with +the North,--while there was no tale of any battle to be told except +of those at Bull's Run and Springfield, no northern man would admit +a hint that secession might ultimately prevail in Georgia or Alabama. +But the rebels had been driven out of Missouri when I was leaving +the States, they had retreated altogether from Kentucky, having +been beaten in one engagement there, and from a great portion of +Tennessee, having been twice beaten in that State. The coast of North +Carolina, and many points of the southern coast, were in the hands of +the northern army, while the army of the South was retreating from +all points into the centre of their country. Whatever may have been +the strategetical merits or demerits of the northern generals, it +is at any rate certain that their apparent successes were greedily +welcomed by the people, and created an idea that things were going +well with the cause. And, as all this took place, it seemed to me +that I heard less about the necessary integrity of the old flag. +While as yet they were altogether unsuccessful, they were minded to +make no surrender. But with their successes came the feeling, that in +taking much they might perhaps allow themselves to yield something. +This was clearly indicated by the message sent to Congress by the +President in February, 1862, in which he suggested that Congress +should make arrangements for the purchase of the slaves in the border +States; so that in the event of secession--accomplished secession--in +the gulf States, the course of those border States might be made +clear for them. They might hesitate as to going willingly with the +North, while possessing slaves,--as to setting themselves peaceably +down as a small slave adjunct to a vast free soil nation, seeing that +their property would always be in peril. Under such circumstances +a slave adjunct to the free soil nation would not long be possible. +But if it could be shown to them that in the event of their adhering +to the North, compensation would be forthcoming, then, indeed, +the difficulty in arranging an advantageous line between the two +future nations might be considerably modified. This message of the +President's was intended to signify, that secession on favourable +terms might be regarded by the North as not undesirable. Moderate men +were beginning to whisper that, after all, the gulf States were no +source either of national wealth or of national honour. Had there not +been enough at Washington of cotton lords and cotton laws? When I +have suggested that no senator from Georgia would ever again sit in +the United States senate, American gentlemen have received my remark +with a slight demur, and have then proceeded to argue the case. Six +months before they would have declaimed against me and not have +argued. + +I will leave it to Americans themselves to say whether that +disintegration of the States, should it ever be realized, will imply +that they have failed in their political undertaking. If they do not +protest that it argues failure, their feelings will not be hurt by +any such protestations on the part of others. I have said that the +blunder made by the founders of the nation with regard to slavery +has brought with it this secession as its punishment. But such +punishments come generally upon nations as great mercies. Ireland's +famine was the punishment of her imprudence and idleness, but it has +given to her prosperity and progress. And indeed, to speak with more +logical correctness, the famine was no punishment to Ireland, nor +will secession be a punishment to the northern States. In the long +result step will have gone on after step, and effect will have +followed cause, till the American people will at last acknowledge, +that all these matters have been arranged for their advantage and +promotion. It may be that a nation now and then goes to the wall, and +that things go from bad to worse with a large people. It has been so +with various nations and with many people since history was first +written. But when it has been so, the people thus punished have been +idle and bad. They have not only done evil in their generation, but +have done more evil than good, and have contributed their power to +the injury rather than to the improvement of mankind. It may be that +this or that national fault may produce or seem to produce some +consequent calamity. But the balance of good or evil things which +fall to a people's share will indicate with certainty their average +conduct as a nation. The one will be the certain consequence of the +other. If it be that the Americans of the northern States have done +well in their time, that they have assisted in the progress of the +world, and made things better for mankind rather than worse, then +they will come out of this trouble without eventual injury. That +which came in the guise of punishment for a special fault, will be a +part of the reward resulting from good conduct in the general. And as +to this matter of slavery, in which I think that they have blundered +both politically and morally,--has it not been found impossible +hitherto for them to cleanse their hands of that taint? But that +which they could not do for themselves the course of events is doing +for them. If secession establish herself, though it be only secession +of the gulf States, the people of the United States will soon be free +from slavery. + +In judging of the success or want of success of any political +institutions or of any form of government, we should be guided, I +think, by the general results, and not by any abstract rules as to +the right or wrong of those institutions or of that form. It might +be easy for a German lawyer to show that our system of trial by jury +is open to the gravest objections, and that it sins against common +sense. But if that system gives us substantial justice, and protects +us from the tyranny of men in office, the German lawyer will not +succeed in making us believe that it is a bad system. When looking +into the matter of the schools at Boston, I observed to one of +the committee of management that the statements with which I was +supplied, though they told me how many of the children went to +school, did not tell me how long they remained at school. The +gentleman replied that that information was to be obtained from the +result of the schooling of the population generally. Every boy and +girl around us could read and write, and could enjoy reading and +writing. There was therefore evidence to show that they remained at +school sufficiently long for the required purposes. It was fair that +I should judge of the system from the results. Here in England, we +generally object to much that the Americans have adopted into their +form of government, and think that many of their political theories +are wrong. We do not like universal suffrage. We do not like a +periodical change in the first magistrate; and we like quite as +little a periodical permanence in the political officers immediately +under the chief magistrate. We are, in short, wedded to our own forms +and therefore opposed by judgment to forms differing from our own. +But I think we all acknowledge that the United States, burdened as +they are with these political evils,--as we think them, have grown in +strength and material prosperity with a celerity of growth hitherto +unknown among nations. We may dislike Americans personally, we may +find ourselves uncomfortable when there, and unable to sympathize +with them when away; we may believe them to be ambitious, unjust, +self-idolatrous, or irreligious. But, unless we throw our judgment +altogether overboard, we cannot believe them to be a weak people, a +poor people, a people with low spirits or a people with idle hands. +To what is it that the government of a country should chiefly look? +What special advantages do we expect from our own government? Is it +not that we should be safe at home and respected abroad;--that laws +should be maintained, but that they should be so maintained that +they should not be oppressive? There are, doubtless, countries in +which the government professes to do much more than this for its +people,--countries in which the government is paternal; in which it +regulates the religion of the people, and professes to enforce on all +the national children respect for the governors, teachers, spiritual +pastors, and masters. But that is not our idea of a government. +That is not what we desire to see established among ourselves or +established among others. Safety from foreign foes, respect from +foreign foes and friends, security under the law and security from +the law,--this is what we expect from our government; and if I add to +this that we expect to have these good things provided at a fairly +moderate cost, I think I have exhausted the list of our requirements. + +And if the Americans with their form of government have done for +themselves all that we expect our government to do for us; if they +have with some fair approach to general excellence obtained respect +abroad and security at home from foreign foes; if they have made +life, liberty, and property safe under their laws, and have also so +written and executed their laws as to secure their people from legal +oppression,--I maintain that they are entitled to a verdict in their +favour, let us object as we may to universal suffrage, to four years' +Presidents, and four years' presidential cabinets. What, after all, +matters the theory or the system, whether it be King or President, +universal suffrage or ten-pound voter, so long as the people be free +and prosperous? King and President, suffrage by poll and suffrage by +property, are but the means. If the end be there, if the thing has +been done, King and President, open suffrage and close suffrage may +alike be declared to have been successful. The Americans have been +in existence as a nation for seventy-five years, and have achieved +an amount of foreign respect during that period greater than any +other nation ever obtained in double the time. And this has been +given to them, not in deference to the statesman-like craft of +their diplomatic and other officers, but on grounds the very +opposite of those. It has been given to them because they form a +numerous, wealthy, brave, and self-asserting nation. It is, I think, +unnecessary to prove that such foreign respect has been given to +them: but were it necessary, nothing would prove it more strongly +than the regard which has been universally paid by European +governments to the blockade placed during this war on the southern +ports by the government of the United States. Had the United States +been placed by general consent in any class of nations below the +first, England, France, and perhaps Russia would have taken the +matter into their own hands, and have settled for the States, either +united or disunited, at any rate that question of the blockade. And +the Americans have been safe at home from foreign foes; so safe, +that no other strong people but ourselves have enjoyed anything +approaching to their security since their foundation. Nor has our +security been equal to theirs if we are to count our nationality +as extending beyond the British Isles. Then as to security under +their laws and from their laws! Those laws and the system of their +management have been taken almost entirely from us, and have so been +administered that life and property have been safe, and the subject +also has been free from oppression. I think that this may be taken +for granted, seeing that they who have been most opposed to American +forms of government, have never asserted the reverse. I may be told +of a man being lynched in one State, or tarred and feathered in +another, or of a duel in a third being "fought at sight." So I may be +told also of men garotted in London, and of tithe proctors buried in +a bog without their ears in Ireland. Neither will seventy years of +continuance nor will seven hundred secure such an observance of laws +as will prevent temporary ebullition of popular feeling, or save a +people from the chance disgrace of occasional outrage. Taking the +general, life and limb and property have been as safe in the States +as in other civilized countries with which we are acquainted. + +As to their personal liberty under their laws, I know it will be said +that they have surrendered all claim to any such precious possession +by the facility with which they have now surrendered the privilege of +the writ of habeas corpus. It has been taken from them, as I have +endeavoured to show, illegally, and they have submitted to the loss +and to the illegality without a murmur! But in such a matter I do +not think it fair to judge them by their conduct in such a moment as +the present. That this is the very moment in which to judge of the +efficiency of their institutions generally, of the aptitude of those +institutions for the security of the nation, I readily acknowledge. +But when a ship is at sea in a storm, riding out all that the winds +and waves can do to her, one does not condemn her because a yard-arm +gives way, nor even though the mainmast should go by the board. If +she can make her port, saving life and cargo, she is a good ship, let +her losses in spars and rigging be what they may. In this affair of +the habeas corpus we will wait a while before we come to any final +judgment. If it be that the people, when the war is over, shall +consent to live under a military or other dictatorship,--that they +shall quietly continue their course as a nation without recovery +of their rights of freedom, then we shall have to say that their +institutions were not founded in a soil of sufficient depth, and that +they gave way before the first high wind that blew on them. I myself +do not expect such a result. + +I think we must admit that the Americans have received from their +government, or rather from their system of policy, that aid and +furtherance which they required from it; and, moreover, such aid and +furtherance as we expect from our system of government. We must admit +that they have been great, and free, and prosperous, as we also have +become. And we must admit, also, that in some matters they have gone +forward in advance of us. They have educated their people, as we +have not educated ours. They have given to their millions a personal +respect, and a standing above the abjectness of poverty, which with +us are much less general than with them. These things, I grant, have +not come of their government, and have not been produced by their +written constitution. They are the happy results of their happy +circumstances. But so, also, those evil attributes which we sometimes +assign to them are not the creatures of their government, or of their +constitution. We acknowledge them to be well educated, intelligent, +philanthropic, and industrious; but we say that they are ambitious, +unjust, self-idolatrous, and irreligious. If so, let us at any rate +balance the virtues against the vices. As to their ambition, it is a +vice that leans so to virtue's side, that it hardly needs an apology. +As to their injustice, or rather dishonesty, I have said what I have +to say on that matter. I am not going to flinch from the accusation +I have brought, though I am aware that in bringing it I have thrown +away any hope that I might have had of carrying with me the good will +of the Americans for my book. The love of money,--or rather of making +money,--carried to an extreme, has lessened that instinctive respect +for the rights of meum and tuum which all men feel more or less, and +which, when encouraged within the human breast, finds its result in +perfect honesty. Other nations, of which I will not now stop to name +even one, have had their periods of natural dishonesty. It may be +that others are even now to be placed in the same category. But it +is a fault which industry and intelligence combined will after a +while serve to lessen and to banish. The industrious man desires to +keep the fruit of his own industry, and the intelligent man will +ultimately be able to do so. That the Americans are self-idolaters is +perhaps true,--with a difference. An American desires you to worship +his country, or his brother; but he does not often, by any of the +usual signs of conceit, call upon you to worship himself. As an +American, treating of America, he is self-idolatrous; but that +is a self-idolatry which I can endure. Then, as to his want of +religion--and it is a very sad want--I can only say of him, that +I, as an Englishman, do not feel myself justified in flinging the +first stone at him. In that matter of religion, as in the matter of +education, the American, I think, stands on a level higher than ours. +There is not in the States so absolute an ignorance of religion as +is to be found in some of our manufacturing and mining districts, +and also, alas! in some of our agricultural districts; but also, I +think, there is less of respect and veneration for God's word among +their educated classes, than there is with us; and, perhaps, also +less knowledge as to God's word. The general religious level is, I +think, higher with them; but there is with us, if I am right in my +supposition, a higher eminence in religion, as there is also a deeper +depth of ungodliness. + +I think then that we are bound to acknowledge that the Americans +have succeeded as a nation, politically and socially. When I speak +of social success, I do not mean to say that their manners are +correct according to this or that standard. I will not say that they +are correct, or are not correct. In that matter of manners I have +found that those, with whom it seemed to me natural that I should +associate, were very pleasant according to my standard. I do not +know that I am a good critic on such a subject, or that I have ever +thought much of it with the view of criticising. I have been happy +and comfortable with them, and for me that has been sufficient. In +speaking of social success I allude to their success in private +life as distinguished from that which they have achieved in public +life;--to their successes in commerce, in mechanics, in the comforts +and luxuries of life, in medicine and all that leads to the solace of +affliction, in literature, and I may add also, considering the youth +of the nation, in the arts. We are, I think, bound to acknowledge +that they have succeeded. And if they have succeeded, it is vain for +us to say that a system is wrong which has, at any rate, admitted of +such success. That which was wanted from some form of government, has +been obtained with much more than average excellence; and therefore +the form adopted has approved itself as good. You may explain to a +farmer's wife with indisputable logic, that her churn is a bad churn; +but as long as she turns out butter in greater quantity, in better +quality, and with more profit than her neighbours, you will hardly +induce her to change it. It may be that with some other churn she +might have done even better; but, under such circumstances, she will +have a right to think well of the churn she uses. + +The American constitution is now, I think, at the crisis of its +severest trial. I conceive it to be by no means perfect, even for +the wants of the people who use it; and I have already endeavoured +to explain what changes it seems to need. And it has had this +defect,--that it has permitted a falling away from its intended +modes of action, while its letter has been kept sacred. As I have +endeavoured to show, universal suffrage and democratic action in the +Senate were not intended by the framers of the constitution. In this +respect, the constitution has, as it were, fallen through, and it is +needed that its very beams should be re-strengthened. There are also +other matters as to which it seems that some change is indispensable. +So much I have admitted. But, not the less, judging of it by the +entirety of the work that it has done, I think that we are bound to +own that it has been successful. + +And now, with regard to this tedious war, of which from day to day we +are still, in this month of May, 1862, hearing details which teach us +to think that it can hardly as yet be near its end;--to what may we +rationally look as its result? Of one thing I myself feel tolerably +certain,--that its result will not be nothing, as some among us +have seemed to suppose may be probable. I cannot believe that all +this energy on the part of the North will be of no avail, more +than I suppose that southern perseverance will be of no avail. +There are those among us who say that as secession will at last be +accomplished, the North should have yielded to the South at once, and +that nothing will be gained by their great expenditure of life and +treasure. I can by no means bring myself to agree with these. I also +look to the establishment of secession. Seeing how essential and +thorough are the points of variance between the North and the South, +how unlike the one people is to the other, and how necessary it is +that their policies should be different; seeing how deep are their +antipathies, and how fixed is each side in the belief of its own +rectitude and in the belief also of the other's political baseness, +I cannot believe that the really southern States will ever again be +joined in amicable union with those of the North. They, the States of +the Gulf, may be utterly subjugated, and the North may hold over them +military power. Georgia and her sisters may for a while belong to +the Union, as one conquered country belongs to another. But I do not +think that they will ever act with the Union;--and, as I imagine, +the Union before long will agree to a separation. I do not mean +to prophesy that the result will be thus accomplished. It may be +that the South will effect their own independence before they lay +down their arms. I think, however, that we may look forward to such +independence, whether it be achieved in that way, or in this, or in +some other. + +But not on that account will the war have been of no avail to the +North. I think it must be already evident to all those who have +looked into the matter that had the North yielded to the first call +made by the South for secession all the slave States must have gone. +Maryland would have gone, carrying Delaware in its arms; and if +Maryland, all south of Maryland. If Maryland had gone, the capital +would have gone. If the Government had resolved to yield, Virginia to +the east would assuredly have gone, and I think there can be no doubt +that Missouri, to the west, would have gone also. The feeling for +the Union in Kentucky was very strong, but I do not think that even +Kentucky could have saved itself. To have yielded to the southern +demands would have been to have yielded everything. But no man now +believes, let the contest go as it will, that Maryland and Delaware +will go with the South. The secessionists of Baltimore do not think +so, nor the gentlemen and ladies of Washington, whose whole hearts +are in the southern cause. No man thinks that Maryland will go; and +few, I believe, imagine that either Missouri or Kentucky will be +divided from the North. I will not pretend what may be the exact +line, but I myself feel confident that it will run south both of +Virginia and of Kentucky. + +If the North do conquer the South, and so arrange their matters that +the southern States shall again become members of the Union, it will +be admitted that they have done all that they sought to do. If they +do not do this;--if instead of doing this, which would be all that +they desire, they were in truth to do nothing;--to win finally not +one foot of ground from the South,--a supposition which I regard as +impossible;--I think that we should still admit after a while that +they had done their duty in endeavouring to maintain the integrity of +the empire. But if, as a third and more probable alternative, they +succeed in rescuing from the South and from slavery four or five of +the finest States of the old Union,--a vast portion of the continent, +to be beaten by none other in salubrity, fertility, beauty, and +political importance,--will it not then be admitted that the war has +done some good, and that the life and treasure have not been spent in +vain? + +That is the termination of the contest to which I look forward. I +think that there will be secession, but that the terms of secession +will be dictated by the North, not by the South; and among these +terms I expect to see an escape from slavery for those border States +to which I have alluded. In that proposition which, in February +last (1862), was made by the President, and which has since been +sanctioned by the Senate, I think we may see the first step towards +this measure. It may probably be the case that many of the slaves +will be driven south; that as the owners of those slaves are driven +from their holdings in Virginia they will take their slaves with +them, or send them before them. The manumission, when it reaches +Virginia, will not probably enfranchise the half million of slaves +who, in 1860, were counted among its population. But as to that I +confess myself to be comparatively careless. It is not the concern +which I have now at heart. For myself, I shall feel satisfied if that +manumission shall reach the million of whites by whom Virginia is +populated; or if not that million in its integrity then that other +million by which its rich soil would soon be tenanted. There are +now about four millions of white men and women inhabiting the slave +States which I have described, and I think it will be acknowledged +that the northern States will have done something with their armies +if they succeed in rescuing those four millions from the stain and +evil of slavery. + +There is a third question which I have asked myself, and to which I +have undertaken to give some answer. When this war be over between +the northern and southern States will there come upon us Englishmen +a necessity of fighting with the Americans? If there do come such +necessity, arising out of our conduct to the States during the period +of their civil war, it will indeed be hard upon us, as a nation, +seeing the struggle that we have made to be just in our dealings +towards the States generally, whether they be North or South. To +be just in such a period, and under such circumstances, is very +difficult. In that contest between Sardinia and Austria it was all +but impossible to be just to the Italians without being unjust to +the Emperor of Austria. To have been strictly just at the moment +one should have begun by confessing the injustice of so much that +had gone before! But in this American contest such justice, though +difficult, was easier. Affairs of trade rather than of treaties +chiefly interfered; and these affairs, by a total disregard of our +own pecuniary interests, could be so managed that justice might be +done. This I think was effected. It may be, of course, that I am +prejudiced on the side of my own nation; but striving to judge of +the matter as best I may without prejudice, I cannot see that we, +as a nation, have in aught offended against the strictest justice +in our dealings with America during this contest. But justice has +not sufficed. I do not know that our bitterest foes in the northern +States have accused us of acting unjustly. It is not justice which +they have looked for at our hands, and looked for in vain;--not +justice, but generosity! We have not, as they say, sympathized with +them in their trouble! It seems to me that such a complaint is +unworthy of them as a nation, as a people, or as individuals. In such +a matter generosity is another name for injustice,--as it too often +is in all matters. A generous sympathy with the North would have been +an ostensible and crashing enmity to the South. We could not have +sympathized with the North without condemning the South, and telling +to the world that the South were our enemies. In ordering his own +household a man should not want generosity or sympathy from the +outside; and if not a man, then certainly not a nation. Generosity +between nations must in its very nature be wrong. One nation may be +just to another, courteous to another, even considerate to another +with propriety. But no nation can be generous to another without +injustice either to some third nation, or to itself. + +But though no accusation of unfairness has, as far as I am aware, +ever been made by the government of Washington against the government +of London, there can be no doubt that a very strong feeling of +antipathy to England has sprung up in America during this war, and +that it is even yet so intense in its bitterness, that were the North +to become speedily victorious in their present contest very many +Americans would be anxious to turn their arms at once against Canada. +And I fear that that fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac has +strengthened this wish by giving to the Americans an unwarranted +confidence in their capability of defending themselves against any +injury from British shipping. It may be said by them, and probably +would be said by many of them, that this feeling of enmity had not +been engendered by any idea of national injustice on our side;--that +it might reasonably exist, though no suspicion of such injustice had +arisen in the minds of any. They would argue that the hatred on their +part had been engendered by scorn on ours,--by scorn and ill words +heaped upon them in their distress. + +They would say that slander, scorn, and uncharitable judgments create +deeper feuds than do robbery and violence, and produce deeper enmity +and worse rancour. "It is because we have been scorned by England, +that we hate England. We have been told from week to week, and from +day to day, that we were fools, cowards, knaves, and madmen. We have +been treated with disrespect, and that disrespect we will avenge." It +is thus that they speak of England, and there can be no doubt that +the opinion so expressed is very general. It is not my purpose here +to say whether in this respect England has given cause of offence +to the States, or whether either country has given cause of offence +to the other. On both sides have many hard words been spoken, and +on both sides also have good words been spoken. It is unfortunately +the case that hard words are pregnant, and as such they are read, +digested, and remembered; while good words are generally so dull that +nobody reads them willingly, and when read they are forgotten. For +many years there have been hard words bandied backwards and forwards +between England and the United States, showing mutual jealousies and +a disposition on the part of each nation to spare no fault committed +by the other. This has grown of rivalry between the two, and in fact +proves the respect which each has for the other's power and wealth. +I will not now pretend to say with which side has been the chiefest +blame, if there has been chiefest blame on either side. But I do say +that it is monstrous in any people or in any person to suppose that +such bickerings can afford a proper ground for war. I am not about to +dilate on the horrors of war. Horrid as war may be, and full of evil, +it is not so horrid to a nation, nor so full of evil, as national +insult unavenged, or as national injury unredressed. A blow taken by +a nation and taken without atonement is an acknowledgment of national +inferiority than which any war is preferable. Neither England nor the +States are inclined to take such blows. But such a blow, before it +can be regarded as a national insult, as a wrong done by one nation +on another, must be inflicted by the political entity of the one on +the political entity of the other. No angry clamours of the press, +no declamations of orators, no voices from the people, no studied +criticisms from the learned few or unstudied censures from society +at large, can have any fair weight on such a question or do aught +towards justifying a national quarrel. They cannot form a casus +belli. Those two Latin words, which we all understand, explain this +with the utmost accuracy. Were it not so, the peace of the world +would indeed rest upon sand. Causes of national difference will +arise,--for governments will be unjust as are individuals. And +causes of difference will arise because governments are too blind +to distinguish the just from the unjust. But in such cases the +government acts on some ground which it declares. It either shows or +pretends to show some casus belli. But in this matter of threatened +war between the States and England it is declared openly that such +war is to take place because the English have abused the Americans, +and because, consequently, the Americans hate the English. There +seems to exist an impression that no other ostensible ground for +fighting need be shown, although such an event as that of war between +the two nations would, as all men acknowledge, be terrible in +its results. "Your newspapers insulted us when we were in our +difficulties. Your writers said evil things of us. Your legislators +spoke of us with scorn. You exacted from us a disagreeable duty of +retribution just when the performance of such a duty was most odious +to us. You have shown symptoms of joy at our sorrow. And, therefore, +as soon as our hands are at liberty, we will fight you." I have +known schoolboys to argue in that way, and the arguments have been +intelligible. But I cannot understand that any government should +admit such an argument. + +Nor will the American government willingly admit it. According to +existing theories of government the armies of nations are but the +tools of the governing powers. If at the close of the present civil +war the American government,--the old civil government consisting of +the President with such checks as Congress constitutionally has over +him,--shall really hold the power to which it pretends, I do not fear +that there will be any war. No President, and I think no Congress, +will desire such a war. Nor will the people clamour for it, even +should the idea of such a war be popular. The people of America are +not clamorous against their government. If there be such a war it +will be because the army shall have then become more powerful than +the Government. If the President can hold his own the people will +support him in his desire for peace. But if the President do not hold +his own;--if some General with two or three hundred thousand men at +his back shall then have the upper hand in the nation,--it is too +probable that the people may back him. The old game will be played +again that has so often been played in the history of nations, and +some wretched military aspirant will go forth to flood Canada with +blood, in order that the feathers of his cap may flaunt in men's eyes +and that he may be talked of for some years to come as one of the +great curses let loose by the Almighty on mankind. + +I must confess that there is danger of this. To us the danger is very +great. It cannot be good for us to send ships laden outside with +iron shields instead of inside with soft goods and hardware to those +thickly thronged American ports. It cannot be good for us to have +to throw millions into those harbours instead of taking millions +out from them. It cannot be good for us to export thousands upon +thousands of soldiers to Canada of whom only hundreds would return. +The whole turmoil, cost, and paraphernalia of such a course would be +injurious to us in the extreme, and the loss of our commerce would +be nearly ruinous. But the injury of such a war to us would be as +nothing to the injury which it would inflict upon the States. To them +for many years it would be absolutely ruinous. It would entail not +only all those losses which such a war must bring with it; but that +greater loss which would arise to the nation from the fact of its +having been powerless to prevent it. Such a war would prove that it +had lost the freedom for which it had struggled, and which for so +many years it has enjoyed. For the sake of that people as well as +for our own,--and for their sakes rather than for our own,--let us, +as far as may be, abstain from words which are needlessly injurious. +They have done much that is great and noble, even since this war +has begun, and we have been slow to acknowledge it. They have made +sacrifices for the sake of their country which we have ridiculed. +They have struggled to maintain a good cause, and we have disbelieved +in their earnestness. They have been anxious to abide by their +constitution, which to them has been as it were a second gospel, and +we have spoken of that constitution as though it had been a thing of +mere words in which life had never existed. This has been done while +their hands were very full and their back heavily laden. Such words +coming from us, or from parties among us, cannot justify those +threats of war which we hear spoken; but that they should make the +hearts of men sore and their thoughts bitter against us can hardly be +matter of surprise. + +As to the result of any such war between us and them, it would depend +mainly, I think, on the feelings of the Canadians. Neither could +they annex Canada without the good-will of the Canadians, nor could +we keep Canada without that good-will. At present the feeling in +Canada against the northern States is so strong and so universal that +England has little to fear on that head. + +I have now done my task, and may take leave of my readers on either +side of the water with a hearty hope that the existing war between +the North and South may soon be over, and that none other may follow +on its heels to exercise that new-fledged military skill which +the existing quarrel will have produced on the other side of the +Atlantic. I have written my book in obscure language if I have not +shown that to me social successes and commercial prosperity are much +dearer than any greatness that can be won by arms. The Americans had +fondly thought that they were to be exempt from the curse of war,--at +any rate from the bitterness of the curse. But the days for such +exemption have not come as yet. While we are hurrying on to make +twelve-inch shield-plates for our men-of-war, we can hardly dare +to think of the days when the sword shall be turned into the +ploughshare. May it not be thought well for us if, with such work +on our hands, any scraps of iron shall be left to us with which to +pursue the purposes of peace? But at least let us not have war with +these children of our own. If we must fight, let us fight the French, +"for King George upon the throne." The doing so will be disagreeable, +but it will not be antipathetic to the nature of an Englishman. For +my part, when an American tells me that he wants to fight with me, +I regard his offence as compared with that of a Frenchman under the +same circumstances, as I would compare the offence of a parricide +or a fratricide with that of a mere common-place murderer. Such a +war would be plus quam civile bellum. Which of us two could take a +thrashing from the other and afterwards go about our business with +contentment? + +On our return to Liverpool, we stayed for a few hours at Queenstown, +taking in coal, and the passengers landed that they might stretch +their legs and look about them. I also went ashore at the dear old +place which I had known well in other days, when the people were not +too grand to call it Cove, and were contented to run down from Cork +in river steamers, before the Passage railway was built. I spent a +pleasant summer there once in those times;--God be with the good +old days! And now I went ashore at Queenstown, happy to feel that +I should be again in a British isle, and happy also to know that I +was once more in Ireland. And when the people came around me as they +did, I seemed to know every face and to be familiar with every voice. +It has been my fate to have so close an intimacy with Ireland, that +when I meet an Irishman abroad, I always recognize in him more of a +kinsman than I do in an Englishman. I never ask an Englishman from +what county he comes, or what was his town. To Irishmen I usually put +such questions, and I am generally familiar with the old haunts which +they name. I was happy therefore to feel myself again in Ireland, and +to walk round from Queenstown to the river at Passage by the old way +that had once been familiar to my feet. + +Or rather I should have been happy if I had not found myself +instantly disgraced by the importunities of my friends! A legion of +women surrounded me, imploring alms, begging my honour to bestow my +charity on them for the love of the Virgin, using the most holy names +in their adjurations for halfpence, clinging to me with that half +joking, half lachrymose air of importunity which an Irish beggar has +assumed as peculiarly her own. There were men too, who begged as well +as women. And the women were sturdy and fat, and, not knowing me as +well as I knew them, seemed resolved that their importunities should +be successful. After all, I had an old world liking for them in their +rags. They were endeared to me by certain memories and associations +which I cannot define. But then what would those Americans think of +them;--of them and of the country which produced them? That was the +reflection which troubled me. A legion of women in rags clamorous for +bread, protesting to heaven that they are starving, importunate with +voices and with hands, surrounding the stranger when he puts his foot +on the soil so that he cannot escape, does not afford to the cynical +American who then first visits us,--and they all are cynical when +they visit us,--a bad opportunity for his sarcasm. He can at any rate +boast that he sees nothing of that at home. I myself am fond of Irish +beggars. It is an acquired taste,--which comes upon one as does that +for smoked whisky, or Limerick tobacco. But I certainly did wish that +there were not so many of them at Queenstown. + +I tell all this here not to the disgrace of Ireland;--not for the +triumph of America. The Irishman or American who thinks rightly on +the subject will know that the state of each country has arisen from +its opportunities. Beggary does not prevail in new countries, and but +few old countries have managed to exist without it. As to Ireland we +may rejoice to say that there is less of it now than there was twenty +years since. Things are mending there. But though such excuses may +be truly made,--although an Englishman when he sees this squalor and +poverty on the quays at Queenstown, consoles himself with reflecting +that the evil has been unavoidable, but will perhaps soon be +avoided,--nevertheless he cannot but remember that there is no such +squalor and no such poverty in the land from which he has returned. +I claim no credit for the new country. I impute no blame to the old +country. But there is the fact. The Irishman when he expatriates +himself to one of those American States loses much of that +affectionate, confiding, master-worshipping nature which makes him so +good a fellow when at home. But he becomes more of a man. He assumes +a dignity which he never has known before. He learns to regard his +labour as his own property. That which he earns he takes without +thanks, but he desires to take no more than he earns. To me +personally he has perhaps become less pleasant than he was. But to +himself--! It seems to me that such a man must feel himself half a +god, if he has the power of comparing what he is with what he was. + +It is right that all this should be acknowledged by us. When we speak +of America and of her institutions we should remember that she has +given to our increasing population rights and privileges which we +could not give;--which as an old country we probably can never give. +That self-asserting, obtrusive independence which so often wounds us, +is, if viewed aright, but an outward sign of those good things which +a new country has produced for its people. Men and women do not beg +in the States;--they do not offend you with tattered rags; they do +not complain to heaven of starvation; they do not crouch to the +ground for halfpence. If poor, they are not abject in their poverty. +They read and write. They walk like human beings made in God's form. +They know that they are men and women, owing it to themselves and +to the world that they should earn their bread by their labour, but +feeling that when earned it is their own. If this be so,--if it be +acknowledged that it is so,--should not such knowledge in itself +be sufficient testimony of the success of the country and of her +institutions? + + + + + +APPENDIX A. + +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. + + +WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one +people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with +another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate +and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God +entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires +that they should declare the causes which impel them to the +separation. + +We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain +inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are +instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent +of the governed; and that, whenever any form of government becomes +destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or +abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundations +on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to +them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. +Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments, long established, +should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, +accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more +disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right +themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, +when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably +the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute +despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such +government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such +has been the patient sufferance of the colonies, and such is now the +necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of +government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a +history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct +object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. +To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. + +He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary +for the public good. + +He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing +importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent +should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected +to attend to them. + +He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large +districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right +of representation in the legislature--a right inestimable to them, +and formidable to tyrants only. + +He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, +uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public +records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with +his measures. + +He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with +manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. + +He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause +others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable +of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their +exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the +dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. + +He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for +that purpose, obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, +refusing to pass others to encourage their migration thither, and +raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. + +He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his +assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. + +He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of +their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. + +He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of +officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. + +He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the +consent of our legislatures. + +He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior +to, the civil power. + +He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign +to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his +assent to their acts of pretended legislation. + +For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. + +For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders +which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States. + +For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. + +For imposing taxes on us without our consent + +For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury. + +For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences. + +For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring +province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging +its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit +instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these +colonies. + +For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and +altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments. + +For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves +invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. + +He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his +protection and waging war against us. + +He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and +destroyed the lives of our people. + +He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries +to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already +begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled +in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a +civilized nation. + +He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high +seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners +of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. + +He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured +to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian +savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished +destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. + +In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress +in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered +only by repeated injuries. A prince, whose character is thus marked +by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of +a free people. + +Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. +We have warned them, from time to time, of the attempts by their +legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have +reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement +here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and +we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow +these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections +and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice +and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity +which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of +mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. + +We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, +in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the +world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by +the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish +and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to +be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all +allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection +between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, +totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they +have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, +establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which +independent States may of right do. And, for the support of this +declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine +Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, +and our sacred honour. + +The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and +signed by the following members: + +JOHN HANCOCK. + +_New Hampshire._ + +Josiah Bartlett, +William Whipple, +Matthew Thornton. + +_Massachusetts Bay._ + +Samuel Adams, +John Adams, +Robert Treat Paine, +Elbridge Gerry. + +_Rhode Island._ + +Stephen Hopkins, +William Ellery. + +_Connecticut._ + +Roger Sherman, +Samuel Huntington, +William Williams, +Oliver Wolcott. + +_New York._ + +William Floyd, +Philip Livingston, +Francis Lewis, +Lewis Morris. + +_New Jersey._ + +Richard Stockton, +John Witherspoon, +Francis Hopkinson, +John Hart, +Abraham Clark. + +_Pennsylvania._ + +Robert Morris, +Benjamin Rush, +Benjamin Franklin, +John Morton, +George Clymer, +James Smith, +George Taylor, +James Wilson, +George Ross. + +_Delaware._ + +Caesar Rodney, +George Read, +Thomas M'Kean. + +_Maryland._ + +Samuel Chase, +William Paca, +Thomas Stone, +Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. + +_Virginia._ + +George Wythie, +Richard Henry Lee, +Thomas Jefferson, +Benjamin Harrison, +Thomas Nelson, Jr. +Francis Lightfoot Lee, +Carter Braxton. + +_North Carolina._ + +William Hooper, +Joseph Hewes, +John Penn. + +_South Carolina._ + +Edward Rutledge, +Thomas Heyward, Jr. +Thomas Lynch, Jr. +Arthur Middleton. + +_Georgia._ + +Button Gwinnett, +Lyman Hall, +George Walton. + + +4 _July_, 1776. + + + + +APPENDIX B. + +ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, ETC. + + +TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. + +_We, the undersigned, delegates of the States, affixed to our names, +send greeting:_ + +WHEREAS, the delegates of the United States of America, in Congress +assembled did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year of +our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, and in +the second year of the independence of America, agree to certain +articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States +of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence +Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and +Georgia, in the words following, viz: + + Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States + of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence + Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, + Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and + Georgia. + +ARTICLE 1. The style of this confederacy shall be, "The United States +of America." + +ART. 2. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and +independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not +by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in +Congress assembled. + +ART. 3. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of +friendship with each other for their common defence, the security +of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare; binding +themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or +attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, +sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever. + +ART. 4. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and +intercourse among the people of the different States in this union, +the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, +and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all +privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; +and the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to +and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges +of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and +restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that +such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal +of property imported into any State to any other State, of which the +owner is an inhabitant; provided, also, that no imposition, duties, +or restriction, shall be laid by any State on the property of the +United States, or either of them. + +If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other +high misdemeanor, in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found +in any of the United States, he shall upon demand of the Governor, or +executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, and +removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offence. + +Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the +records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates +of every other State. + +ART. 5. For the more convenient management of the general interests +of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such +manner as the legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in +Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power +reserved to each State to recall its delegates or any of them, at +any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the +remainder of the year. + +No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two nor +more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a +delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor +shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding an office +under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit, +receives any salary, fees, or emolument of any kind. + +Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the +States, and while they act as members of the committee of the States. + +In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, +each State shall have one vote. + +Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or +questioned in any court or place out of Congress; and the members +of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and +imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from and +attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the +peace. + +ART. 6. No State, without the consent of the United States in +Congress assembled, shall send an embassy to, or receive any embassy +from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty, +with any king, prince, or State; nor shall any person holding any +office of profit or trust under the United States or any of them, +accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind +whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State; nor shall the +United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title +of nobility. + +No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or +alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purpose for +which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue. + +No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with +any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in +Congress assembled, with any king, prince, or State, in pursuance of +any treaties already proposed by Congress to the courts of France and +Spain. + +No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace, by any State, +except such number as shall be deemed necessary by the United States +in Congress assembled, for the defence of such State or its trade; +nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of +peace, except such number only as, in the judgment of the United +States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison +the forts necessary for the defence of such State; but every State +shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, +sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and have +constantly ready for use, in public stores, a number of field pieces +and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp +equipage. + +No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United +States in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded +by enemies, or shall, have received certain advice of a resolution +being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State, and the +danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United +States in Congress assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State +grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, or letters of +marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the +United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the +Kingdom or State, and the subjects thereof, against which war has +been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established +by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be +infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out +for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, +or until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine +otherwise. + +ART. 7. When land forces are raised by any State for the common +defence, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shall be +appointed by the legislature of each State respectively, by whom +such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall +direct; and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first +made the appointment. + +ART. 8. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be +incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by +the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of +a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States +in proportion to the value of all land within each State granted +to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and +improvements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode +as the United States in Congress assembled shall from time to time +direct and appoint. + +The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by +the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several +States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress +assembled. + +ART. 9. The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole +and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except +in the cases mentioned in the sixth Article: of sending and receiving +ambassadors: entering into treaties and alliances; provided that no +treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the +respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and +duties on foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from +prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods +or commodities whatsoever: of establishing rules for deciding in all +cases, what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what +manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the +United States shall be divided or appropriated: of granting letters +of marque and reprisal, in times of peace: appointing courts for +the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and +establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in +all cases of captures; provided, that no member of Congress shall be +appointed a judge of any of the said courts. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort +on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting, or that +hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning boundary, +jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; which authority shall +always be exercised in the manner following: whenever the legislative +or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy +with another shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter +in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given +by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the +other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance +of the parties, by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed +to appoint by joint consent commissioners or judges to constitute a +court for hearing and determining the matter in question; but if they +cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the +United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall +alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the +number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less +than seven nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct, +shall, in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot; and the +persons whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall +be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the +controversy, so always as a major part of the judges, who shall hear +the cause, shall agree in the determination; and if either party +shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons +which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall refuse +to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out +of each State, and the Secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf +of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment and sentence of +the court to be appointed in the manner before prescribed, shall +be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to +submit to the authority of such court, or to appear, or defend their +claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce +sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and +decisive, the judgment or sentence, and other proceedings, being in +either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the acts of +Congress for the security of the parties concerned: provided, that +every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, +to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior +court of the State, where the cause shall be tried, "well and truly +to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best +of his judgment, without favour, affection, or hope of reward;" +provided also, that no State shall be deprived of territory for the +benefit of the United States. + +All controversies concerning the private right of soil, claimed +under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdiction as +they may respect such lands and the States which passed such grants +are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same +time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of +jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Congress +of the United States, be finally determined, as near as may be, +in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes +respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and +exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin +struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States; +fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United +States: regulating the trade and managing all affairs with Indians +not members of any of the States; provided, that the legislative +right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or +violated: establishing and regulating post-offices from one State to +another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage +on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray +the expenses of the said office: appointing all officers of the land +forces in the service of the United States, excepting regimental +officers: appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and +commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United +States: making rules for the government and regulation of the said +land and naval forces, and directing their operations. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority +to appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be +denominated "a Committee of the States;" and to consist of one +delegate from each State, and to appoint such other committees and +civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs +of the United States, under their direction: to appoint one of their +number to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the +office of President more than one year in any term of three years: to +ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service +of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for +defraying the public expenses: to borrow money or emit bills on the +credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the +respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or +emitted: to build and equip a navy: to agree upon the number of land +forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in +proportion to the number of white inhabitants in each State; which +requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each +State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and +clothe, arm, and equip them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense +of the United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and +equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time +agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled: but if the +United States in Congress assembled, shall, on consideration of +circumstances, judge proper that any State should not raise men, or +should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other +State should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, +such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and +equipped, in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the +legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot +safely be spared out of the same; in which case they shall raise, +officer, clothe, arm, and equip, as many of such extra number as +they judge can safely be spared. And the officers and men so clothed, +armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within +the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled. + +The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, +nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter +into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the +value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for +the defence and welfare of the United States or any of them, nor +emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor +appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be +built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, +nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine +States assent to the same; nor shall a question on any other point, +except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, unless by the +votes of a majority of the United States in Congress assembled. + +The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any +time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so +that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space +of six months; and shall publish the journal of their proceedings +monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, +or military operations, as in their judgment require secresy; and the +yeas and nays of the delegates of each State on any question shall be +entered on the journal when it is desired by any delegate; and the +delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their request, shall +be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such parts +as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several +States. + +ART. 10. The Committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall +be authorized to execute in the recess of Congress, such of the +powers of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, +by the consent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think +expedient to vest them with; provided that no power be delegated +to the said committee, for the exercise of which, by the articles of +confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United +States assembled is requisite. + +ART. 11. Canada, acceding to this confederation, and joining in the +measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled +to, all the advantages of this union: but no other colony shall be +admitted into the same unless such admission be agreed to by nine +States. + +ART. 12. All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, debts +contracted, by or under the authority of Congress, before the +assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present +confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the +United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United +States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. + +ART. 13. Every State shall abide by the determination of the United +States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by this +confederation, are submitted to them. And the Articles of this +confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the +union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time +hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to +in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by +the legislature of every State. + +And whereas it has pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline +the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, +to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of +confederation and perpetual union: KNOW YE, That we, the undersigned +delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that +purpose, do, by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our +respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each +and every of the said Articles of confederation and perpetual union, +and all and singular the matters and things therein contained; and +we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective +constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the +United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by the +said confederation, are submitted to them; and that the Articles +thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respectively +represent; and that the union shall be perpetual. + + + In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress. + Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth + day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred + and seventy-eight, and in the third year of the independence of + America. + + +_On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire._ +Josiah Bartlet, John Wentworth, jun., August 8, 1778. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Massachusetts Bay._ +John Hancock, Francis Dana, +Samuel Adams, James Lovell, +Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Holten. + +_On the part and in behalf of the State of Rhode Island and +Providence Plantations._ +William Ellery, John Collins. +Henry Marchant, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut._ +Roger Sherman, Titus Hosmer, +Samuel Huntington, Andrew Adams. +Oliver Wolcott, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of New York._ +Jas. Duane, Wm. Duer, +Fra. Lewis, Gouv. Morris. + +_On the part and in behalf of the State of New Jersey._ +Jno. Witherspoon, Nath. Scudder, + Nov. 26, 1778. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania._ +Robt. Morris, William Clingan, +Daniel Roberdeau, Joseph Reed, +Jona. Bayard Smith, 22d July, 1778. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware._ +Tho. M'Kean, Nicholas Van Dyke. + Feb. 13, 1779, +John Dickinson, + May 5th, 1779, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland._ +John Hanson, Daniel Carroll, + March 1,1781, March 1, 1781. + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Virginia._ +Richard Henry Lee, Jno. Harvie, +John Banister, Francis Lightfoot Lee. +Thomas Adams, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of North Carolina._ +John Penn, Jno. Williams. + July 21,1778, +Corns. Harnett, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina._ +Henry Laurens, Richard Hutson, +William Henry Drayton, Thos. Heywood, jun. +Jno. Mathews, + +_On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia._ +Jno. Walton, Edwd. Langworthy. + 24th July, 1778, +Edwd. Telfair, + + NOTE.--From the circumstance of delegates from the same State + having signed the Articles of confederation at different times, + as appears by the dates, it is probable they affixed their names + as they happened to be present in Congress, after they had been + authorized by their constituents. + + The above Articles of confederation continued in force until + the 4th day of March, 1789, when the constitution of the United + States took effect. + + + + +APPENDIX C. + +CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. + + +PREAMBLE. + +WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect +union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for +the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the +blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and +establish this Constitution for the United States of America. + + +ARTICLE I. + +_Of the Legislature._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a +Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and +House of Representatives. + + +SECTION II. + +1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen +every second year by the people of the several States; and the +electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for +electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature. + +2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to +the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the +United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of +that State in which he shall be chosen. + +3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the +several States which may be included within this union, according to +their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the +whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a +term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all +other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three +years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, +and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as +they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not +exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at +least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, +the State of _New Hampshire_ shall be entitled to choose three; +_Massachusetts_, eight; _Rhode Island_, and _Providence Plantations_, +one; _Connecticut_, five; _New York_, six; _New Jersey_, four; +_Pennsylvania_, eight; _Delaware_, one; _Maryland_, six; _Virginia_, +ten; _North Carolina_, five; _South Carolina_, five; and _Georgia_, +three. + +4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the +executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill up +such vacancies. + +5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other +officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. + + +SECTION III. + +1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators +from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years, +and each senator shall have one vote. + +2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the +first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into +three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be +vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class +at the expiration of the fourth, and of the third class at the +expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every +second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, +during the recess of the legislature of any State, the executive +thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the +legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. + +3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the +age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United +States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that +State for which he shall be chosen. + +4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the +Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. + +5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president +pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall +exercise the office of President of the United States. + +6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When +sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When +the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall +preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of +two-thirds of the members present. + +7. Judgment in case of impeachment shall not extend further than +to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any +office of honour, trust, or profit, under the United States; but +the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to +indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law. + + +SECTION IV. + +1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators +and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the +legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time, by law, make +or alter such regulations, except as to the place of choosing +senators. + +2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such +meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall +by law appoint a different day. + + +SECTION V. + +1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and +qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall +constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn +from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of +absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House +may provide. + +2. Each House may determine the rule of its proceedings, punish +its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of +two-thirds, expel a member. + +3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from +time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their +judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of +either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of +those present, be entered on the journal. + +4. Neither House during the Session of Congress shall, without the +consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any +other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. + + +SECTION VI. + +1. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation +for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the +treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except +treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest +during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, +and in going to or returning from the same; and for any speech or +debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other +place. + +2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he +was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of +the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments +whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person +holding any office under the United States shall be a member of +either House during his continuance in office. + + +SECTION VII. + +1. All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House +of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with +amendments, as on other Bills. + +2. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives +and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the +President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but +if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in +which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objection at +large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such +reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the +Bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other +House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved +by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such +cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, +and the names of the persons voting for and against the Bill shall be +entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall +not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) +after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law +in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their +adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. + +3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the +Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, (except a +question of adjournment), shall be presented to the President of +the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be +approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by +two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to +the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a Bill. + + +SECTION VIII. + +The Congress shall have power-- + +1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the +debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the +United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform +throughout the United States: + +2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States: + +3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several +States, and with the Indian tribes: + +4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on +the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States: + +5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, +and fix the standard of weights and measures: + +6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and +current coin of the United States: + +7. To establish post offices and post roads: + +8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing +for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to +their respective writings and discoveries: + +9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court: + +10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high +seas, and offences against the law of nations: + +11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make +rules concerning captures on land and water: + +12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to +that use shall be for a longer term than two years: + +13. To provide and maintain a navy: + +14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and +naval forces: + +15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of +the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions: + +16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, +and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service +of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the +appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia +according to the discipline prescribed by Congress: + +17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over +such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of +particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of +government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over +all places purchased, by the consent of the legislature of the State +in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, +arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings: and, + +18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying +into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by +this Constitution in the government of the United States, or any +department or officer thereof. + + +SECTION IX. + +1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States +now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by +the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, +but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding +ten dollars for each person. + +2. The privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be +suspended unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public +safety may require it. + +3. No Bill of attainder, or ex-post-facto law, shall be passed. + +4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid; unless in +proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be +taken. + +5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. +No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue +to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels +bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties +in another. + +6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of +appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of +the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published +from time to time. + +7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no +person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, +without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, +office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or +foreign State. + + +SECTION X. + +1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; +grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of +credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment +of debts; pass any Bill of attainder, ex-post-facto law, or law +impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of +nobility. + +2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts +or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely +necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce +of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports +shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States, and all +such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress. +No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on +tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any +agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or +engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as +will not admit of delay. + + +ARTICLE II. + +_Of the Executive._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United +States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four +years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same +term, be elected as follows:-- + +2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature +thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number +of senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled +in Congress; but no senator or representative, or person holding any +office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed +an elector. + +3. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote +by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an +inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a +list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for +each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed +to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the +President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the +presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the +certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having +the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number +be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if +there be more than one who have such a majority, and have an equal +number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately +choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a +majority, then, from the five highest on the list, the said House +shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the +President, the votes shall be taken by States; the representation +from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall +consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and +a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In +every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the +greatest number of votes of the electors shall be Vice-President. But +if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate +shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-President. + +4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and +the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the +same throughout the United States. + +5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the +United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall +be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be +eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of +thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the +United States. + +6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his +death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties +of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President; +and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, +resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, +declaring what officer shall then act as President: and such officer +shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a President +shall be elected. + +7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services +a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished +during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall +not receive within that period any other emolument from the United +States, or any of them. + +8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the +following oath or affirmation: + +"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the +office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my +ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United +States." + + +SECTION II. + +1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy +of the United States and of the militia of the several States, when +called into the actual service of the United States; he may require +the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the +executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of +their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves +and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases +of impeachment. + +2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present +concur: and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent +of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and +consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the +United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided +for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may by +law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think +proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads +of departments. + +3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may +happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, +which shall expire at the end of their next session. + + +SECTION III. + +1. He shall, from time to time, give to Congress information of +the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such +measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on +extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them; +and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time +of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think +proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; +he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall +commission all the officers of the United States. + + +SECTION IV. + +1. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the +United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for +and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and +misdemeanors. + + +ARTICLE III. + +_Of the Judiciary._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one +Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as Congress may, from time +to time, order and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and +inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour; and +shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, +which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. + + +SECTION II. + +1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity +arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and +treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all +cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to +all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to +which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between +two or more states; between a State and citizens of another State; +between citizens of different States; between citizens of the same +State claiming lands under grants of different States; and between a +State, or the citizens thereof and foreign States, citizens or +subjects. + +2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and +consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme +Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before +mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both +as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations +as Congress shall make. + +3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be +by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said +crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any +State, the trial shall be at such place or places as Congress may by +law have directed. + + +SECTION III. + +1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying +war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid +and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the +testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confession in +open court. + +2. Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; +but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or +forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. + + +ARTICLE IV. + +_Miscellaneous._ + + +SECTION I. + +1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public +acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And +Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such +acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect +thereof. + + +SECTION II. + +1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges +and immunities of citizens in the several States. + +2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other +crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, +shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from +which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having +jurisdiction of the crime. + +3. No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour; but +shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or +labour may be due. + + +SECTION III. + +1. New States may be admitted by Congress into this Union; but no new +State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other +State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, +or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the +States concerned, as well as of Congress. + +2. Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful +rules and regulations respecting the territory, or other property +belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution +shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States +or of any particular State. + + +SECTION IV. + +1. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this union a +republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against +invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or of the executive +(when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. + + +ARTICLE V. + +_Of Amendments._ + + +1. Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it +necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution; or, on the +application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, +shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either +case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this +Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths +of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, +as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by +Congress; provided, that no amendment which may be made prior to +the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner +affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first +Article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of +its equal suffrage in the Senate. + + +ARTICLE VI. + +_Miscellaneous._ + + +1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the +adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United +States under this Constitution, as under the confederation. + +2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall +be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall +be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the +supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound +thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the +contrary notwithstanding. + +3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members +of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial +officers, both of the United States, and of the several States, shall +be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but +no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any +office, or public trust, under the United States. + + +ARTICLE VII. + +_Of the Ratification._ + + +1. The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be +sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the +States so ratifying the same. + + +Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States +present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our +Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the +Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In +witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. + +GEORGE WASHINGTON, +_President, and Deputy from Virginia._ + +_New Hampshire._ +John Langdon, +Nicholas Gilman. + +_Massachusetts._ +Nathaniel Gorman, +Rufus King. + +_Connecticut._ +William Samuel Johnson, +Roger Sherman. + +_New York._ +Alexander Hamilton. + +_New Jersey._ +William Livingston, +David Brearly, +William Patterson, +Jonathan Dayton. + +_Pennsylvania._ +Benjamin Franklin, +Thomas Mifflin, +Robert Morris, +George Clymer, +Thomas Fitzsimons, +Jared Ingersoll, +James Wilson, +Governeur Morris. + +_Delaware._ +George Read, +Gunning Bedford, jun., +John Dickinson, +Richard Bassett, +Jacob Broom. + +_Maryland._ +James M'Henry, +Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, +Daniel Carroll. + +_Virginia._ +John Blair, +James Madison, jr. + +_North Carolina._ +William Blount, +Richard Dobbs Spaight, +Hugh Williamson. + +_South Carolina._ +John Rutledge, +Chas. Cotesworth Pinckney, +Charles Pinckney, +Pierce Butler. + +_Georgia._ +William Few, +Abraham Baldwin. + +_Attest,_ WILLIAM JACKSON, _Secretary_. + + + + +AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. + + +ART. 1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of +religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging +the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people +peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress +of grievances. + +ART. 2. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of +a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not +be infringed. + +ART. 3. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house +without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner +to be prescribed by law. + +ART. 4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, +houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and +seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon +probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly +describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be +seized. + +ART. 5. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise +infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand +jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the +militia when in actual service in time of war, or public danger; nor +shall any person be subject for the same offence, to be put twice in +jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal +case, to be witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, +liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private +property be taken for public use without just compensation. + +ART. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the +right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State +and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which +district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be +informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted +with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for +obtaining witnesses in his favour; and to have the assistance of +counsel for his defence. + +ART. 7. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall +exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; +and no fact tried by jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court +of the United States than according to the rules of the common law. + +ART. 8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines +imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. + +ART. 9. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall +not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. + +ART. 10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the +Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the +States respectively, or to the people. + +ART. 11. The judicial power of the United States shall not be +construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or +prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another +State, or by citizens or subjects of another State, or by citizens or +subjects of any foreign State. + +ART. 12. Sec. 1. The electors shall meet in their respective States, +and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at +least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State as themselves; +they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, +and in distinct ballots the person voted for with Vice-President; and +they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, +and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of +votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit +sealed to the seat of government of the United States, directed to +the President of the Senate: the President of the Senate shall in the +presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the +certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having +the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if +such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; +and if no person have such a majority, then from the persons having +the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those +voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose +immediately by ballot the President. But in choosing the President, +the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each +State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a +member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of +all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of +Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of +choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next +following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in +the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the +President. + +2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, +shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the +whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, +then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall +choose the Vice-President: a quorum for the purpose shall consist of +two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the +whole number shall be necessary to a choice. + +3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of +President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United +States. + + + NOTE.--At the fourth presidential election, Thomas Jefferson + and Aaron Burr were the democratic candidates for President and + Vice-President. By the electoral returns they had an even number + of votes. In the House of Representatives, Burr, by intrigue, + got up a party to vote for him for President; and the House was + so divided that there was a tie. A contest was carried on for + several days, and so warmly, that even sick members were brought + to the House on their beds. Finally one of Burr's adherents + withdrew, and Jefferson was elected by one majority--which was + the occasion of this twelfth article. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +******* This file should be named 1866.txt or 1866.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1866 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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