To-day was spent in a lengthy excursion along the front of
the camp in Virginia, round by the chain bridge which crosses the Potomac,
about four miles from Washington.
The Government have been coerced, as they say, by the safety
of the Republic, to destroy the liberty of the press, which is guaranteed by
the Constitution, and this is not the first instance in which the Constitution
of the United States will be made nominis umbra. The telegraph,
according to General Scott's order, confirmed by the Minister of War, Simon
Cameron, is to convey no dispatches respecting military movements not permitted
by the General; and to-day the newspaper correspondents have agreed to yield
obedience to the order, reserving to themselves a certain freedom of detail in
writing their despatches, and relying on the Government to publish the official
accounts of all battles very speedily. They will break this agreement if they
can, and the Government will not observe their part of the bargain. The freedom
of the press, as I take it, does not include the right to publish news hostile
to the cause of the country in which it is published; neither can it involve
any obligation on the part of Government to publish despatches which may be injurious
to the party they represent. There is a wide distinction between the
publication of news which is known to the enemy as soon as to the friends of
the transmitters, and the utmost freedom of expression concerning the acts of
the Government or the conduct of past events; but it will be difficult to
establish any rule to limit or extend the boundaries to which discussion can go
without mischief, and in effect the only solution of the difficulty in a free
country seems to be to grant the press free license, in consideration of the
enormous aid it affords in warning the people of their danger, in animating
them with the news of their successes, and in sustaining the Government in
their efforts to conduct the war.
The most important event to-day is the passage of the Loan
Bill, which authorizes Mr. Chase to borrow, in the next year, a sum of
£50,000,000, on coupons, with interest at seven per cent., and irredeemable for
twenty years — the interest being guaranteed on a pledge of the Customs duties.
I just got into the House in time to hear Mr. Vallandigham, who is an ultra
Democrat, and very nearly a Secessionist, conclude a well-delivered
argumentative address. He is a tall, slight man, of a bilious temperament, with
light flashing eyes, dark hair and complexion, and considerable oratorical
power. “Deem me ef I wouldn't just ride that Vallaridiggaim on a real,” quoth a
citizen to his friend, as the speaker sat down, amid a few feeble expressions
of assent. Mr. Chase has also obtained the consent of the Lower House to his
bill for closing the Southern ports by the decree of the President, but I hear
some more substantial measures are in contemplation for that purpose. Whilst
the House is finding the money the Government are preparing to spend it, and
they have obtained the approval of the Senate to the enrolment of half a
million of men, and the expenditure of one hundred millions of dollars to carry
on the war.
I called on Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War. The small
brick house of two stories, with long passages, in which the American Mars
prepares his bolts, was, no doubt, large enough for the 20,000 men who
constituted the armed force on land of the great Republic, but it is not
sufficient to contain a tithe of the contractors who haunt its precincts, fill
all the .lobbies, and crowd into every room. With some risk to coattails, I
squeezed through iron-masters, gun-makers, clothiers, shoemakers, inventors,
bakers, and all that genus which fattens on the desolation caused by an army in
the field, and was introduced to Mr. Cameron's room, where he was seated at a
desk surrounded by people, who were also grouped round two gentlemen as clerks
in the same small room. “I tell you, General Cameron, that the way in which,
the loyal men of Missouri have been treated is a disgrace to this Government,”
shouted out a big, black, burly man — “I tell you so, sir.” “Well, General,” responded
Mr. Cameron, quietly, “so you have several times. Will you, once for all,
condescend to particulars?” “Yes, sir; you and the Government have disregarded
our appeals. You have left us to fight our own battles. You have not sent us a
cent ———” “There, General, I interrupt you. You say we have sent you no money,”
said Mr. Cameron, very quietly. “Mr. Jones will be good enough to ask Mr. Smith
to step in here.” Before Mr. Smith came in, however, the General, possibly
thinking some member of the press was present, rolled his eyes in a Nicotian
frenzy, and perorated: “The people of the State of Missouri, sir, will
power-out every drop of the blood which only flows to warm patriotic hearts in
defence of the great Union, which offers freedom to the enslaved of mankind,
and a home to persecuted progress, and a few-ture to civil-zation. We demand,
General Cameron, in the neame of the great Western State ———” Here Mr. Smith came in, and
Mr. Cameron said, “I want you to tell me what disbursements, if any, have been
sent by this department to the State of Missouri.” Mr. Smith was quick at
figures, and up in his accounts, for he drew out a little memorandum book, and
replied (of course, I can't tell the exact sum), “General, there has been sent,
as by vouchers, to Missouri, since the beginning of the levies, six hundred and
seventy thousand dollars and twenty-three cents.” “The General looked
crestfallen, but he was equal to the occasion, “These sums may have been sent,
sir, but they have not been received. I declare in the face of ———” “Mr. Smith will show you the
vouchers, General, and you can then take any steps needful against the parties who
have misappropriated them.”
“That is only a small specimen of what we have to go through
with our people,” said the Minister, as the General went off with a lofty toss
of his head, and then gave me a pleasant sketch of the nature of the
applications and interviews which take up the time and clog the movements of an
American statesman. “These State organizations give us a great deal of trouble.”
I could fully understand that they did so. The immediate business that I had
with Mr. Cameron — he is rarely called General now that he is Minister of War ———
was to ask him to give me authority to draw rations at cost price, in case the
army took the field before I could make arrangements, and he seemed very well
disposed to accede; “but I must think about it, for I shall have all our papers
down upon me if I grant you any facility which they do not get themselves.”
After I left the War Department, I took a walk to Mr. Seward's, who was out. In
passing by President's Square, I saw a respectably-dressed man up in one of the
trees, cutting off pieces of the bark, which his friends beneath caught up
eagerly. I could not help stopping to ask what was the object of the
proceeding. “Why, sir, this is the tree Dan Sickles shot Mr. ——— under. I think
it's quite a remarkable spot.”
SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and
South, Vol. 1, p. 399-401
