Senator Charles Sumner to Francis Lieber, July 8, 1851

The Curtises

In the United States there is a struggle substantially coincident with yours, which is now going on. With us the slave-power is the tyranny, and it unhappily rallies to its support at the North, under the specious name of “law and order,” many worthy but timid men. But I do not doubt that this paramount influence, so injurious to the character of our government, will be ultimately overthrown, and before long. I wish I could hear that Germany was united, as she promised to be, on the assembly of the Congress at Frankfort. That was a scene worthy of our age, and full of auguries of the future.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 253

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 15, 1864

Clear and cool; subsequently cloudy.

The Washington Chronicle of the 12th, received yesterday, indicates that Washington or Baltimore, or both, were in danger of falling into our possession.

Lieut.-Col. G. W. Lay said, this morning, in my office, that Grant would not leave—that he held a most important position—that he would not fail in his campaign; that our operations beyond the Potomac were not of sufficient magnitude to produce important results; and, finally, that Germany and Ireland would replenish the armies of the United States, while our last reserves were now in the field.

The colonel had come into my office more than a month ago and said Grant had outgeneraled Pemberton, and would capture Vicksburg. I reminded him of this to-day, and asked his opinion on the present aspect of affairs. He has been recently on Gen. Beauregard's staff, and is irritated at the supposed hard treatment which that general receives from the President. He is a little bitter against the President, and is no special admirer of Lee, who, he thinks, committed a blunder in not fighting Grant at Hanover Junction. And he thinks, if Gen. Johnston forbears to fight Sherman, in pursuance of orders from Richmond, disaster will ensue. But neither he nor any one is capable of sounding the profound plans of Lee. Grant's forces are now far away from Washington.

2½ o'clock P.M. An officer just from Petersburg, arrived at the War Department with the intelligence that a Washington paper of the 13th inst. had been received at headquarters, announcing the capture of BALTIMORE by our troops! The inhabitants within, or a large proportion of them, co-operated with our army! Our people are in ecstasies! This is the realization of the grand conception of a great general, and Lee is immortalized if it only be true.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 248-9

John L. Motley to Anna Lothrop Motley, December 29, 1863

December 29, 1863.

My Dearest Mother: We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We are very well satisfied with recent American news. In a military point of view, thank Heaven, the “coming man,” for whom we have so long been waiting, seems really to have come. So far as I can understand the subject, Ulysses Grant is at least equal to any general now living in any part of the world, and by far the first that our war has produced on either side. I expect that when the Vicksburg and Tennessee campaigns come to be written, many years hence, it will appear that they are masterpieces of military art. A correspondent of a widely circulated German newspaper (the "Augsburg Gazette"), very far from friendly to America, writing from the seat of war in Tennessee, speaks of the battle of Chattanooga as an action which, both for scientific combination and bravery in execution, is equal to any battle of modern times from the days of Frederick the Great downward. I am also much pleased with the Message, and my respect for the character and ability of the President increases every day. It was an immense good fortune for us in this emergency to have a man in his responsible place whose integrity has never been impeached, so far as I know, by friend or foe. The ferment in Europe does not subside, and I cannot understand how the German-Danish quarrel can be quietly settled. I rather expect to see a popular outbreak in Copenhagen, to be suppressed, perhaps, by foreign powers; but that Denmark will be dismembered seems to me very probable. However, I have no intention of prophesying as to events to be expected during the coming year.

Ever your affectionate son,

J. L. M.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 351-2

Baron Otto von Bismarck to John L. Motley, April 17, 1863

Berlin,

April 17, 1863.

My Dear Motley: You have given me a great pleasure with your letter of the 9th, and I shall be very grateful to you if you keep your promise to write oftener and longer. I hate politics, but, as you say truly, like the grocer hating figs, I am none the less obliged to keep my thoughts increasingly occupied with those figs. Even at this moment, while I am writing to you, my ears are full of it. I am obliged to listen to particularly tasteless speeches out of the mouths of uncommonly childish and excited politicians, and I have therefore a moment of unwilling leisure, which I cannot use better than in giving you news of my welfare. I never thought that in my riper years I should be obliged to carry on such an unworthy trade as that of a parliamentary minister. As envoy, although an official, I still had the feeling of being a gentleman; as [parliamentary] minister one is a Helot. I have come down in the world, and hardly know how.

April 18. I wrote as far as this yesterday, then the sitting came to an end; five hours' Chamber until three o'clock; then one hour's riding; one hour's report to his Majesty; three hours at an incredibly dull dinner, old important Whigs; then two hours' work; finally, a supper with a colleague, who would have been hurt if I had slighted his fish.

This morning I had hardly breakfasted before Karolyi was sitting opposite to me; he was followed without interruption by Denmark, England, Portugal, Russia, France, whose ambassador I was obliged to remind at one o'clock that it was time for me to go to the House of Phrases. I am sitting again in the latter; hear people talk nonsense, and end my letter. All these people have agreed to approve our treaties with Belgium, in spite of which twenty speakers scold each other with the greatest vehemence, as if each wished to make an end of the other; they are not agreed about the motives which make them unanimous, hence, alas! a regular German squabble about the emperor's beard — querelle d'Allemand. You Anglo-Saxon Yankees have something of the same kind also. Do you all know exactly why you are waging such furious war with each other? All certainly do not know, but they kill each other con amore — that 's the way the business comes to them. Your battles are bloody, ours wordy. These chatterers really cannot govern Prussia. I must bring some opposition to bear against them; they have too little wit and too much self-complacency — stupid and audacious. Stupid, in all its meanings, is not the right word; considered individually, these people are sometimes very clever, generally educated — the regulation German university culture; but of politics, beyond the interests of their own church tower, they know as little as we knew as students, and even less; as far as external politics go, they are also, taken separately, like children. In all other questions they become childish as soon as they stand together in corpore. In the mass stupid, individually intelligent.

When over-reading my letter just before I go to meet in my bed “tired nature's sweet restorer,” I find that under the noisy distractions of parliamentary bullying I have written down a suite of dull commonplaces, and I was about to burn it, but considering the difficulty in this dreary sort of life of finding out an undisturbed moment and a more sensible disposition of mind, I think, like Pontius Pilate, “Quod scripsi, scripsi.” These drops of my own ink will show you at least that my thoughts, when left alone, readily turn to you. I never pass by old Logier's house, in the Friedrichstrasse, without looking up at the windows that used to be ornamented by a pair of red slippers sustained on the wall by the feet of a gentleman sitting in the Yankee way, his head below and out of sight. I then gratify my memory with remembrance of “good old colony times when we were roguish chaps.”¹ (Poor) Flesh is traveling with his daughter, I do not know where in this moment. My wife is much obliged for your kind remembrance, and also the children. The little one wrenched his foot in tumbling down a staircase, and my daughter in bed with a sore throat, but no harm in that. They are well, after all.

Now, an affectionate farewell. I can't go on writing such an unorthographic language as English so late at night, but please try it yourself soon again. Your hand looks like cranes' feet, but is very legible. Is mine the same?

Your faithful old friend,

V. Bismarck.

_______________

¹ In February, 1888, Prince Bismarck, in his great speech to the German Reichsrath, quoted this college song, adding at the same time that he had learned it from his “dear deceased friend John Motley.”

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 325-30

Samuel Gridley Howe to Charles Sumner, September 26, 1850

Boppart, Sept. 26, '50.

My Dear Sumner: — . . . I leave Boppart this week for England via Paris. ... As for political matters, . . . my impressions, from all I see, are strongly in favour of the notion that, malgré the reaction, there has been an immense gain to the cause of liberty in Germany.

I have been surprised to find how easily some of the ardent republicans have become discouraged, and how they have lost faith in the people. Varrentrapp, a most excellent Republican, is despondent. It is because their faith did not go deep enough; it was founded not upon the core of humanity, which is always sound, but upon the supposition of the people having attained a degree of intelligence and virtue which they proved in the hour of trial not to have attained. I tell them that to doubt is to be damned; that to doubt the capacities of humanity is to blaspheme God, and be without religion in the world. They shake their heads and call me red, very red; perhaps they think me green. . . .

Most affectionately yours,

s. G. H.

SOURCE: Laura E. Richards, Editor, Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe, Volume 2, p. 325-6

Samuel Gridley Howe to Charles Sumner, August 20, 1850

Paris, Aug. 20, '50.

My Dear Sumner: — I am always cheered by the sight of your “hand-o'-write” and that of your last letter was more than usually welcome. Notwithstanding your sad errand you seemed to be in an elastic and healthy tone of mind, and I know too well by experience of the opposite condition what a blessing that is: may my friend never fall from the one into the other! You will be surprised at the date of this, and exclaim, “Why are you not en route for Frankfort?” I'll tell you. I had concluded or been persuaded by your letter and other considerations to go and attend the Peace Congress. I left Paris for that purpose on Friday evening last so as to be in Frankfort on the 20th, but I had hardly got an hundred miles when I began to feel the sure premonitions of an attack of cholera morbus. I remained all night in a miserable inn, hoping to be able to go on by the early train; but it was too certain that the grip of disease was upon me; I therefore turned back with all speed to get properly attended here. I was quite ill Saturday and Sunday; yesterday better but unable to travel, and to-day not fit for a fatiguing journey. I must therefore give up the Congress. All I should have done would have been to move for an adjournment en masse to the seat of war in Holstein, and discuss war between the two hostile armies. I am sick of this preaching to Israel in Israel; the Gentile ought to hear. Peace men should go to Russia, and Abolitionists to the Slave States. Besides, this calling upon France and Germany to disarm while Russia has the open blade in hand is what I cannot do. Our combativeness and destructiveness are the weapons God gives us to use as long as they are necessary, in order to keep others less advanced than we are in quiet by the only motives they will heed, selfishness and fear; you may as well appeal to conscience and benevolence in babes and idiots as in Russians and Tartars, I mean en masse. Conscience and benevolence they have, ay! and so have babes and idiots, but they are (not) yet called into life and action.

You tell me to go about sightseeing and to enjoy the rare opportunity before me. I go to see nothing — I care little for shows. I want to be back in the only place in the world which is fit for me or has charm for me; in my own office with the harness on my back. I wish you had my opportunity and I had yours. So goes the world. . . .

Kind words to Longfellow, Hillard, Felton, &c. Tell Briggs my conscience has been continually smiting me about my neglect of that Frenchman in prison. I hope he is out.

Ever, dear Sumner, most affectionately thine,

S. G. H.

SOURCE: Laura E. Richards, Editor, Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe, Volume 2, p. 322-3

Gen. Cameron and the African.

From the Washington Chronicle.

General Cameron, American minister to St. Petersburg, now in this city on official business, is known to be a very agreeable and entertaining talker.  One incident which he relates with great humor, deserves reproduction in the columns of the Daily Chronicle.

Arriving at a small German town on the evening of Whitsuntide – which is a famous and favorite holiday with the Lutherans – he was struck with the descent and comfortable appearance of the people who crowded the streets; but what most interested him was a tall, stout and impressive negro, far blacker than Othello, even before he was represented as a highly colored gentleman.  Supposing him to be an American negro, Mr. Cameron went up to him and said: “How are you, my friend?” using the Pennsylvania German, in which the General is a sort of adept, when to his infinite horror, the colored individual turned upon him and said, in good guttural Dutch, “I am no American; “I am an African; and if you are an American, I do not want to talk to you.  I won’t talk to any man who comes from a country professing to be free, in which human beings are held as slaves.”  And this was said with a magisterial and indignant air that would have been irresistibly comic.  General Cameron made his escape with the best grace possible from his stalwart and sable antagonist, and supposed he had got rid of him, but on passing into an adjoining room with his secretary, Bayard Taylor, to take a glass of lager beer, he was again confronted by the German African, who reopened his vials of wrath, concluded by turning to the general and asking him in broad German, “Sag bin ich recht, or bin ich unrecht?” which means, “Say, am I right or am I wrong, answer me?”  General Cameron made inquiry as to the negro, and ascertained that one of the nobility in the neighborhood who had spent some years in Africa, on a scientific and hunting tour, brought back with him to Germany a very handsome native, who, in the course of time, developed into the individual that sought the opportunity to administer a rebuke to an American who lived in a country professing to be free, yet recognizing the institution of human slavery.

— Published in The Fremont Weekly Journal, Fremont, Ohio, Friday, December 5, 1862, p. 4

Bayard Taylor to James T. Fields, June 15, 1861

Gotha, June 15, 1861.

Even at this distance you are not safe from me. My wife wishes very much to get a copy of the “Confessions of a Medium” and the “Haunted Shanty,” for translation and insertion in a German periodical.

If you could take the two articles, and split the numbers of the "Atlantic" so as to make but one, the postage would not be enormous. If the third article, “Experiences of the A. C.,” should be in type, perhaps you could include it also. M. thinks the articles will be very striking and curious to German readers. Thackeray, the other day, told me that he was completely taken in by my “Confessions.”

We had a rapid and delightful voyage across the Atlantic. I spent two days in London, but saw no man of note except Thackeray, who was very kind and very jolly. We found our German relatives in good condition, and are pleasantly domiciled here for two months. To-morrow I shall leave for a pedestrian trip of ten days in the Franconian Mountains, taking Coburg on the way, where the old poet Riickert lives.

Every post from America brings more and more cheering news. The deepest interest is felt here; in fact, I find more genuine sympathy and a more intelligent understanding of our troubles here than in England. I hold up my head more proudly than ever. But it is hard to be away at such a time.

SOURCE: Marie Hansen-Taylor and Horace E. Scudder, Editors, Life and Letters of Bayard Taylor, Volume 1, p. 378-9

Henry L. Higginson to James J. Higginson, April 22, 1861

Dearest Jim, —

We are in for the fight at last and we will carry it thro' like men. One week ago to-day appeared the President's proclamation calling on the states for troops. To-day Washington is cared for, Fort Monroe garrisoned, and the route to Washington held open. Never in my whole life have I seen anything approaching in the slightest degree to the excitement and the enthusiasm of the past week. Everything excepting the war is forgotten, business is suspended, the streets are filled with people, drilling is seen on all sides and at all times. Our Massachusetts troops were poured into Boston within 12 to 24 hours after the command was issued from here, and were the first to go on and the first to shed blood. May the devil catch those Baltimorean rioters, the cowards! On the 19th April, the anniversary of the Lexington fight, our first men were shot in Baltimore.

But you should have seen the troops, Jimmy: real, clean-cut, intelligent Yankees, the same men who fought in '76, a thousand times better than any soldiers living. They left their wives and children in some cases without a farewell, and marched thro' to Washington. We've been told of our degeneracy for years and years: I tell you, Jim, no more heartfelt enthusiasm or devotion was to be found in '76 than now. Everyone is longing to go. One man walked 100 miles to join a volunteer company raised and gone between Wednesday and Sunday. Two thousand Irish volunteers have been raised in Boston, besides many companies of Americans and Germans and French. One hundred Germans put their names down as volunteers in a half-hour at a small meeting which was held Friday. Money is forthcoming, everyone is making clothes for the troops. Yesterday sailed from N.Y. 5000 troops (1200 from here, commanded by one of my classmates); they say 500,000 people were present to see them march down Broadway and sail. That famous N.Y. 7th regiment is holding the R.R. to Washington from Annapolis. A regiment of 800 N.Y. firemen has been raised in two or three days, and will go as skirmishers to-morrow or to-day. The Ohio troops are in Washington, and the Westerners are coming on perfectly wild. Every slave-state has refused troops; we do not want them. The Southern army is, they say, well-drilled: we may lose at first, but they will be wiped out from the face of the earth in the end. We want arms sadly; those villains have stolen everything that they could find in our armories and arsenals. And for us — George will, I hope and trust, finish his house at Lenox before moving . . . father is of course too old. I have been laid up all winter with a sprained foot, which is still weak, but I 'll go if I can march possibly. I've committed myself to a regiment of volunteers to be raised and drilled in our harbor before going. It is the best way, if they are not wanted immediately, for then a disciplined body of active troops will be opposed to the enemy, instead of raw recruits. Jim Savage will go in this regiment as an officer. This foot has been a great nuisance to me for months, and now may prevent my going, for a lame man will not be accepted. And now, Jim, you must decide for yourself whether you'll return just yet or not; you might wait a few months to advantage. There will be little business in any way for beginners until the war is over, I suppose: the first quota is gone and the second will be off also before you can reach here. Then will come much drilling and preparation for the future: the war will, I fancy, be very severe, but of short duration. You might get all possible information as to the muskets and rifles with sword-bayonets to be got in each country, Germany, France and England; we must import from Europe to meet our immediate wants. Send this letter to Johnny with my love: I 've not time to write him to-day and he'll want to know of these things. Father is very well indeed and drills hard, with a view to teaching others — as also Frank. Father gets dreadfully excited; indeed so does everyone. My best love to you, Jimmy.

Yrs.

H.

SOURCE: Life and letters of Henry Lee Higginson, p. 142-3

Francis Lieber to George S. Hillard, May 11, 1861

New York, May 11, 1861.

I must write to you, my dear Hillard, although I have nothing to state, to give, or to ask, except, indeed, whether you are well, bodily of course — for who is mentally well nowadays? Behold in me the symbol of civil war: Oscar probably on his march to Virginia under that flag of shame, Hamilton in the Illinois militia at Cairo, Norman writing to-day to President Lincoln for a commission in the United States army, we two old ones alone in this whole house; but why write about individuals at a time like this!

Mr. Everett sent me for perusal a pamphlet written in 1821, by McDuflle, so hyper-national in tone and political concepts that it confuses even an old student of history and his own times, like myself.  . . . There are two things for which I ardently pray at this juncture: that there be soon a great and telling battle sufficient to make men think again, and somewhat to shake the Arrogantia autlralis out of the Southerners; and secondly that, if we must divide, we change our Constitution and shake the absurd State-sovereignty out of that. All, there are other things, too, for which I pray. I bite my lips, that Italy has stolen such a march over Germany. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 318

Later From Europe

Arrival of the Anglo Saxon.

PORTLAND, MAINE, Jan. 30. – The Anglo Saxon from Liverpool, 16th, via Queenstown, 17th, arrived here this morning.  Her dates are five days later.

The steamship Teutonia, from New York, arrived at Southampton on the 12th, with the steamship America, from New York, and the Novascotian arrived at Liverpool on the 14th.  The Edinburg, from New York arrived at Liverpool on the 15th.

The news by the Anglo Saxon is unimportant.

It was rumored that the rebel steamer Nashville had been sold to English ship owners.  The Tuscarora continued to blockade her.

Corn, easy, market closed steady, with an upward tendency for wheat.  Provisions, quiet.

Consols, for money, 93¼.

The London Globe announces that the Washington Cabinet had given orders for the release of the two Americans taken from the English schooner Eugenie and the steamer Santiago de Cuba.

But little business was doing at Loyd’s [sic] in war risks.  There was continued activity in all the departments at the Portsmouth dock yard.

It was stated that the Tuscarora’s movement in leaving her moorings on the 13th inst., was to prevent the Nashville from getting under way for 24 hours.  It was understood that the Tuscarora’s orders were never to leave sight of the Nashville, to blockade her in Southampton, and if she should leave, to chase her as long as she is at sea.  In addition to the Frigate Dauntless, the war steamer Argus, had been placed at the mouth of the Southampton docks, to watch the movements of the two vessels.

The London Times says that mercantile letters from New York represent that the cry for promoting insurrection among the slaves was gaining force, and looking at the threatened horrors, whispers were at length heard of a wish that for the sake of humanity European intervention might be fount practicable.

Additional correspondence had been published in regard to the Trent affair, including Lord John Russell’s reply to Mr. Seward’s dispatch, dated January 11th.  It expresses much satisfaction at the conclusion arrived at by the Washington Government, which it considers most favorable to the maintenance of most friendly relations.  The English Government, however, differs from Mr. Seward in some of his conclusions, and as it may lead to a better understanding on several points of international law.  Lord John Russell proposes in a few days to write another dispatch on the subject.  In the mean time he says that it is desirable that the commanders of United States cruisers shall be instructed not to repeat acts for which the British Government will have to ask redress, and which the United States government can not undertake to justify.  Lord Lyons is thanked for his discretion.

Mason and Slidell had been expected by the America, and a good deal of interest was felt as to the reception they would get at Liverpool. – Various expedients were adopted to secure anything but a flattering one.

There has been no reply to the strictures on the stone blockade of Charleston.

The extra workmen at the dock yards will be discharged at the end of the financial year.

The Shipping Gazette says that war of further diplomatic strife is certain between England and America.

Liverpool Breadstuffs. – W. N. & Co. and others, report flour dull and declined 6d@1s, wheat declined 1d@2d – red 11s@12s 4d, white western 12s 6d@12s 9d, white southern 12s 9d@13s 3d.  Corn easier, mixed 31s@31s 6d.

(Latest via Londonderry.)

Liverpool, 17. – Flour steady, wheat active with an upward tendency, corn quiet but steady, provisions ditto.

LONDON, Jan, 17. – Consols for money 93¼.  I. C. shares 42 7/8 @ 43 1/8 disc., Erie shares 28 N. Y. C. 71@73.

The Times predicts a speedy collapse in America under the suspension of specie payment. – It also published extracts from Mr. Russell’s diary to the 3d of January.  He says it requires an augmentory faith to believe there will be any success in subjugating the South, for the army of the North will be stricken down for the want of means.  The troops sent to points along the coast are suffering from sickness.  The pretense of there being Union men at the South is fast vanishing.  Mr. Russell sees an extraordinary lack of ordinary political common sense in American Journals.

Capt. Symmes of the Confederate States Navy, and commander of the Sumter has addressed a letter to the Times defending his ship against the insinuations of the Secretary of the Federal Navy who in his official report describes the Sumter as a piratical rover.

Paris Bourse steady.  Rentes quoted 69f 20c.

The French journals generally compliment the Washington Cabinet for their action in the Trent affair.

PRUSSIA. – The King of Prussia, in his speech at the opening of the Chambers rejoiced at the happy issue of the Anglo American difficulties.

SPAIN. – The privateer Sumter continued at the port of Cadiz.

London Money Market. – Consols experienced a further decline of ½ per cent.  Money very easy.

The publication of the correspondence in relation to the Trent affair, has lead to some very bitter strictures on the dispatch of Mr. Seward, particularly as regards that part of it where it is announced that the prisoners, Mason & Slidell would have been retained had the interests of the Union required it.

The London Times doubts whether any nation ever committed a blunder so palpable and so enormous.

The London Morning Post says it is clear that the law of the stronger is the only law ruling in the United States.

The London Herald says that the last four lines of Mr. Seward’s dispatch is the only part of it that can be accepted as an answer to British Demands.

(Very Latest per Anglo Saxon.  Telegraphed to Londonderry.)

Liverpool, Jan. 17. – Notwithstanding the rumored sale of the Nashville she continued to fly the Confederate flag.  No sale has been registered at the Admiralty.

Berlin, Jan. 17. – It is reported that England has no objection to examine the question of guarantee for the rights of neutrals by diplomatic correspondence, but would be opposed to a Congress on the question.

Several members of Parliament had been addressing their constituents.  America was the main topic.  Mr. Gladiator made a speech at Leith.  He was very friendly towards America, and hoped the concession of the American Government would be conceived in a most generous spirit and irritation not to be increased by minute criticism.  He thought the North had undertaken a task which would prove too much for them.

Mr. Gilpin, of Northampton, declared that the lack of sympathy with the North was because the North had not identified themselves with the first principles of the Constitution, which declares all men are born free and equal.  But he believed the question had now become Slavery or Freedom.  He called on Englishmen to hesitate before they directly or indirectly sanctioned a premature and unnecessary acknowledgment of the South.

Lord Henry at the same meeting uttered similar sentiments.

Mr. Peeresford took rather opposite ground, he believed that if the Southern Confederacy established its independence it would lead to an amelioration of the condition of the slave.

The frigate Mirror was expected at Plymouth in a day or two on her way to the North American Station.

ITALY. – The Pope in announcing to the Cardinals that Russia had consented to the re-establishment of the Papal Nuncio at St. Petersburg, said he hoped this fresh concession on the part of the Emperor would be the signal for others in favor of the unfortunate Polish nation.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 2

Possibility of a Civil War in Germany

From the foreign papers it appears that the condition of affairs throughout the great Germanic Confederation, is, in many respects similar to that which existed here previous to the first act of Secession by a southern State.  The Confederation, which has a common Diet or Assembly, has heretofore consisted of the greater Teutonic Powers – Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden Baden, and some thirty-two inferior Dukedoms and Electorates – all, of course, monarchical in their form of government, and therefore, differing materially from the American States, but all represented in the Central Legislature, and all in some degree constitutional since 1849, and far more independent than the members of this Confederacy – each and all being free to make peace or war, within certain limits, uncontrolled by the Sister States.

This Band or League did not include other than the German possessions of Austria, and hence it was that in her struggles with the Hungarian and Italian rebellions, the latter Power has stood alone.  The frantic efforts made by the Viennese Cabinet to involve Prussia and all Germany in an alliance with her against Napoleon and Victor Emanuel during the recent memorable conflict in Northern Italy, must still dwell in the recollection of every reader.  Now Prussia and the group of states near to her have lately been distinguished from Austria and her Allies in Southern Germany, by progressive views and rapid improvements in consonance with the spirit of the age.  This advance has awakened the jealous apprehensions of all reactionary cabinets adhering to the old so-called “Wurzburg” Alliance and adroitly and secretly winning Saxony over to her views, Austria has put forward that power in the person of her minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Von Buest, as a catspaw to propose the reconstruction of the Confederation in such a shape as to admit all of the Austrian Empire into it.  This proposition had already been ripened and approved by the Wurzburg Confederates, before Prussia was informed of it.  Then, suddenly, notes identical in meaning were sent in to her by Austria and all her accomplices proposing the new form, and inviting Prussia to join them, i. e., treating her as though she and her adherents, Baden, Saxe, Coburg, and a few other smaller States were out of the Confederation, or had seceded from it.  To yield would have been to recognize the supremacy of Austria, which will have a majority in the New Diet – to remain out is to invite the hostility of the coalition.  Hence the crisis!  Prussia, with dignity, declines the recognition of this new Wurzburg scheme, and is now menaced on all sides by the adherents of Austria.  The National Verein, an organization of the people extending throughout Germany, calls upon the Prussian King to throw himself into the arms of the progressive party, who have gained substantial victories in the elections and in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies.  As it was, civil war impends; but if Prussia goes with the Verein, the next steamer may bring us news of a Revolution. –{New York Sun.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 3

Dry Goods

The market is dull.  The speculators in staple  goods who bought so largely some months ago are now very anxious to sell, and are distressing the market and disturbing the calculations of manufacturers and may very likely check a little the disposition to produce new goods. – The market does not respond to the pressure and the few buyers limit themselves to actual wants.

DOMESTIC GOODS. – Prints are inactive and holders are anxious to sell, yet domestic fabrics have nothing to fear from competition of foreign importations as few prints are now imported.  Old goods are however being liberated from bond and offered for sale.

Printing cloths are declining with a panic desire to force sales in presence of a better supply of the raw material.  In sheetings and shirtings there is no change.  The regular receivers are firm, but could not, nevertheless obtain current quotations if they were to press sales.  The export demand is very trifling.  In woolens there is also less doing.  Delaines do not attract much demand at present.  Jobbers are quiet.  Fancy cassimeres of desirable styles are active, both silk mixtures and wool good, but the demand is confined to these kinds.  Clothing houses are not buying much.  Western buyers and buyers from the Middle States are making a few selections, but the West holds a large quantity of inferior goods, which they want to sell.  Stocks are moderate in first hands.

FOREIGN GOODS. – The importations have increased considerably, and auction sales are now commencing.  British goods have been largely sold, though the regular trade has not fully opened.  The speculative demand is over and prices are less buoyant.  Low priced delaines are, however, in ready sale and low priced cloths are in some request.  Silks are more inquired for, especially staple kinds.  Fancy silks are dull.  Prices are steady.  There is considerable business in ribbons, and sales have been making to some extent to buyers from Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and the West.

Military goods are now mostly sold for cash.  Many houses refuse to sell on any other terms. – Woolen goods are dull.  Fancy cassimeres, low priced German, Belgian and English cloths alone command a market and those of good styles. – French worsted are inactive.  The value of the goods imported last week is $1,500,000, which is an increase, though only half the amount imported in the corresponding week of last year.  Prints, linens, blankets, cotton goods, worsted, and silks are among the articles chiefly imported. – N. Y. Independent.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 3

Tremendous Inundation In Germany And France

The Augsburg Gazette contains letters from Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgard stating that all the rivers are overflowed.  Between Salzburg and Linz railway communication is cut off.  The waters of the Iser have left their bed, and at Nuremberg the Peignitz has become a great river, so that many of the streets and squares of the city are completely inundated.  A temporary bridge connects the two portions of the city and the Nuremberg correspondent could not appear on the 31st of January, because the building in which it was printed was flooded with water.  At Cornstadt the Neckar has risen nine feet above its usual hight [sic] and at Halle boats were plying in the market place, and crowds of people had to make their escape from the lower floors of their houses in skiffs.

The Garlarnhe Gazette publishes a letter from Mannheim dated the 3d of February stating that the waters of the Neckar were still rising and that every spot was overflowed clear to the Heidelber turnpike.  The Rhine, too, was ten feet higher than usual and still rising.  At Roxheim an arched bridge had been carried away, and the great dyke ant Rheingennheim was broken.  The Neckar was filled with wreck, among which barrels, doors and various domestic utensils were seen floating off.  At Wertheim, the Main rose eight feet in twenty four hours and people were navigating the streets in boats.

In France and Belgium the floods were still more disastrous.  In the latter country, the whole valley of the Meuse is desolated, the great accumulations of snow in the Vosges mountains in France having melted very rapidly under the influence of the late rains and mild weather and precipitated themselves into the Meuse river.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 3

Trouble Brewing in Europe

If all the ages of the times do not fail, there is a crisis approaching in European affairs, that will require the whole attention of the transatlantic powers, and which will probably leave us at leisure to settle our own difficulties in our own way.  The financial embarrassments of all the European nations, with, perhaps, the exception of England, are among the least threatening of the dangers which are imminent.  In Russia, the Serfs are dissatisfied with the law which makes them free, because it makes them pay for their freedom, and the nobility are sour because the Serfs have been freed at all.  And the much abused inhabitants of Poland and Finland are ever on the alert to take advantage of every pre-occupation of the Government to strike another blow to their independence.  In Germany also there are evidences of coming trouble.  Hungary is awaiting the march of events in Italy, and the moment Garibaldi attempts his long cherished enterprise of wresting Venitia from the dominion of Austria, Hungary will rise en masse to throw off the same yoke.  Secret societies exist in every town, and secret agents are traveling over the country, warning the inhabitants to be ready for the emergency.  A similar state of things is noticeable in the Turkish Provinces of Montenegro and Herzegovina, which are giving the Sultan much trouble.  The recent assertion of Prussia, too, that she considers “the German Confederation as an international and not a federal part of Prussia,” has irritated Austria and thrown the little German principalities into an interesting flutter of excitement, presaging trouble in that quarter.

But the Italian question is the most dangerous and complicated of the whole, and is daily growing more difficult of solution.  Garibaldi has just written a letter intimating that he intends to commence operations for the recovery of Venitia early in the spring, and Austria is taking active measures to resist the attack.  The Bourbons are adding new fuel to the flame of the Neapolitan rebellion, and fresh hostilities are momentarily expected in Naples and Sicily.  The Pope continues to hold on doggedly to his temporal power in spite of the warning of France, and the recent and numerous exhibitions of popular feelings on the subject in the Italian cities, shows that he is daily becoming more unpopular.  If Napoleon should withdraw his forces from Rome, as he threatens to do, the Pope is in a fair way to lose not only his temporal but his spiritual authority as well.  Verily, coming events in Europe cast their shadows before.  At this late day we hardly need the repeated assertions of neutrality in our affairs on the part of England and France.  Matters at home promise to furnish abundant scope for the exercise of all the diplomatic skill of the European nations, if indeed a general appeal to arms is not necessary.  The scales which hold the “balance of power,” never at an exact equipoise, now seem more likely to be put of equilibrium than ever before.  It will require time to get things right again, and meanwhile our little difficulties will be settled up.  In view of the troubles abroad, and the signs of returning peace at home, there is no good reason why we should be further haunted by the ghost of “European intervention.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 2

Foreign News

PORTLAND, March 4.

The steamer Norwegian, from Liverpool on the 20^th, Londonderry 21^st ult. arrived this morning.

The political news possess no particular interest.

Sales of cotton for the four days were 11,000 bales.

Markets closing firmer.

Breadstuffs dull.  Provisions steady.

The Anglo Saxon from Portland arrived at Liverpool on the 20^th.

GREAT BRITAIN. – Parliamentary proceedings, on the 11^th were unimportant.  The bill authorizing marriage with a deceased wife’s sister was passed to a second reading in the Commons, 149 to 133.

The Morning Post has an editorial urging the removal of the prohibition in the West Indies against the efforts for obtaining colored laborers from any part of North America, and advocates the emigration of free negroes from Canada to the west Indies, to develop the cotton culture of those Islands.

It is asserted that the government has said there was confirmation of the news via America, that the Spaniards had sustained a declined defeat at the hands of the Mexicans, and that the dispatch of reinforcements is rendered necessary.

FRANCE. – It is rumored that the Prince Napoleon is dissatisfied with the terms of the address on the Roman question, and will move an amendment for more energetic language.

The bourse continued to be heavy, and on the 19^th the three per cent. rents further declined nearly half per cent., closing at 69.95.  The four and a half per cent. declined one per cent., closing at 99f.

A decree is published, admitting into France, free of duty, rough and purified cast iron, old iron bars, hoops and sheet iron, steel in bars and sheets, and rolled copper, when coming from abroad and destined for re-exportation, after having been converted in French workshops into ships, machines or any other work in metal.

One other decree reduces the interest on treasury bonds to two and a half a three and a half per cent., according to the time of the falling due.

The Moniteur says the government of the Emperor has requested information at Rome respecting the pastoral letter convoking all bishops to Rome for the canonization of the martyrs, the letter having been published in France without having been previously communicated to the government.  Cardinal Antonelli replied that the invitation was simply a friendly one and not obligatory in character – only tended to give weight to the religious ceremony on this reply the French government expressed the wish that the Bishops should not leave their diocese, and must not ask permission to quit the empire except where serious diocesan interests should call them to Rome.

The application for conversation of the 4 1-2 per cent. rentes had reached £70,000,000.

LONDON MONEY MARKET. – English funds dull but steady on the 20^th.

LIVERPOOL, 21. – It is reported that insurances are daily effected on ships and their cargoes to run the blockade of the Southern ports.  The highest premium paid is fifteen guineas, and the ships are entitled to select any port.  In some instances the risks to ports of easy access are as low as ten guineas.  The vessels insured are steamers of 1,500 tons.

The French Bourse is believed to be undergoing an improvement, owing to the receipt of gold from London.

The telegraph from the Red Sea to London is now open.

The iron plated frigate Warrior is ordered from Gibraltar to Portsmouth.

Advices from Manchester report goods and yarns upward, but quiet.

The Journal Espania demands a monarchy for Peru by universal suffrage.

ROME. 20^th. – The Police have made many arrests.

The proclamation of the national committee has been secretly posted here.  The committee hope for early success, but counsel patience.

It is believed that Napoleon has given assurance to the Pope that the French troops will not leave Rome.

Preparations were making to celebrate the anniversary of the Capture of Gaeta.  Numerous patrols traversed the streets to prevent its taking place.

BERLIN, 20^th. – The question between Prussia and Austria is continually widening.  The language of the Prussian and Austrian papers is daily more hostile.

The agitation in Germany is increasing.

Austria, by her recent conduct, had lost much of her influence in northern Germany.

PARIS, 21^st. – The Temps and other French journals demonstrate that a monarchical restoration in North America will only benefit Spain, and the Spanish monarchical interest alone existing.

It is believed that the speech of Prince Napoleon on the address of the Senate will express the real policy of the Emperor on the Italian question.

The following is a summary of the news taken out by the City of New York: The Tuscarora left Gibraltar on the 15^th inst. for the Spanish waters.  She had been watching the Sumter, which still remained at Gibraltar unable to procure coal.

In the House of Commons on the 17^th inst., the supplementary estimates for the naval and military expeditions in the Trent affair, amounting to over £973,000, were moved and unanimously agreed to.  In the debate on the subject, Mr. Bright severely denounced the policy of the government.  He said the money had been worse than thrown away.  The threatening menaces were quite uncalled for, and gave Earl Russell’s first dispatch, which he said had more the appearance of a declaration of war than a courteous demand for a just object which America could not fail to accede to.  He refuted the idea that the American Government was influenced by a mob, and argued that the interests of England were so bound up with America that it was in every respect inadvisable to inflict a sting that it might take centuries to remove.

Mr. Baxter endorsed the tone of the government, but condemned the tone of the press.

Orders had been received at Sheerness to dismantle all gunboats prepared for commissions under the American difficulty.

The Daily News and Star publish the correspondence with Mr. Seward relative to the passage of British troops through the State of Maine.  The latter accords great praise to Mr. Seward for his course in this respect.

The reading of the address to the Emperor of France had taken place in the Senate, and debate commenced upon it on the 20^th.  The address regrets the sufferings inflicted by the American civil war on trade and manufactures, but agrees with the Emperor that the friendly relations of the countries render neutrality incumbent, and believes that the quarrel will be all the shorter if not complicated by foreign influence.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, March 5, 1862, p. 1

The European Grain Crop

It is of importance to our farmers to know that there is likely to be an immense call for their aid abroad. The German papers indicate that the production of cereals on the continent is likely to fall far below the actual necessities of its vast population. The tremendous floods which lately devastated some of the finest grain growing regions of Germany and the Netherlands have diminished the possibilities of successful culture there, while in other directions the unusually inclement weather has done equal damage. In England, heavy rains continued throughout March far into April and the fields are still so saturated that, altho’ the vegetation is of fine appearance, it promises more hay and straw than grain. As late as April 14th white frost in the morning was followed by intense heat at noon. In France the prospect is better, but by no means satisfactory. In the North rain is too abundant; in the South the rapid succession of heat and cold has killed much of the whole sowing. Accounts from Italy, through Austrian channels, are nearly as bad, and even in Algeria, whence Europe has within a few years drawn copious supplies, the sirocco has laid waste to the grain fields. America then, will be more entitled during the coming year than ever, to be called the Granary of the World.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 2

Transatlantic Blunders

Translated for Gazette from the N. Y. Abend Zeitung.

The London Times owes it to the numerous blunders of its American reports, that on this side of the ocean it is no more called “The Thunderer” on the Thames, but the “Blunderer.” Only latedy it announced that Fort Henry on the river Constantine has been taken by Federal troops. French and German papers are not doing better. The Patrie communicates to its readers the intelligence that a bloody encounter had take place between Generals Henry and Donelson, which had been decided favorably to the Federal troops, by Artillery-General Foote; the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung if we are not mistaken lets General Donelson be captured. Another surprising piece of news is, that the troops of Gen. Stone have embarked and are sent to Fort Lafayette!

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, April 19, 1862, p. 2