Up early, breakfasted at five, A. M., and left my hospitable
host's roof, on my way to Washington. The ferryboat, which is a long way off,
starts for the train at seven o'clock; and so bad are the roads, I nearly
missed it. On hurrying to secure my place in the train, I said to one of the
railway officers: “If you see a colored man in a cloth cap and dark coat with
metal buttons, will you be good enough, sir, to tell him I'm in this carriage.”
“Why so, sir?” “He is my servant.” “Servant,” he repeated; “your
servant! I presume you're a Britisher; and if he's your servant, I think you
may as well let him find you.” And so he walked away, delighted with his
cleverness, his civility, and his rebuke of an aristocrat.
Nearly four months since I went by this road to Washington.
The change which has since occurred is beyond belief. Men were then speaking of
place under Government, of compromises between North and South, and of peace;
now they only talk of war and battle. Ever since I came out of the South, and
could see the newspapers, I have been struck by the easiness of the American
people, by their excessive credulity. Whether they wish it or not, they are
certainly deceived. Not a day has passed without the announcement that the
Federal troops were moving, and that “a great battle was expected” by somebody
unknown, at some place or other.
I could not help observing the arrogant tone with which
writers of stupendous ignorance on military matters write of the operations
which they think the Generals should undertake. They demand that an army, which
has neither adequate transport, artillery, nor cavalry, shall be pushed forward
to Richmond to crush out Secession, and at the same time their columns teem
with accounts from the army, which prove that it is not only ill-disciplined,
but that it is ill-provided. A general outcry has been raised against the war
department and the contractors, and it is openly stated that Mr. Cameron, the
Secretary, has not clean hands. One journal denounces the “swindling and
plunder” which prevail under his eyes. A minister who is disposed to be corrupt
can be so with facility under the system of the United States, because he has
absolute control over the contracts, which are rising to an enormous magnitude,
as the war preparations assume more formidable dimensions. The greater part of
the military stores of the States are in the South — arms, ordnance, clothing,
ammunition, ships, machinery, and all kinds of material must be prepared
in a hurry.
The condition in which the States present themselves,
particularly at sea, is a curious commentary on the offensive and warlike tone
of their statesmen in their dealings with the first maritime power of the
world. They cannot blockade a single port effectually. The Confederate steamer
Sumter has escaped to sea from New Orleans, and ships run in and out of
Charleston almost as they please. Coming so recently from the South, I can see
the great difference which exists between the two races, as they may be called,
exemplified in “the men I have seen, and those who are in the train going
towards Washington. These volunteers have none of the swash-buckler bravado,
gallant-swaggering air of the Southern men. They are staid, quiet men, and the
Pennsylvanians, who are on their way to join their regiment in Baltimore, are
very inferior in size and strength to the Tennesseans and Carolinians.
The train is full of men in uniform. When I last went over
the line, I do not believe there was a sign of soldiering, beyond perhaps the
“conductor,” who is always described in the papers as being “gentlemanly,” wore
his badge. And, a propos of badges, I see that civilians have taken to
wearing shields of metal on their coats, enamelled with the stars and stripes,
and that men who are not in the army try to make it seem they are soldiers by
affecting military caps and cloaks.
The country between Washington and Philadelphia is destitute
of natural beauties, but it affords abundant evidence that it is inhabited by a
prosperous, comfortable, middle-class community. From every village church and
from many houses, the Union flag was displayed: Four months ago not one was to
be sea. When we were crossing in the steam ferryboat at Philadelphia I saw some
volunteers looking up and smiling at a hatchet which was over the cabin door,
and it was not till I saw it had the words “States’ Rights Fire Axe” painted
along the handle I could account for the attraction. It would fare, ill with
any vessel in Southern waters which displayed an axe to the citizens inscribed
with “Down with States' Rights” on it. There is certainly less vehemence and
bitterness among the Northerners; but it might be erroneous to suppose there
was less determination.
Below Philadelphia, from Havre-de-Grace all the way to
Baltimore, and thence on to Washington, the stations on the rail were guarded
by soldiers, as though an enemy were expected to destroy the bridges and to
tear up the rails. Wooden bridges and causeways, carried over piles and
embankments, are necessary, in consequence of the nature of the country; and at
each of these a small camp was formed for the soldiers who have to guard the
approaches. Sentinels are posted, pickets thrown out, and in the open field by
the wayside troops are to be seen moving, as though a battle was close at hand.
In one word, we are in the State of Maryland. By these means alone are
communications maintained between the North and the capital. As we approach
Baltimore the number of sentinels and camps increase, and earthworks have been
thrown up on the high grounds commanding the city. The display of Federal flags
from the public buildings and some shipping in the river was so limited as to
contrast strongly with those symbols of Union sentiments in the Northern
cities.
Since I last passed through this city the streets have been
a scene of bloodshed. The conductor of the car on which we travelled from one
terminus to the other, along the street railway, pointed out the marks of the
bullets on the walls and in the window frames. “That's the way to deal with the
Plug Uglies,” exclaimed he; a name given popularly to the lower classes called
Rowdies in New York. “Yes,” said a fellow-passenger quietly to me, “these are
the sentiments which are now uttered in the country which we call the land of
freedom, and men like that desire nothing better than brute force. There is no
city in Europe — Venice, Warsaw, or Rome — subject to such tyranny as Baltimore
at this moment. In this Pratt Street there have been murders as foul as ever
soldiery committed in the streets of Paris.” Here was evidently the judicial
blindness of a States' Rights fanatic, who considers the despatch of Federal
soldiers through the State of Maryland without the permission of the
authorities an outrage so flagrant as to justify the people in shooting them
down, whilst the soldiers become murderers if they resist. At the corners of
the streets strong guards of soldiers were posted, and patrols moved up and
down the thoroughfares. The inhabitants looked sullen and sad. A small war is waged by the police
recently appointed by the Federal authorities against the women, who exhibit
much ingenuity in expressing their animosity to the stars and stripes —
dressing the children, and even dolls, in the Confederate colors, and wearing the
same in ribbons and bows. The negro population alone seemed just the same as
before. . The Secession newspapers of Baltimore have been suppressed, but the
editors contrive nevertheless to show their sympathies in the selection of
their extracts. In to-day's paper there is an account of a skirmish in the
West, given by one of the Confederates who took part in it, in which it is
stated that the officer commanding the party “scalped” twenty-three Federals.
For the first time since I left the South I see those advertisements headed by
the figure of a negro running with a bundle, and containing descriptions of the
fugitive, and the reward offered for imprisoning him or her, so that the owner
may receive his property. Among the insignia enumerated are scars on the back
and over the loins. The whip is not only used by the masters and drivers, but
by the police; and in every report of petty police cases sentences of so many
lashes, and severe floggings of women of color are recorded.
It is about forty miles from Baltimore to Washington, and at
every quarter of a mile for the whole distance a picket of soldiers guarded the
rails. Camps appeared on both sides, larger and more closely packed together;
and the rays of the setting sun fell on countless lines of tents as we
approached the unfinished dome of the Capitol. On the Virginian side of the
river, columns of smoke rising from the forest marked the site of Federal
encampments across the stream. The fields around Washington resounded with the
words of command and tramp of men, and flashed with wheeling arms. Parks of
artillery studded the waste ground, and long trains of white-covered wagons
filled up the open spaces in the suburbs of Washington.
To me all this was a wonderful sight. As I drove up
Pennsylvania Avenue I could scarce credit that the busy thoroughfare — all red,
white, and blue with flags, filled with dust from galloping chargers and
commissariat carts; the side-walks thronged with people, of whom a large
proportion carried sword or bayonet; shops full of life and activity — was the
same as that through which I had driven the first morning of my arrival.
Washington now, indeed, is the capital of the United States; but it is no
longer the scene of beneficent legislation and of peaceful government. It is the
representative of armed force engaged in war — menaced whilst in the very act
of raising its arm by the enemy it seeks to strike.
To avoid the tumult of Willard's, I requested a friend to
hire apartments, and drove to a house in Pennsylvania Avenue, close to the War
Department, where he had succeeded in engaging a sitting-room about twelve feet
square, and a bedroom to correspond, in a very small mansion, next door to a
spirit merchant's. At the Legation I saw Lord Lyons, and gave him a brief
account of what I had seen in the South. I was sorry to observe he looked
rather careworn and pale.
The relations of the United States Government with Great
Britain have probably been considerably affected by Mr. Seward's failure in his
prophecies. As the Southern Confederacy develops its power, the Foreign
Secretary assumes higher ground, and becomes more exacting, and defiant. In
these hot summer days, Lord Lyons and the members of the Legation dine early,
and enjoy the cool of the evening in the garden; so after a while I took my
leave, and proceeded to Gautier's. On my way I met Mr. Sumner, who asked me for
Southern news very anxiously, and in the course of conversation with him I was
confirmed in my impressions that the feeling between the two countries was not
as friendly as could be desired. Lord Lyons had better means of knowing what is
going on in the South, by communications from the British Consuls; but even he
seemed unaware of facts which had occurred whilst I was there, and Mr. Sumner
appeared to be as ignorant of the whole condition of things below Mason and
Dixon's line as he was of the politics of Timbuctoo.
The importance of maintaining a friendly feeling with
England appeared to me very strongly impressed on the Senator's mind. Mr.
Seward has been fretful, irritable, and acrimonious; and it is not too much to
suppose Mr. Sumner has been useful in allaying irritation. A certain despatch
was written last June, which amounted to little less than a declaration of war
against Great Britain. Most fortunately the President was induced to exercise
his power. The despatch was modified, though not without opposition, and was
forwarded to the English Minister with its teeth drawn. Lord Lyons, who is one
of the suavest and quietest of diplomatists, has found it difficult, I fear, to
maintain personal relations with Mr. Seward at times. Two despatches have been
prepared for Lord John Russell, which could have had no result but to lead to a
breach of the peace, had not some friendly interpositor succeeded in averting
the wrath of the Foreign Minister.
Mr. Sumner is more sanguine of immediate success than I am,
from the military operations which are to commence when General Scott considers
the army fit to take the field. A Gautier's I met a number of officers, who
expressed a great diversity of views in reference to those operations. General
McDowell is popular with them, but they admit the great deficiencies of the
subaltern and company officers. General Scott is too infirm to take the field,
and the burdens of administration press the veteran to the earth.
SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and
South, Vol. 1, p. 373-8
