Chapter CDLXXXVIII: Section 10: And be it further enacted, That when any person (5)

The circumstances under which the first blow of the civil war
was struck by the rebels at Charleston were recited by
President Lincoln, in his Message to Congress, at the special
session convened July 4, 1861; "On the 5th of March (the
present incumbent's first full day in office), a letter of
Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sumter, written on the 28th
of February and received at the War Department on the 4th of
March, was by that department placed in his hands. This letter
expressed the professional opinion of the writer that
reinforcements could not be thrown into that fort within the
time for his relief, rendered necessary by the limited supply
of provisions, and with a view of holding possession of the
same, with a force of less than 20,000 good and
well-disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the
officers of his command, and their memoranda on the subject
were made inclosures of Major Anderson's letter.
{3422}
The whole was immediately laid before Lieutenant-General
Scott, who at once concurred with Major Anderson in opinion.
On reflection, however, he took full time, consulting with
other officers, both of the army and the navy, and at the end
of four days came reluctantly but decidedly to the same
conclusion as before. He also stated at the same time that no
such sufficient force was then at the control of the
government, or could be raised and brought to the ground
within the time when the provisions in the fort would be
exhausted. In a purely military point of view, this reduced
the duty of the administration in the case to the mere matter
of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. It was
believed, however, that to so abandon that position, under the
circumstances, would be utterly ruinous; that the necessity
under which it was to be done would not be fully understood;
that by many it would be construed as a part of a voluntary
policy; that at home it would discourage the friends of the
Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to insure to the
latter a recognition abroad; that, in fact, it would be our
national destruction consummated. This could not be allowed.
Starvation was not yet upon the garrison, and ere it would be
reached Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would be a
clear indication of policy, and would better enable the
country to accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military
necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent for the
landing of the troops from the steamship 'Brooklyn' into Fort
Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the
longer and slower route by sea. The first return news from the
order was received just one week before the fall of Fort
Sumter. The news itself was that the officer commanding the
'Sabine,' to which vessel the troops had been transferred from
the 'Brooklyn,' acting upon some quasi armistice of the late
administration (and of the existence of which the present
administration, up to the time the order was despatched, had
only too vague and uncertain rumors to fix attention), had
refused to land the troops. To now reinforce Fort Pickens
before a crisis would be reached at Fort Sumter was
impossible—rendered so by the near exhaustion of provisions in
the latter-named fort. In precaution against such a
conjuncture, the government had, a few days before, commenced
preparing an expedition as well adapted as might be to relieve
Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended to be ultimately
used, or not, according to circumstances. The strongest
anticipated case for using it was now presented, and it was
resolved to send it forward. As had been intended in this
contingency, it was also resolved to notify the governor of
South Carolina that he might expect an attempt would be made
to provision the fort; and that, if the attempt should not be
resisted, there would be no effort to throw in men, arms, or
ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack
upon the fort. This notice was accordingly given; whereupon
the fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even
awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition. It is
thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter
was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the
assailants."

_Abraham Lincoln,
Complete Works,
volume 2, pages 56-57._

The President's delay of action in the case of Fort Sumter was
mainly due, on the political side of the question, to the
state of things in the border states—especially in Virginia.
"There were fifteen slave states, which those engaged in the
rebellion hoped to lead or to force into secession. At the
time of the inauguration, only seven of these fifteen—less
than a majority—had revolted. The cotton states alone had
followed the lead of South Carolina out of the Union. Several
weeks had passed since a state had seceded; and unless other
states could be dragooned into the movement, the rebellion
would be practically a failure from the start. Such a
confederacy could not hope to live a year, and would be
obliged to find its way back into the Union upon some terms.
In the meantime, two or three conventions in the border states
[Virginia, April 4, and Missouri, March], delegated freshly
from the people, had voted distinctly and decidedly not to
secede. [Kentucky and Tennessee had refused even the call of
conventions; while North Carolina, February 28, and Arkansas,
March 18, of the states farther south, had voted secession
down.] The affairs of the confederacy were really in a very
precarious condition when Mr. Lincoln came into power. The
rebel government was making very much more bluster than
progress. It became Mr. Lincoln's policy so to conduct affairs
as to strengthen the Union feeling in the border states, and
to give utterance to no sentiment and to do no deed which
should drive these states toward the confederacy. … The
confederacy found that it must make progress or die. The rebel
Congress passed a measure for the organization of an army, on
the 9th of March, and on the 12th two confederate
commissioners—Mr. Forsyth of Alabama and Mr. Crawford of
Georgia—presented themselves at the State Department at
Washington for the purpose of making a treaty with the United
States. They knew, of course, that they could not be received
officially, and that they ought to be arrested for treason.
The President would not recognize them, but sent to them a
copy of his inaugural, as the embodiment of the views of the
government. … In the meantime, Lieutenant Talbot, on behalf of
Mr. Lincoln, was having interviews with Governor Pickens of
South Carolina and with General Beauregard, in command of the
confederate forces there, in which he informed them that
provisions would be sent to Fort Sumter, peaceably if
possible,—otherwise by force. This was communicated to L. P.
Walker, then rebel Secretary of War. Before Talbot had made
his communication, Beauregard had informed Major Anderson, in
command of Fort Sumter, that he must have no further
intercourse with Charleston; and Talbot himself was refused
permission to visit that gallant and faithful officer. … The
wisdom of Mr. Lincoln's waiting became evident at a day not
too long delayed. Fort Pickens, which the rebels had not
taken, was quietly reinforced [April 12], and when the vessels
which carried the relief [to Sumter] were dispatched, Mr.
Lincoln gave official information to General Beauregard that
provisions were to be sent to Major Anderson in Fort Sumter,
by an unarmed vessel. He was determined that no hostile act on
the part of the government should commence the war, for which
both sides were preparing; although an act of open war had
already transpired in Charleston harbor"—the rebel batteries
having fired upon and driven off the unarmed steamer Star of
the West, which had been sent to convey troops and provisions
to Fort Sumter on the 9th of January, two months before
Lincoln's inauguration.
{3423}
"Beauregard laid this last intelligence before his Secretary
of War, and, under special instructions, on the 12th of April,
he demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter. He was ready to make
the demand, and to back it by force. The city of Charleston
was full of troops, and, for months, batteries had been in
course of construction, with the special purpose of compelling
the surrender of the fort. Major Anderson had seen these
batteries going up, day after day, without the liberty to fire
a gun. He declined to surrender. He was called upon to state
when he would evacuate the fort. He replied that on the 15th
he would do so, should he not meantime receive controlling
instructions from the government, or additional supplies. The
response which he received was that the confederate batteries
would open on Fort Sumter in one hour from the date of the
message. The date of the message was 'April 12, 1861, 3:30 A.
M.' Beauregard was true to his word. At half past four the
batteries opened upon the Fort, which, after a long and
terrible bombardment, and a gallant though comparatively
feeble defense by a small and half-starved garrison, was
surrendered the following day. … The fall of Sumter was the
resurrection of patriotism. The North needed just this. Such a
universal burst of patriotic indignation as ran over the North
under the influence of this insult to the national flag has
never been witnessed. It swept away all party lines as if it
had been flame and they had been flax."

_J. G. Holland,
Life of Lincoln,
chapter 18._

ALSO IN:
_F. W. Seward,
Seward at Washington,
chapter 56._

_S. W. Crawford,
Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter,
chapters 24-32._

_A. Doubleday,
Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie,
chapters 8-11._

_A. Roman,
Military Operations of General Beauregard,
volume 1, chapters 2-4._

_Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
The Century Company,
volume 1, pages 40-83._

_S. L. Woodford,
The Story of Fort Sumter
(Personal Recollections of the War:
N. Y. Com. L. L. of the United States)._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (April).
President Lincoln's call to arms.
The mighty uprising of the North.
The response of disloyal Governors.

"By the next morning (Sunday April 14) the news of the close
of the bombardment and capitulation of Sumter was in
Washington. In the forenoon, at the time Anderson and his
garrison were evacuating the fort, Lincoln and his Cabinet,
together with sundry military officers, were at the Executive
Mansion, giving final shape to the details of the action the
Government had decided to take. A proclamation, drafted by
himself, copied on the spot by his secretary, was concurred in
by his Cabinet, signed, and sent to the State Department to be
sealed, filed, and copied for publication in the next
morning's newspapers. The document bears date April 15
(Monday), but was made and signed on Sunday." It was as
follows:

"Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time
past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof
obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations
too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals
by law: Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the
Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and
hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the
Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in
order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to
be duly executed. The details for this object will be
immediately communicated to the State authorities through the
War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor,
facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the
integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the
perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs
already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the
first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will
probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which
have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost
care will be observed, consistently with the objects
aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or
interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful
citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby command the
persons composing the combination aforesaid to disperse and
retire peacefully to their respective abodes within twenty
days from date. Deeming that the present condition of public
affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in
virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene
both Houses of Congress. Senators and Representatives are
therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers,
at twelve o'clock noon, on Thursday the fourth day of July
next, then and there to consider and determine such measures
as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem
to demand. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand,
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done
at the city of Washington, this 15th day of April, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.
Abraham Lincoln. By the President: William H. Seward,
Secretary of State."

_Abraham Lincoln,
Complete Works,
volume 2, page 34._

"In view of the subsequent gigantic expansion of the civil
war, eleventh-hour critics continue to insist that a larger
force should have been called at once. They forget that this
was nearly five times the then existing regular army; that
only very limited quantities of arms, equipments, and supplies
were in the Northern arsenals; that the treasury was bankrupt;
and that an insignificant eight million loan had not two weeks
before been discounted nearly six per cent. by the New York
bankers, some bids ranging as low as eighty-five. They forget
that the shameful events of the past four months had elicited
scarcely a spark of war feeling; that the loyal States had
suffered the siege of Sumter and firing on the 'Star of the
West' with a dangerous indifference. They forget the doubt and
dismay, the panic of commerce, the division of counsels, the
attacks from within, the sneers from without—that faith seemed
gone and patriotism dead. Twenty-four hours later all this was
measurably changed, … The guns of the Sumter bombardment woke
the country from the political nightmare which had so long
tormented and paralyzed it.
{3424}
The lion of the North was fully roused. Betrayed, insulted,
outraged, the free States arose as with a cry of pain and
vengeance. War sermons from pulpits; war speeches in every
assemblage; tenders of troops; offers of money; military
proclamations and orders in every newspaper; every city
radiant with bunting; every village-green a mustering ground;
war appropriations in every legislature and in every city or
town council; war preparations in every public or private
workshop; gun-casting in the great foundries; cartridge-making
in the principal towns; camps and drills in the fields;
parades, drums, flags, and bayonets in the streets; knitting,
bandage-rolling, and lint-scraping in nearly every household.
Before the lapse of forty-eight hours a Massachusetts
regiment, armed and equipped, was on its way to Washington;
within the space of a month the energy and intelligence of the
country were almost completely turned from the industries of
peace to the activities of war."

_J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay,
Abraham Lincoln,
volume 4, chapters 4-5._

"In intelligence no army, except perhaps the Athenian, can
have ever equalled or approached that of the North. Most of
the soldiers carried books and writing materials in their
knapsacks, and mail bags heavily weighted with letters were
sent from every cantonment. Such privates would sometimes
reason instead of obeying, and they would see errors of their
commanders to which they had better have been blind. But on
the whole, in a war in which much was thrown upon the
individual soldier, intelligence was likely to prevail. In
wealth, in the means of providing the weapons and ammunitions
of war, the North had an immense advantage, which, combined
with that of numbers, could not fail, if, to use Lincoln's
homely phrase, it 'pegged away,' to tell in the end. It was
also vastly superior in mechanical invention; which was
destined to play a great part, and in mechanical skill; almost
every Yankee regiment was full of mechanics, some of whom
could devise as well as execute. In artillery and engineering
the North took the lead from the first, having many civil
engineers, whose conversion into military civil engineers was
easy. The South, to begin with, had the contents of Federal
arsenals and armouries, which had been well stocked by the
provident treason of Buchanan's Minister of War. … But when
these resources were exhausted, replacement was difficult, the
blockade having been established, though extraordinary efforts
in the way of military manufacture were made. To the wealthy
North, besides its own factories, were opened the markets of
England and the world. Of the small regular army the
Confederacy had carried off a share, with nearly half the
regular officers. The South had the advantage of the
defensive, which, with long-range muskets and in a difficult
country, was reckoned in battle as five to two. The South had
the superiority of the unity, force, and secrecy which
autocracy lends to the operations of war. On the side of the
North these were comparatively wanting."

_Goldwin Smith,
The United States,
chapter 5._

In six of the eight Slave-labor States included in the call,
the President's Proclamation and the requisition of the
Secretary of War "were treated by the authorities with words
of scorn and defiance. The exceptions were Maryland and
Delaware. In the other States, disloyal Governors held the
reins of power. 'I have only to say,' replied Governor Letcher
of Virginia, 'that the militia of this State will not be
furnished to the powers at Washington for any such purpose as
they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern
States, and a requisition made upon me for such an object—an
object, in my judgment, not within the province of the
Constitution or the Act of 1795—will not be complied with. You
have chosen to inaugurate civil war, and, having done so, we
will meet it in a spirit as determined as the Administration
has exhibited toward the South.' Governor Ellis, of North
Carolina, answered:—'Your dispatch is received, and if
genuine, which its extraordinary character leads me to doubt,
I have to say in reply, that I regard the levy of troops, made
by the Administration for the purpose of subjugating the
States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution, and
a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked
violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the
liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North
Carolina.' Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied:—'Your
dispatch is received. I say emphatically that Kentucky will
furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her
sister Southern States.' Governor Harris, of Tennessee,
said:—'Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion,
but 50,000, if necessary, for the defense of our rights, or
those of our Southern brethren.' Governor Rector, of Arkansas,
replied:—'In answer to your requisition for troops from
Arkansas to subjugate the Southern States, I have to say that
none will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to
injury.' … Governor Jackson, of Missouri, responded:—'There
can be, I apprehend, no doubt that these men are intended to
make war upon the seceded States. Your requisition, in my
judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in
its objects, inhuman and diabolical, and cannot be complied
with. Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry
on such an unholy crusade.' … Governor Hicks, of Maryland,
appalled by the presence of great dangers, and sorely pressed
by the secessionists on every side, hastened, in a
proclamation, to assure the people of his State that no troops
would be sent from Maryland unless it might be for the defense
of the National Capital, and that they (the people) would, in
a short time, 'have the opportunity afforded them, in a
special election for members of the Congress of the United
States, to express their devotion to the Union, or their
desire to see it broken up.' Governor Burton, of Delaware,
made no response until the 26th, when he informed the
President that he had no authority to comply with his
requisition. At the same time he recommended the formation of
volunteer companies for the protection of the citizens and
property of Delaware, and not for the preservation of the
Union. … In the seven excepted Slave-labor States in which
insurrection prevailed, the proclamation and the requisition
produced hot indignation, and were assailed with the bitterest
scorn. … Even in the Free-labor States, there were vehement
opposers of the war policy of the Government from its
inception." But, speaking generally, "the uprising of the
people of the Free-labor States in defense of Nationality was
a sublime spectacle. Nothing like it had been seen on the
earth since the preaching of Peter the Hermit and of Pope
Urban the Second filled all Christian Europe with religious
zeal, and sent armed hosts, with the cry of 'God wills it! God
wills it!' to rescue the sepulcher of Jesus from the hands of
the infidel."

_B. J. Lossing,
Field Book of the Civil War,
volume 1, chapter 14._

ALSO IN:
_F. Moore, editor,
Rebellion Record,
volume 1._

_W. J. Tenney,
Military and Naval History of the Rebellion,
chapters 4-6._

{3425}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (April).
The Morrill Tariff Act.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION: A. D. 1861-1864 (UNITED STATES).

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (April).
Secession of Virginia.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1861 (JANUARY-JUNE).

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (April).
Activity of Rebellion in Virginia and Maryland.
Peril of the national capital.
Attack on Massachusetts volunteers in Baltimore.

"Massachusetts, always the most zealous, was the first in the
field [with troops in response to the President's call], and
on the 17th [April] she forwarded a regiment of volunteers
from Boston to Washington. Pennsylvania, although nearly
one-half of her votes had been given for Mr. Breckinridge,
followed this example; and, owing to her geographical
position, her volunteers reached the shores of the Potomac in
advance of all the others. After passing through the great
city of Baltimore in the midst of an incipient insurrection,
they encamped around the Capitol, on the 18th of April. The
seceders, on their side, had not lost a moment in Virginia.
They were in possession of Richmond, where the convention was
in session. … The workshops and arsenal of Harper's Ferry,
situated at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah,
on a spot which was destined to play an important part during
the war, were only guarded by a detachment of 64 dismounted
dragoons; and the Virginia volunteers, assembled in the
valleys of the Blue Ridge, were ready to take possession of
them as soon as the ordinance for the secession of Virginia
should furnish them a pretext. They were then to cross the
Potomac and join the insurgents of Maryland, for the purpose
of attempting the capture of Washington, where their
accomplices were expecting them. On the morning of the 18th
[April], a portion of them were on their march, in the hope of
seizing the prey which was to be of so much value to the
future armies of the Confederacy. But Lieutenant Jones, who
was in command at Harper's Ferry, had been informed of the
approach of the Confederate troops under the lead of Ashby—a
chief well known since; notwithstanding their despatch, they
only arrived in sight of Harper's Ferry in time to see from a
distance a large conflagration that was consuming the
workshops, store-houses, and the enormous piles of muskets
heaped in the yards, while the Federal soldiers who had just
kindled it were crossing the Potomac on their way to
Washington. The Confederates found nothing but smoking ruins,
and some machinery, which they sent to Richmond; their allies
from Maryland had not made their appearance, and they did not
feel strong enough to venture alone to the other side of the
Potomac. During the last few days the authorities of Virginia
had been making preparations for capturing the Norfolk [or
Gosport] arsenal (navy-yard). That establishment possessed a
magnificent granite basin, construction docks, and a depot of
artillery with more than 2,000 guns; a two-decked vessel was
on the stocks, two others, with a three-decker, three
frigates, a steam sloop, and a brig, lay dismantled in the
port; the steam frigate Merrimac was there undergoing repairs;
the steam sloop Germantown was in the harbor ready to go to
sea, while the sailing sloop Cumberland was lying to at the
entrance of the port. … Commodore McCauley, the Federal
commandant, was surrounded by traitors," and, being deficient
in energy and capability, he allowed himself to be put in a
position where he thought it necessary to sink all the vessels
in the harbor except the Cumberland. As they were sinking,
reinforcements arrived from Washington, under Captain
Paulding, who superseded McCauley in command. But they came
too late. Captain Paulding could do nothing except hastily
destroy as far as possible the sinking ships and the arsenal
buildings, and then retreat. "The Confederates found abundant
resources in artillery and 'materiel' of every description in
Norfolk; the fire was soon extinguished, the docks repaired,
and they succeeded in raising the Merrimac, which we shall see
at work the following year. Fort Monroe had just been occupied
by a small Federal garrison. Its loss would have been even
more disastrous to the Federal cause than that of the Norfolk
navy-yard and arsenal, because the Confederates, instead of
having to cover Richmond, would have been able to blockade
Washington by sea and besiege it by land. … The example of
Virginia fired the enthusiasm of the secessionists everywhere,
and they applied themselves to the task of drawing into the
conflict those slave States which were still hesitating. … The
sight of the Pennsylvania volunteers had caused a great
irritation in Baltimore. That city, the largest in the slave
States, … warmly sympathized with the South. Her location on
the railway line which connects Washington with the great
cities of the North imparted to her a peculiar importance.
Consequently, the accomplices of the South, who were numerous
in Baltimore, determined to seize the first opportunity that
might offer to drag that city into the rebellion. … The
looked-for opportunity occurred … April 19. When the Sixth
Massachusetts Regiment, with a few battalions of Pennsylvania
volunteers, arrived at the northern station, an immense crowd
bore down upon them. A line of rails, laid in the centre of
the streets, connected this with the southern station, and
enabled the cars, drawn by horses, to pass through the city.
The crowd surround the soldiers of the Sixth Massachusetts,
who occupy these cars. The last cars are stopped, and the
occupants, being obliged to get out, endeavor to make their
way through the crowd. But, being hemmed in on all sides, they
are soon attacked by a shower of stones, which wound many of
them, and injure a few mortally. The soldiers have to defend
themselves, and the first discharge of musketry, which has
considerable effect, opens them a passage. But the aggressors,
being armed, rally, and a regular battle ensues. … The ground
is strewn with the wounded of both parties. At last, the
Massachusetts soldiers rejoin their comrades at the southern
station," and are conveyed to Washington. "Baltimore was
thenceforth in possession of the secessionists, who were fully
determined to take advantage of the situation of that city to
intercept all communications between Washington and the North.
{3426}
Accordingly, they hastened to burn the railroad bridges which
had been constructed over large estuaries north of Baltimore,
and to cut the telegraph wires. Deprived of all sources of
information from the North, the capital of the Union was soon
wrapped in mournful silence. For some days the occupant of the
White House was unable to forward any instructions to the
people who had remained faithful to the Union; but their zeal
did not abate on that account. Patriotism extinguished all
party animosities in the hearts of most of the Democrats who
had opposed the election of Mr. Lincoln. In the presence of
the national peril they loyally tendered their assistance to
the President; and breaking loose from their former
accomplices of the South, they assumed the name of War
Democrats in opposition to that of Peace Democrats."

_Comte de Paris,
History of the Civil War in America,
volume 1, book 2, chapter 4._

ALSO IN:
_J. W. Hanson,
History of the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteers,
pages 21-57._

_G. W. Brown,
Baltimore and the 29th of April, 1861
(Johns Hopkins University Studies, extra volume 3)._

_Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,
series 1, volume 2._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (April: South Carolina).
Monarchical cravings.
Intensity of the Carolinian hatred of New England and the North.

Mr. Russell, who was famous in his day as a correspondent of
"The Times" (London), spent some time in South Carolina at the
beginning of the war, and described the state of feeling there
in a letter from Charleston, written at the end of April:
"Nothing I could say," he wrote, "can be worth one fact which
has forced itself upon my mind in reference to the sentiments
which prevail among the gentlemen of this State. I have been
among them for several days. I have visited their plantations,
I have conversed with them freely and fully, and I have
enjoyed that frank, courteous and graceful intercourse which
constitutes an irresistible charm of their society. From all
quarters have come to my ears the echoes of the same voice. …
That voice says, 'If we could only get one of the royal race
of England to rule over us, we should be content.' Let there
be no misconception on this point. That sentiment, varied in a
hundred ways, has been repeated to me over and over again.
There is a general admission that the means to such an end are
wanting, and that the desire cannot be gratified. But the
admiration for monarchical institutions on the English model,
for privileged classes, and for a landed aristocracy and
gentry, is undisguised and apparently genuine. With the pride
of having achieved their independence is mingled in the South
Carolinians' hearts a strange regret at the result and
consequences, and many are they who 'would go back tomorrow if
we could.' An intense affection for the British connection, a
love of British habits and customs, a respect for British
sentiment, law, authority, order, civilization, and
literature, preeminently distinguish the inhabitants of this
State, who, glorying in their descent from ancient families on
the three islands, whose fortunes they still follow, and with
whose members they maintain not unfrequently familiar
relations, regard with an aversion of which it is impossible
to give an idea to one who has not seen its manifestations,
the people of New England and the populations of the Northern
States, whom they regard as tainted beyond cure by the venom
of 'Puritanism.' Whatever may be the cause, this is the fact
and the effect. 'The State of South Carolina was,' I am told,
'founded by gentlemen.' It was not established by
witch-burning Puritans, by cruel persecuting fanatics, who
implanted in the North the standard of Torquemada, and
breathed into the nostrils of their newly-born colonies all
the ferocity, blood-thirstiness, and rabid intolerance of the
Inquisition. … We could have got on with these fanatics if
they had been either Christians or gentlemen,' says [one],
'for in the first case they would have acted with common
charity, and in the second they would have fought when they
insulted us; but there are neither Christians nor gentlemen
among them!' 'Any thing on earth!' exclaims [another], 'any
form of government, any tyranny or despotism you will; but
'—and here is an appeal more terrible than the adjuration of
all the Gods—'nothing on earth shall ever induce us to submit
to any union with the brutal, bigoted blackguards of the New
England States, who neither comprehend nor regard the feelings
of gentlemen! Man, woman and child, we'll die first.' … The
hatred of the Italian for the Tedesco, of the Greek for the
Turk, of the Turk for the Russ, is warm and fierce enough to
satisfy the prince of darkness, not to speak of a few little
pet aversions among allied powers and the atoms of composite
empires; but they are all mere indifference and neutrality of
feeling compared to the animosity evinced by the 'gentry' of
South Carolina for the 'rabble of the North.' The contests of
Cavalier and Roundhead, of Vendean and Republican, even of
Orangeman and Croppy, have been elegant joustings, regulated
by the finest rules of chivalry, compared with those which
North and South will carry on if their deeds support their
words. 'Immortal hate, the study of revenge' will actuate
every blow, and never in the history of the world, perhaps,
will go forth such a 'væ victis' as that which may be heard
before the fight has begun. There is nothing in all the dark
caves of human passion so cruel and deadly as the hatred the
South Carolinians profess for the Yankees. That hatred has
been swelling for years, till it is the very life-blood of the
state. … Believe a southern man as he believes himself, and
you must regard New England and the kindred States as the
birthplace of impurity of mind among men and of unchastity in
women—the home of free love, of Fourrierism, of infidelity, of
abolitionism, of false teachings in political economy and in
social life; a land saturated with the drippings of rotten
philosophy, with the poisonous infections of a fanatic press;
without honor or modesty; whose wisdom is paltry cunning,
whose valor and manhood have been swallowed up in a corrupt,
howling demagogy, and in the marts of a dishonest commerce."

_W. H. Russell,
Letter to the Times (London), April 30, 1861._

{3427}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (April-May).
Proclamation by the Confederate President.
President Lincoln's proclamation of a Blockade of Southern ports.
The Queen's proclamation of British neutrality.

On the 17th of April, two days after President Lincoln's call
for troops, Jefferson Davis, the chief of the rebellious
Confederacy, published a counter-proclamation, giving notice
of the intention of the government at Montgomery to issue
letters of marque to privateers, for the destruction of
American commerce. It was as follows:

"Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States
has, by proclamation announced the intention of invading this
Confederacy with an armed force, for the purpose of capturing
its fortresses, and thereby subverting its independence, and
subjecting the free people thereof to the dominion of a
foreign power; and whereas it has thus become the duty of this
Government to repel the threatened invasion, and to defend the
rights and liberties of the people by all the means which the
laws of nations and the usages of civilized warfare place at
its disposal; Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of
the Confederate States of America, do issue this my
Proclamation, inviting all those who may desire, by service in
private armed vessels on the high seas, to aid this Government
in resisting so wanton and wicked an aggression, to make
application for commissions or Letters of Marque and Reprisal,
to be issued under the Seal of these Confederate States. And I
do further notify all persons applying for Letters of Marque,
to make a statement in writing, giving the name and a suitable
description of the character, tonnage, and force of the
vessel, and the name and place of residence of each owner
concerned therein, and the intended number of the crew, and to
sign said statement and deliver the same to the Secretary of
State, or to the Collector of any port of entry of these
Confederate States, to be by him transmitted to the Secretary
of State. And I do further notify all applicants aforesaid
that before any commission or Letter of Marque is issued to
any vessel, the owner or owners thereof, and the commander for
the time being, will be required to give bond to the
Confederate States, with at least two responsible sureties,
not interested in such vessel, in the penal sum of five
thousand dollars; or if such vessel be provided with more than
one hundred and fifty men, then in the penal sum of ten
thousand dollars, with condition that the owners, officers,
and crew who shall be employed on board such commissioned
vessel, shall observe the laws of these Confederate States and
the instructions given to them for the regulation of their
conduct. That they shall satisfy all damages done contrary to
the tenor thereof by such vessel during her commission, and
deliver up the same when revoked by the President of the
Confederate States. And I do further specially enjoin on all
persons holding offices, civil and military, under the
authority of the Confederate States, that they be vigilant and
zealous in discharging the duties incident thereto; and I do,
moreover, solemnly exhort the good people of these Confederate
States as they love their country, as they prize the blessings
of free government, as they feel the wrongs of the past and
these now threatened in aggravated form by those whose enmity
is more implacable because unprovoked, that they exert
themselves in preserving order, in promoting concord, in
maintaining the authority and efficacy of the laws, and in
supporting and invigorating all the measures which may be
adopted for the common defence, and by which, under the
blessing of Divine Providence, we may hope for a speedy, just,
and honorable peace.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and
caused the Seal of the Confederate States to be affixed,
this seventeenth day of April 1861.
By the President,
(Signed) Jefferson Davis. R. Toombs, Secretary of State."

The response to this menace was a second proclamation by
President Lincoln, announcing a blockade of the ports of the
Confederacy, and warning all persons who should accept and act
under the proposed letters of marque that they would be held
amenable to the laws against piracy. This proclamation was in
the following language:

"Whereas an insurrection against the government of the United
States has broken out in the States of South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas,
and the laws of the United States for the collection of the
revenue cannot be effectually executed therein conformably to
that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be
uniform throughout the United States: And whereas a
combination of persons engaged in such insurrection have
threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize
the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels,
and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged
in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United
States: And whereas an executive proclamation has been already
issued requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly
proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force
for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress
in extraordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and
to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and
property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful
occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and
deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the
same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to
set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States
aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and
of the law of nations in such case provided. For this purpose
a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and
exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with
a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach or
shall attempt to leave either of the said ports, she will be
duly warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels,
who will indorse on her register the fact and date of such
warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter
or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to
the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings against her
and her cargo, as prize, as may be deemed advisable. And I
hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, under the
pretended authority of the said States, or under any other
pretense, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the
persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held
amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention
and punishment of piracy. In witness whereof, I have hereunto
set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this nineteenth day
of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States
the eighty-fifth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: William
H. Seward, Secretary of State."

_Abraham Lincoln,
Complete Works,
volume 2, pages 35-36._

{3428}

Apparently on unofficial information of these announcements,
indicating a state of civil war in the United States, the
Government of Great Britain made haste—unfriendly haste, as
the United States complained—to declare neutrality between the
belligerents, thus placing the insurgent Confederacy on an
exactly equal footing with the United States so far as a
foreign recognition might do so. The Queen's Proclamation was
as follows:

"Whereas, We are happily at peace with all Sovereigns, Powers,
and States; And whereas hostilities have unhappily commenced
between the Government of the United States of America and
certain States styling themselves 'the Confederate States of
America'; And whereas we, being at peace with the Government
of the United States, have declared our Royal determination to
maintain a strict and impartial neutrality in the contest
between the said contending parties; We, therefore, have
thought fit, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, to
issue this our Royal Proclamation: And we do hereby strictly
charge and command all our loving subjects to observe a strict
neutrality in and during the aforesaid hostilities, and to
abstain from violating or contravening either the laws and
statutes of the realm in this behalf, or the law of nations in
relation thereto, as they will answer to the contrary at their
peril." After reciting the language of certain statutes which
forbid the subjects of Her Majesty to engage, without leave
and license from the Crown, in any foreign military or naval
service, or to furnish or equip any ship or vessel for service
against any state with which Her Majesty is not at war, the
Proclamation proceeds as follows: "Now, in order that none of
our subjects may unwarily render themselves liable to the
penalties imposed by said statute, we do hereby strictly
command, that no person or persons whatsoever do commit any
act, matter or thing whatsoever, contrary to the provisions of
the said statute, upon pain of the several penalties by the
said statute imposed, and of our high displeasure. And we do
hereby further warn all our loving subjects, and all persons
whatsoever entitled to our protection, that if any of them
shall presume, in contempt of this Royal Proclamation, and of
our high displeasure, to do any acts in derogation of their
duty as subjects of a neutral sovereign, in the said contest,
or in violation or contravention of the law of nations in that
behalf—as, for example and more especially, by entering into
the military service of either of the said contending parties
as commissioned or non-commissioned officers or soldiers; or
by serving as officers, sailors, or marines on board any ship
or vessel of war or transport of or in the service of either
of the said contending parties; or by serving as officers,
sailors, or marines on board any privateer bearing letters of
marque of or from either of the said contending parties; or by
engaging to go or going to any place beyond the seas with
intent to enlist or engage in any such service, or by
procuring or attempting to procure, within Her Majesty's
dominions, at home or abroad, others to do so; or by fitting
out, arming, or equipping, any ship or vessel to be employed
as a ship-of-war, or privateer, or transport, by either of the
said contending parties; or by breaking, or endeavoring to
break, any blockade lawfully and actually established by or on
behalf of either of the said contending parties; or by
carrying officers, soldiers, despatches, arms, military stores
or materials, or any article or articles considered and deemed
to be contraband of war according to the law of modern usage
of nations, for the use or service of either of the said
contending parties, all persons so offending will incur and be
liable to the several penalties and penal consequences by the
said statute, or by the law of nations, in that behalf imposed
or denounced. And we do hereby declare that all our subjects
and persons entitled to our protection who may misconduct
themselves in the premises will do so at their peril and of
their own wrong, and that they will in no wise obtain any
protection from us against any liability or penal
consequences, but will, on the contrary, incur our high
displeasure by such misconduct.
Given at our Court at the White Lodge, Richmond Park, this
13th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861, and in the
24th year of our reign. God save the Queen."

In the complaint of the United States subsequently submitted
to the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva, the facts attending
this remarkably hastened Proclamation of Neutrality were set
forth as follows: "Before any armed collision had taken place,
there existed an understanding between Her Majesty's
Government and the Government of the Emperor of the French,
with a view to securing a simultaneous and identical course of
action of the two Governments on American questions. … The
fact that it had been agreed to by the two Governments was
communicated to Mr. Dallas, by Lord John Russell, on the first
day of May, 1861. There was nothing in the previous relations
between Great Britain and the United States which made it
necessary for Her Majesty's Government to seek the advice or
to invite the support of the Emperor of the French in the
crisis which was threatened. … When the news of the bloodless
attack upon Fort Sumter became known in Europe, Her Majesty's
Government apparently assumed that the time had come for the
joint action which had been previously agreed upon; and,
without waiting to learn the purposes of the United States, it
announced its intention to take the first step by recognizing
the insurgents as belligerents. The President's Proclamation,
which has since been made the ostensible reason for this
determination, was issued on the 19th of April, and was made
public in the Washington newspapers of the morning of the
20th. An imperfect copy of it was also telegraphed to New
York, and from thence to Boston, in each of which cities it
appeared in the newspapers of the morning of the 20th. The New
York papers of the 20th gave the substance of the
Proclamation, without the official commencement and close, and
with several errors of more or less importance. The Boston
papers of the same date, in addition to the errors in the New
York copy, omitted the very important statement in regard to
the collection of the revenue, which appears in the
Proclamation as the main cause of its issue.
{3429}
During the morning of the 19th of April, a riot took place in
Baltimore, which ended in severing direct communication, by
rail or telegraph, between Washington and New York.
Telegraphic communication was not restored until the 30th of
the month. The regular passage of the mails and trains was
resumed about the same time. … It is absolutely certain that
no full copy of the text of the Proclamation could have left
Washington by the mails of the 19th, and equally certain that
no copy could have reached New York from Washington after the
19th for several days. On the 20th the steamer Canadian sailed
from Portland, taking the Boston papers of that day, with the
imperfect copy of the Proclamation, in which the clause in
regard to the collection of the revenue was suppressed. This
steamer arrived at Londonderry on the 1st of May, and the
'Daily News' of London, of the 2d of May, published the
following telegraphic items of news: 'President Lincoln has
issued a Proclamation, declaring a blockade of all the ports
in the seceded States. The Federal Government will condemn as
pirates all privateer-vessels which may be seized by Federal
ships.' The Canadian arrived at Liverpool on the 2d of May,
and the 'Daily News,' of the 3d, and the 'Times,' of the 4th
of May, published the imperfect Boston copy of the
Proclamation. … No other than the Boston copy of the
Proclamation appears to have been published in the London
newspapers. It is not likely that a copy was received in
London before the 10th, by the Fulton from New York. It was on
this meager and incorrect information that the advice of the
British Law Officers was based, upon which that Government
acted. … On the 5th of May the steamship Persia arrived at
Liverpool with advices from New York to the 25th of April.
Lord John Russell stated on Monday, the 6th of May, in a
communication to Lord Cowley, 'that Her Majesty's Government
received no dispatches from Lord Lyons by the mail which has
just arrived, [the Persia,] the communication between
Washington and New York being interrupted.' In the same
dispatch Lord Cowley is informed 'that Her Majesty's
Government cannot hesitate to admit that such Confederacy is
entitled to be considered as a belligerent, and as such
invested with all the rights and prerogatives of a
belligerent,' and he is instructed to invite the French
Government to a joint action, and a line of joint policy with
the British Government, toward the United States."

_The Case of the United States before the Tribunal
of Arbitration at Geneva
[42d congress, 2d session, Senate ex. doc. 31],
pages 24-27._