I do not see our
future on the Presidential question. The recent declaration of Toombs seems
ominous of a break-up, in which I should rejoice. I long to see men who really
think alike on national politics acting together. The Whigs [in Massachusetts]
are in despair. They confess that they are badly beaten. The coalition has been
sustained and its candidate.
SOURCE: Edward L.
Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 256
The incident at the
creek, where I nearly drew the fire of two sentries, led me to inquire as to
methods prison authorities have for informing new arrivals, of their rules in
reference to the dead line, especially where no line is visible, which is the
case for 60 yards at the point mentioned, parallel with the crossing from south
to north. I learned they never published their rules, every man learns at his
peril, just as I did, or by hearsay. Old prisoners say there never has been a
visible line at this creek crossing; that no man knows where it is except as he
judges the distance from the stockade, or guesses where it would come by
looking at the line where it stops north and south of the creek. The sentry is
left to guess when a man gets over the line, that is not there and shoots
according to his guess. It involves upon the prisoners to post new men, as much
as possible, but comparatively few think to do so. It is a serious matter as
new arrivals nearly every day are apt to transgress the rule ignorantly and
innocently, and if shot they have been murdered in cold blood. During new
arrivals this happens often, as guards are mostly young fellows whose chief
education is to despise Yankees whom it is a Southern virtue to kill, and to
perform this patriotic duty he has been trained to shoot well, and to watch for
a chance. At this point he finds opportunity. Guards are composed of Alabama
and Georgia youths reared under the fire-eating doctrines of Yancey, Cobb and
Toombs, and to believe in the infallibility of the chivalric South, its
institutions, peculiar rights, as superior to all else, whose leaders have led
the Southern mass to engage in a bad war for a bad cause. Probably these
shooting imps know nothing of this, are ignorant of the crime they every day
commit. Not a single instance, so far, were men who were shot seeking to
escape. They were ignorant of any rule and unhindered in their approach to the
stockade by a visible dead line at this point. Hence the shooting has been
unjustifiable by ordinnary prison discipline prescribed by treaties or laws of
war.
It is one
continuous, irksome every day recurrence of unpleasant scenes. But one event is
looked for with hopeful pleasure, that is the issuing of rations which never
lacks serious, if not total disappointment. After roll call the sick are helped
to the gates; those ready to die are put on stretchers and carried to the
hospital outside near the south end of the stockade. Of all the grim and
ghastly sights imagination ever depicted, those we see at this hour far excel
in horror. Poor, squalid, yellow faces, eyes sunken and glassy, cheeks hollow
or swollen with scurvy, fevered lips drawn tightly across the teeth, the mouth
agape to breathe or let escape fetid breath, some borne by comrades, others
tottering by the help of staffs or supported by friends; some without half a
suit to cover them, some with terribly swollen limbs, putrid sores, dropsical
distensions and bent forms. One holds his breath to look at them, nay turns
away! Men walk about whom we would call bad corpses if seen in coffins anywhere
else. Such a pitiful look as they give I never saw; their voices are as if the
dead speak.
Two rods to the rear
of us I witnessed the death of a Tennesseean, the last of three brothers who
died on the same spot since March. All were Belle Isle victims. He had laid all
day in the heat and will not be carried out till morning. He gradually wasted
and died without a struggle. It is more remarkable than anything I ever read,
how men lose their sense of life; imperceptibly degree by degree, it goes out
leaving only a latent consciousness of what they have been, what they are, and
a vague, unintelligent hope. Even that departs and his mind ranges in the
narrowest sphere the human spirit can. For weeks he is robbed of himself; an
infant is not more childish or weak; age not so whimsical or broken. He is a
mere human worm! Another singular phase of these conditions: We frequently see
men unable to arise from the sand, threatening to knock down strong men for
trivial things they deem insulting. Men of skeleton forms lock in each others
puny arms in a rage, falling on the ground unable to rise, they still boast of
what they can do. So long bereft of comfort, so long have they only hoped for
bread and liberty from day to day at the hands of merciless authorities, that
reason is extinguished in many, and the lowest, blindest, selfish passion
clings to the rotten thread of life. The phases which life assumes in this
degraded condition, is inconceivable. Some retain the tenderest affection and
the broadest faith, as long as consciousness remains.
I saw a man today in
the last stages of starvation having sickened of his scanty food. His cry was
bread, but when offered that given us, his stomach heaved; he turned his face
with expressions of hopeless agony and exclaimed: "They can get me
something else! could I be at home!" There are many cases which doctors
might term chronic innutrition, where they eat with avidity all they get and
still starve, the food doing no good. Doctors have been made acquainted with
many of these cases, but will not admit to the hospital. Bell Isle boys tell me
they have often dreamed of eating and woke up to go through the motions
frothing at the mouth. In one instance they begged the guard to throw over
pieces of a cow that had been delivered of a calf three days before, some of
which they devoured, raw. They exhibit some rings claimed to have been made
from the bones of a dog, eaten at Belle Isle, kept as a memento.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 66-8
About 10 a. m., the
train having come back, we got on for Lynchburg. I had a flat car next to the engine,
exposed to the sun, smoke and cinders. The passage was very disagreeable. The
only place of account on the way is Amherst Court House. Arriving at Lynchburg,
3 p. m., we marched through the town exposed to the wondering gaze of all
classes. A motley crowd gathered at every corner, blacks and whites
indiscriminately mixed, some the dirtiest objects generally found in the
filthiest portions of cities. Had I seen So many black and white heads together
in New York or New England my conservative inclinations would have upbraided my
abolishion sentiments about amalgamation, about reducing white folks to the
level of the niggers. The town is dirty, dilapidated; streets cluttered with
business, it being a depot for military supplies and a rendezvous for troops,
situated on the right bank of the James River and on the Kanawah Canal and the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad; population about 13,000. They marched us a
mile out of the city, and stopped in a deep hollow by a fine stream. On one
side is a high, rocky hill. Here are all prisoners recently captured, except
officers, who are locked up in the city. Our guards are mostly citizens, boys
and old men, equipped by themselves or with such guns as the provost could pick
up. Most of them are impressed and drilled by invalid soldiers. I observed one
man about fifty, very corpulent, good naturedly inclined, dressed in common
citizen's coat and pants, white vest, white stove pipe hat, with a weed, armed
with a shotgun, pacing his beat. He said he would like to converse but dare
not. From the brow of the hill several cannon command the camp. I saw several
citizens imprisoned in the city on parole who sympathized with the North. One
guard inquired as we came out from the city, what we did with deserters from
their army. He said they were told they were hanged by our authorities. He is a
sergeant, had contemplated deserting; had a brother who deserted last winter. I
gave him all information I could and intimated that a few of us would like to
strike for the Blue Ridge that night. He said it would be death to attempt
escape. We soon became convinced that it was quite impossible. I here learn of
some I knew, being killed and wounded; that our division was badly cut up, and
the loss of Generals Wadsworth, Rice and Robinson. Nothing to eat. No rations
seen today. I spread my coat on the ground at night and lay down to sleep.
The Nation's in a sorry fix,
Tremendous family jar!
'Cause freedom and slavery couldn't mix,
The Johnnies went to war,
And when we meet them in their tricks,
Whine, "What you'ns fight we'uns for?"
We fight you for your cause is bad;
Your leaders honest blood have shed;
In South have human rights forbade
And wrongly have your hearts misled.
You challenge us to fight this war;
Our rights in Southland are effaced.
That's what "we'uns fight you'ns for,"
Or stand before the world disgraced.
The average Johnnie does not know
The baleful nature of his cause.
He's heard Davis, Toombs and Yancey blow,
And joined in brainless, wild hurrahs
To 'lect Buchanan, and so and so,
Pledged to enforce all slavery laws,
Slaveholders asking "Mo', give mo',"
Demands that never brooked a pause.
We've often warned them to go slow,
To curb their cursed maws.
Then they rebellious teeth would show
And gnash their wrathful jaws,
And swear they'd from the Union go
Or dictate all its laws;
For government, from long ago,
They've grasped with greedy paws;
Persistently have lobbied so
For some new pro-slavery clause.
They fell down in their Kansas muss—
They forced a savage fight—
Then started up this bigger fuss,
And we're in it up to sight.
I know not when the fuss 'll end;
It has been hard and hot;
But to the finish we'll contend,
And they'll lose every slave they've got.
The power they so long did wield,
We'll break forevermore,
And bleach its bones upon the field
And Freedom's cause restore.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 42-4
Bright and windy. The Virginia Assembly has passed resolutions instructing the Senators to vote for the negro troops bill—so Mr. Hunter must obey or resign.
It is authoritatively announced in the papers that Gen. J. E. Johnston has taken command of the army in front of Sherman (a perilous undertaking), superseding Beauregard.
Grant is said to be massing his troops on our right, to precipitate them upon the South Side Railroad. Has Hill marched his corps away to North Carolina? If so, Richmond is in very great danger.
The Examiner to-day labors to show that the evacuation of Richmond would be fatal to the cause The Sentinel says it has authority for saying that Richmond will not be given up. "Man proposes—God disposes." It is rumored that Fayetteville, N. C., has fallen into the hands of the enemy.
I saw Col. Northrop, late Commissary-General, to-day. He looks down, dark, and dissatisfied. Lee's army eats without him.
I see nothing of Lieut.-Col. Ruffin. He always looks down and darkly. Gen. Breckinridge seems to have his heart in the cause— not his soul in his pocket, like most of his predecessors.
I saw admiral Buchanan to-day, limping a little. He says the enemy tried to shoot away his legs to keep him from dancing at his granddaughter's wedding, but won't succeed.
Robert Tyler told me that it was feared Governor Brown, and probably Stephens and Toombs, were sowing disaffection among the Georgia troops, hoping to get them out of the army; but that if faction can be kept down thirty days, our cause would assume a new phase. He thinks Breckinridge will make a successful Secretary. The President and Gen. Lee were out at Camp Lee to-day, urging the returned soldiers (from captivity) to forego the usual furlough and enter upon the spring campaign now about to begin. The other day, when the President made a speech to them, he was often interrupted by cries of "furlough!"
The ladies in the Treasury Department are ordered to Lynchburg, whither the process of manufacturing Confederate States notes is to be transferred.
A committee of the Virginia Assembly waited on the President on Saturday, who told them it was no part of his intention to evacuate Richmond. But some construed his words as equivocal. Tobacco, cotton, etc. are leaving the city daily. The city is in danger.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 434-5
On the 13th of June,
1850, in the House of Representatives, an amendment to the bill admitting
California was rejected, to the effect that thereafter it should not constitute
an objection to the admission of a state lying south of the Missouri Compromise
line that her constitution tolerated slavery. Mr. BROWN, of Mississippi, renewed
the amendment, pro forma, and said:
I LONG since made up my mind that I would
introduce no proposition of my own, nor vote for any other man's proposition,
which did not give ample justice to my section. My determination was not formed
without consideration. The whole ground had been duly examined, and my judgment
was based on a solemn conviction, that no proposition which did not inflict
positive injury on the South had the least chance of favor in this House. If I
had ever been brought to doubt the correctness of this judgment, the vote just
taken would have convinced me beyond all dispute that I was right.
Day by day our ears
are filled with the cry of "compromise!" "adjustment!!" We
have been invoked time and again to come forward and settle this angry dispute,
on terms equitable and just to all sections of the confederacy. We have been admonished,
in high-sounding phraseology, that to the people of the states, when forming
their constitutions, belonged the duty and the right of settling for themselves
the question of slavery or no slavery. Some, we have been told, fanatical and
violent, would repudiate this doctrine; but the great body of the moderate men
of the North, of all parties, we have been assured, had planted themselves on
this broad, republican platform. Now, sir, what have we seen? The question has
been taken on a proposition declaring that it shall hereafter be no objection
to the admission of a state lying south of 36° 30′ that her constitution
tolerated or prohibited slavery, and this proposition has been voted down-voted
down, sir, by a strictly sectional division-all the southern members voting for
it, and all the northern members, with but one honorable exception, voting
against it.
Mr. HARRIS, of
Illinois. Three or four.
Mr. BROWN. I saw but
one—Mr. McClernand. There may have been three or four. It may have been that
five or six threw up their hats and cried "God save the country!"
Mr. BISSELL. I was
not in my seat. I should have voted for it with great pleasure.
Mr. HARRIS, of
Illinois. I voted for it.
Mr. BROWN. It may be
that five or six voted for the proposition. But what of that? Where was the
great body of the northern members, Whigs and Democrats? They were just where I
have always predicted they would be when it came to voting. They were found
repudiating the very doctrine on which they ask us to admit California—the
doctrine of self-government in regard to slavery.
There could be no mistaking
the intention of this vote. The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Marshall], in a
speech of marked emphasis, had called on the South to cease debating, and let
us have a vote—a vote which should test the question, whether northern members
were prepared to assert the doctrine, that under no circumstances should any
other slaveholding state enter this Union. The debate did cease in obedience to
that appeal, the vote was taken, and the result is before us. And now, sir, in
reference to that result I have a word to say. It explodes at one dash, the
hollow-hearted and hypocritical pretension that this question was to be left to
the people, when they came to form their respective constitutions. It verifies
what I have said here and elsewhere, that this doctrine was a miserable cheat,
an infamous imposition, a gross fraud upon the South. If the people, as in the
case of California, make an anti-slavery constitution, the doctrine is applied
and the state is admitted; but if any other state shall offer a pro-slavery
constitution, we are given by this vote distinctly to understand, that such
state, her constitution, and this doctrine, will all be trampled under foot
together.
I want my
constituents and the country to see to what end we are to come at last. The
bold stand is taken by this vote that not another slave state is to be
admitted, no odds what her constitution may say.
I take ground with
the eloquent gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Toombs], and now declare, that if this
is to become the ruling principle of the North—if we are thus to crouch at the
footstool of power—if we are to be brought down from our high position as
equals to become your dependants-if we are to live for ever at your mercy,
rejoicing in your smiles and shrinking from your frown—if indeed, sir, it has
come to this, that the Union is to be used for these accursed purposes, then,
sir, by the God of my fathers, I am against the Union; and so help me Heaven, I
will dedicate the remnant of my life to its dissolution.
Men may talk of
adjustments, letters may be written, speeches may be made, newspapers printed
to glorify the Union—but, sir, if this is the Union you would glorify, it is
base-born slander to say the South is for it. If we are to have a Union of
equals, it will for ever rest upon all our hearts and all our hands—it will be
eternal. But if it is to be a Union of the tyrant and the serf, a Union of the
monarch and the menial, a Union of the vulture and the lamb, then, sir, I warn
gentlemen it will be a Union of perpetual strife. Say what you will, write what
you will, speak what you will, think what you will, the South will wage eternal
warfare upon such a Union. We will invoke with one voice the vengeance of
Heaven upon such a Union—we will pray unceasingly to the God of our deliverance
that he will send us a bolt from heaven to shiver the chain which thus binds us
to tyranny and oppression.
FRANKFORT, January 14, 1850.
DEAR ORLANDO,—It has been so long since I received a letter from, or written one to, you that I hardly know where or how to recommence our correspondence. I suppose I must, as the lawyers say, begin de novo.
I have read about two columns of your official report about your red brethren, and expect to read the residue at the first leisure moment. I congratulate you on the many compliments it has received from the public, and I now especially congratulate you on your deserving all those compliments.
Old Zack's message is characteristic. It is marked with a noble resolution and simplicity that must commend it to every sound head and heart in the nation, and its whole matter and manner make it a model and monument.
The reports of the Hon. Secretaries are excellent, and such as ought to bring honor and strength to the administration.
I must say, however, that I differ from our friend the Secretary of War on two points of his report—namely, the mode of increasing the army, and the exclusive employment of the topographical corps in superintending all the works of improvement for which Congress may make appropriations.
As to the first, I should have preferred the raising of new regiments to any extent that increase of the army was necessary, thereby preserving the old policy of keeping our little army in such a form as to admit of great expansion in time of need under its old and experienced officers. The officers of our army may be considered as reduced in force and number by all those who are now, and who must be, stationed anywhere on the coast of the Pacific, for they are so remote as to be incapable of any co-operation with our forces on the Atlantic. I think, therefore, that the old policy ought to have been adhered to. And with me, it would have been a recommendation of this course that it would have afforded the President the opportunity of giving military appointments to some of the gallant fellows among our volunteers and temporary troops who distinguished themselves in the Mexican war.
My objection on the other point seems to me to be still stronger. Why give to the "topographical corps" by law the exclusive or any exclusive direction and superintendency of the public works of improvement?
Why not leave the President and his cabinet to make, according to their discretion, selections of proper superintendents? The administration must at last be responsible for the due execution of the works, and it seems to me that the choice of the agents to be employed is a part of their proper duty and patronage, and ought not to be surrendered. I see no propriety requiring such self-denying ordinances. Some of those works would require the science of the topographical corps, and then the President would employ them as a matter of course. But in other works, such as clearing out our rivers, this science would not be necessary, and the President should be left free to choose competent employés among his friends who did not already enjoy the benefit of public office.
I am opposed to this monopoly of the topographical_corps for reasons public and private, general and particular. Such a monopoly would confer the means of great political influence, and opportunities for exercising it. How far officers of that corps might be disposed to use that influence I do not know.
But should any of them be disposed to use it, the greater probability is that it would be used against the administration, as probably every officer of that corps has received his commission from its political opponents. I by no means intend any disparagement of that corps, but am arguing only from general and natural causes. Now, though I do not desire to see any of the President's appointees playing the part of partisans, or appointed for any such purpose, I would not, on the other hand, have him and Mr. Crawford voluntarily surrendering the power of appointing their friends, and voluntarily exposing themselves to the inimical influences of those who may be their enemies. I say, therefore, that I do not see the justice or policy of giving to the topographical corps, in this instance, the exclusive legal preference which the secretary's report seems to concede them. I am not very conversant about such matters, and may not understand correctly the extent and import of that report, but, as I do understand it, it would exclude our friend Russell, and cut him off from any competition for the superintendency he formerly had over our river improvements. Pray let me know if that would be its effect, and if so, intercede with our friend Crawford, and tell him that Russell understands the navigation of our rivers better, and knows better how to improve it, and especially how to remove snags, than all his topographical corps together; and furthermore, that all they could do would be criticised and complained of, while all that he would do, even though not quite so well done, would, from a fellow-feeling, be praised by his fellow-boatmen. Attend to this matter, and do all that is possible to secure Russell in his expectations and hopes of being restored to his old office and employment.
Our legislature, as you know, is now in session, with nothing very interesting as yet before them, unless it be the various resolutions that are occasionally exploded concerning you Washington people and Federal affairs, disunion, slavery, etc. All these will no doubt be eventually reduced to the standard of a sound discretion and a sound patriotism. There is evidently among the members of the legislature a good deal of dissatisfaction with the late convention and the constitution they have proposed to the people. Yet it remains doubtful whether any serious opposition will be made to its adoption. I am led to believe that it would not be difficult to raise an opposition that would be very formidable, if not fatal, to the new constitution.
Our little town is very quiet, and stands just where it did and as it did when you left us. It is at this time covered with one of the deepest snows I have seen for a long time. It has been snowing for about eighteen hours. Letcher, you know, has left us, and has left a sort of darkness behind him, which we cannot entirely dissipate.
I see that my old friend Cass is threatening him in the Senate, and rebuking the love of office. That is well. The old gentleman, as is very natural, having been surfeited with office, wonders that anybody can have any appetite for it. I hope there can be no danger of Letcher's rejection.
The two most important events of the last month were fights between David Humphreys and Philip Swigert and between Cates and Hodges; pretty well matched in both cases, and no damage done. Both, indeed, have resulted fortunately; the first led to a prompt settlement of an old quarrel, the compromise of an old lawsuit, and the reconciliation of the parties; in the other, the affair has been so far arranged that the parties when they meet are to meet as friends, and peace is established again throughout our borders.
And now, unless this long letter should be considered as a grievance and drive you into a dissolution of our Union, I shall expect a very long answer, for you can tell a great deal that I want to hear.
How do you and old Zack get along together, and how does the old general bear himself amidst the storm of opposition in Congress? Who have you become acquainted with among the members of Congress? Are Toombs and Stephens among the number? How comes on the cabinet generally and in the particular, etc.?
But first in order and above all these mere public concerns, how is your household? Do you intermeddle much in politics? How is Burnley, who has not written to me since we parted?
[Continued from Congressman Charles S. Morehead to SenatorJohn J. Crittenden, March 30, 1850.]
March 31st. Not finishing my letter last night, I have to add this morning the news, which you will no doubt hear long before this reaches you, of Mr. Calhoun's death. He died this morning at eight o'clock. I do not yet clearly see what effect his death is to have on political events. He was firmly and, I suppose, honestly persuaded that the Union ought to be dissolved. I understand that he has prepared a paper showing that the only salvation of the South is by disunion. It is said to be a very strong and dangerous argument, placing the whole matter upon the ground that there can be no security for our property by any other possible or attainable means, and that the South has all the elements of unbounded prosperity without the Union; while with it it is fast assuming a mere provincial character, impoverishing itself to aggrandize the North. I do not, of course, know that this rumor is true, but I believe it is. This was the purport of a conversation he held with Mr. Toombs a few days ago. He told him he would not live this session out, and that he must leave to younger men the task of carrying out his views. A pamphlet has recently been published in Virginia calculated to do much mischief. It is an argument for disunion with an array of pretended facts, which, if true, or if not shown to be unfounded, I think would produce a very great effect. Mr. Clay told me that he thought it the most dangerous pamphlet he ever read.
Our Northern friends are blind, absolutely blind, to the real dangers by which we are surrounded. They don't want to believe that there is any danger, and in general they treat the whole matter as mere bravado and as scarcely worth notice. I concur this far with them, that it is utterly impossible formally to dissolve this Union, and it never will be dissolved by any convention or by any declaration of independence. The dissolution must precede these things if it ever does take place. The fear I entertain is of the establishment of mere sectional parties, and the commencement of a system of retaliatory local or State legislation. You may have seen that this has been already recommended by the governor of Virginia. If the slave question should not be settled, there is scarcely a Southern State that will not pass laws to prevent the sale of Northern products by retail in its limits. The decision of the Supreme Court, in the case of Brown vs. Maryland, declaring the unconstitutionality of taxing the imports of another State, contains some dictum of the right of a State to tax such imports after they have become incorporated with the property of the State. The whole proceeding would doubtless be a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Constitution. But what is it that men will not do when smarting under real or imaginary grievances? You may think that I am inclined to be gloomy, but I do most solemnly believe that disunion will ensue, and that more speedily than any man now has any idea of, if there should be a failure of an amicable settlement. You cannot be surprised, then, that my whole heart and soul are engaged in the effort to bring this about. I feel as you do about the Union, as I know that Kentucky does, and it must be preserved at the sacrifice of all past party ties. I am perfectly sure, from the most mature and calm consideration, that there is but one way of doing this. The North must give up its apparently determined purpose of making this general government assume an attitude of hostility to slavery. We cannot prevent individual agitation and fanaticism, but I think we have the undoubted right to ask that a common government shall not, in its action, become hostile to the property of a large portion of its own citizens.
Mr. Clay sent for old Mr. Ritchie, and had a long and confidential conversation with him upon this subject. The tone of the Union is evidently changed since that time. You may have noticed that he speaks much oftener in favor of union than he did. This is not generally known, and of course I do not wish it spoken of as coming from me. I have written you a long letter, which may occupy some of your dull moments at Frankfort. I wrote to your new Secretary of State some time ago, which he has never answered. I hope in the enjoyment of his new honors he has not forgotten his old friends.
WASHINGTON, April 25, 1850.
DEAR CRITTENDEN,—I have been thinking for several months that I would write to you, but as I did not wish to annoy you with disagreeable intelligence, I deferred it, hoping that events would open up a better prospect for the future. That expectation has not yet been realized. "It were a tale too long" to detail all the blunders of the cabinet, which have brought the Whig party to the brink of ruin; but of the special question upon which their policy has nearly estranged the whole Whig party of the South it is proper to give you some brief hints, that you may understand our position. During the last summer, the government, with the consent of the whole cabinet, except Crawford, threw the entire patronage of the North into the hands of Seward and his party. This was done under some foolish idea of Preston's, that they would get rid of a Northern competition for 1852, as Seward stood for 1856. The effect of this was to enable Seward to take the entire control of the New York organization, and force the whole Northern Whig party into the extreme anti-slavery position of Seward, which, of course, sacked the South. I knew the effect of this policy would certainly destroy the Whig party, and perhaps endanger the Union. When I came to Washington, I found the whole Whig party expecting to pass the proviso, and that Taylor would not veto it, that thereby the Whig party of the North were to be built up at the expense of the Northern Democracy, who, from political and party considerations, had stood quasi opposed to the proviso. I saw General Taylor, and talked fully with him, and while he stated he had given and would give no pledges either way about the proviso, he gave me clearly to understand that if it was passed he would sign it. My course became instantly fixed. I would not hesitate to oppose the proviso, even to the extent of a dissolution of the Union. I could not for a moment regard any party considerations on the treatment of the question. I therefore determined to put the test to the Whig party and abandon its organization upon its refusal. Both events happened to defeat this policy; it was of the first importance to prevent the organization of the House going into the hands of the Northern Whig party. I should have gone to any extent to effect that object, they foolishly did it themselves. Without fatiguing you with details, my whole subsequent course has been governed by this line of policy. I have determined to settle the question honorably to my own section of country, if possible, at any and every hazard, totally indifferent to what might be its effect upon General Taylor or his administration. In the course of events, the policy of the cabinet has vacillated to and fro, but has finally settled upon the ground of admitting California, and non-action as to the rest of the territories. Seward and his party have struck hands with them on this policy, but Stanly is the only Southern Whig who will stand by them. I think it likely the course of events may throw the whole of the Southern Whigs into opposition,-such a result will not deter us from our course. We are willing to admit California and pass territorial governments on the principle of McClernand's bill; we will never take less. The government, in furtherance of their stupid and treacherous bargain with the North, are endeavoring to defeat it; with their aid we could carry it, as more than twenty-five Northern Democrats are pledged to it. They may embarrass us, possibly may defeat us, but our defeat will be their ruin. The cabinet have intense hostility to Mr. Clay, and I think it likely we, and the country, will be greatly benefited by the feud, inasmuch as it makes Clay the more anxious to conform to the interests of his own section and of the Southern Whigs, and this the rather because the government has the whip hand of him (through Seward) with the Northern Whigs. The Senate's committee will, I think, agree upon propositions which will pass; this can only be defeated by the want of common sense and common prudence on the part of Mason, Butler, and others of that "ilk" in both houses of Congress, and the efforts of the administration. But as to the latter it is but candid to say that they have little power, either for good or evil. For some reason, wholly unaccountable to me, the Northern members of the cabinet are universally odious, even to the Northern Whigs. Clayton is a dead body tied to the concern. Johnson is honorable and clever, but without wisdom. Preston is speculative, and, what is worse, has no sentiment in common with the section which he represents. Crawford alone is true and faithful to the honor and interest of our section, and the late scene about the Galphin claim is an effort of men in the service of government to drive him out. He is the last link that binds a majority of the Southern Whigs to the government, and I have no doubt but they will soon make it inconsistent with his own honor to remain there. I have thus given you a brief outline of men and parties in the government. I have said nothing of General Taylor; my opinion is that he is an honest, well-meaning man, but that he is in very bad hands, and his inexperience in public affairs, and want of knowledge of men, is daily practiced upon, and renders him peculiarly liable to imposition. I think there has been a studied effort to alienate him from his original friends, and that it has been eminently successful; time will show that he and not they will suffer most by that alienation. Morehead is now making a good speech at my back, and has perhaps, to some extent, destroyed the continuity of my narrative. Let me hear from you.
WASHINGTON, [D. C.],
October 29th, 1850.
DEAR HUNTER: Your
second favour was received enquiring after the first which had already been
answered, and I presume you receized the Tazewell letter, as safely as it came
from the hands of the Visigoth printer.
The news for the
last few days looks better from the South. The Georgia papers have better tone,
and our friends claim to be strong. I learn to-day that Toombs has written here
that Georgia can be saved for the Compromise if the North will only behave
itself, a thing that the North wont do more and more every day.
Wagner of the New
Orleans Courier has retired, and the paper goes more with the South. In a card
he publishes he ascribes his retirement to his devotion to the Union which was
too great for the proprietors of the paper. I suppose we have to thank Soule
and Barton.
Doherty (Judge) of
Georgia, Whig and the man on whom all the Whigs but seven united for Senator at
the last election instead of Dawson, has come out for resistance.
The Mississippi
papers look pretty well.
I have written over
to New York about your nephew, and if possible will get him a place. Soon as I
hear will write. (P. S.) Cabell is elected by decreased majority.
SOURCE: Charles
Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of
Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 120
The news brought by the steamer from America is exciting. The political storm rages fiercely in the South, taking a reckless direction for secession, and produces a financial panic which cannot pass away without effecting a widespread ruin. The successful Republican party at the Presidential election are striving to appease and propitiate, but having, during the canvass, taken the “irrepressible conflict” ground, and having had the aid of the Garrisonian Radicals, who denounce the Constitution as a "League with hell," it seems natural that the South should regard their defeat as involving a destruction of their property and rights. If I could perceive among the leading men in the agitation of the South any staid, judicious statesmen, I should think the Union lost. I see only such uniformly violent, effervescing, and unsuccessful ranters as Yancey, Rhett, Keitt, Toombs, and I conclude that the local movements will yet be settled by the ballast near the keelson of the ship.
SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 420-1
We find the following in the Baltimore Papers. With regard the Sumner’s statement, we may remark that it disagrees, in important particulars, with authentic accounts heretofore published.
WASHINGTON, May 26.—The House committee of investigation waited on Mr. Sumner to-day in discharge of their duty regarding the resent assault. He was in bed but have is testimony and was also cross-examined. He was unable to set up during the visit of the committee, but did so a short time today. He is still very week and his physicians counsel him not to move out of the House for a week.
The following is Mr. Sumner’s statement on oath.—“I attended the Senate as usual on Thursday the 22nd of May. After some formal business a message was received from the House of Representatives, announcing the death of a member of that body from Missouri. This was followed by a brief tribute to the deceased from Mr. Geyer, of Missouri, when, according to usage and out of respect to the deceased, the Senate adjourned. Instead of leaving the Chamber with the rest on the adjournment, I continued in my seat, occupied with my pen. While thus intent, in order to be in season for the mail, which was soon to close, I was approached by several persons, who desired to consult with me, but I answered them promptly and briefly, excusing myself, for the reason that I was much engaged.
When the last of these persons left me, I drew my arm chair close to my desk, and with my legs under the desk, continued writing. My attention at this time was so entirely drawn from all other objects, that, though there must have been many persons in the Senate, I saw no body. While thus intent, with my head bent over my writing, I was addressed by a person who approached the front of my desk, so entirely unobserved that I was not aware of his presence, until I heard my name pronounced. As I looked up, with my pen in my hand, I saw a tall man, whose countenance was not familiar, standing directly over me, and at the same moment I caught these words:—“I have read your speech twice over carefully.—It is a libel on South Carolina and Mr. Butler who is a relative of mine.”
While these words were still passing from his lips, he commenced a succession of blows with a heavy cane on my head, by the first of which I was stunned so as to lose sight. I no longer saw my assailant nor any other person or object in the room. What I did afterwards was done almost unconsciously, acting under the instincts of self-defence, with my head already bent down, I rose from my seat, wrenching up my desk which was screwed to the floor, and then pressed forward while my assailant continued his blows.—I had no other consciousness, until I found myself ten feet forward in front of my desk, lying on the floor of the Senate, with my bleeding head supported on the knee of a gentleman, whom I soon recognized by voice and manner as Mr. Morgan of New York. Other persons there were about me offering friendly assistance, but I did not recognize any of them. Others there were at a distance, looking on and offering no assistance of whom I recognized only Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, Mr. Toombs of Georgia, and, I thought, also my assailant standing between them.
I was helped from the floor and conducted into the lobby of the Senate, where I was placed upon a sofa. Of those who helped me there I have no recollections. As I entered the lobby I recognized Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana, who retreated; but I recognized no one else until I felt a friendly grasp of the hand, which seemed to come from Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, I have a vague impression that Mr. Bright, President of the Senate, spoke to me while I was on the floor of the Senate or in the lobby. I make this statement in answer to the interrogatories of the committee and offer it as presenting completely all my recollections of the assault and of the attending circumstances, whether immediately before after. I desire to add that besides the words which I have given as uttered by my assailant, I have an indistinct recollection of the words “old man,” but these are so enveloped in the mists which ensued from the first blow, that I am not sure whether they were uttered or not.
On the cross examination Mr. Sumner said that he was entirely without arms of any kind, and that he had no notice or warning of any kind direct or indirect, of this assault.
In answer to another question, Mr. Sumner replied:—That what he had said of Mr. Butler was strictly responsive to Mr. Butler’s speeches.
Another bright and beautiful day; and vegetation is springing with great rapidity. But nearly all my potatoes, corn, egg-plants, and tomatoes seem to have been killed by the frosts of March. I am replanting corn, lima beans, etc. The other vegetables are growing well. One of my fig-bushes was killed—that is, nearly all the branches. The roots live.
It is rumored that the armies on the Rapidan were drawn up in line.
The enemy have again evacuated Suffolk.
Gen. Beauregard is at Weldon. Perhaps Burnside may hurl his blows against North Carolina.
Food is still advancing in price; and unless relief comes from some quarter soon, this city will be in a deplorable condition. A good many fish, however, are coming in, and shad have fallen in price to $12 per pair.
The government ordered the toll of meal here (which the miller, Crenshaw, sold to the people) to be taken for the army; but Col. Northrop, Commissary-General, opposes this; and it is to be hoped, as usual, he may have his way, in spite of even the President. These papers pass through the hands of the Secretary of War.
The French ships have gone down the river, without taking much tobacco; said to have been ordered away by the United States Government.
Col. W. M. Browne (the President's English A.D.C.), it is said, goes to Georgia as commandant of conscripts for that State. It is probable he offended some one of the President's family, domestic or military. The people had long been offended by his presence and arrogance.
The Enquirer, to-day, has a communication assaulting Messrs. Toombs and Stephens, and impeaching their loyalty. The writer denounced the Vice-President severely for his opposition to the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. During the day the article was sent to Mr. Secretary Seddon, with the compliments of Mr. Parker—the author, I suppose.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 193-4
