by an exterior force, which should obstruct its transmission to foreign markets a course of conduct which would be detrimental to the manufacturing and commercial interests abroad." Mr. Stephens spoke with still more explicitness. He said the "foundations [of the new government] are laid. Its corner-stone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery-subordination to the superior race-is his natural and moral condition." A party in the secession. [39] On [40] *Having thus formally declared that the contemplated limitation of the territory within which negro slavery should be tolerated was the sole cause of the projected separation, and having appealed to the world to support them, the seceding States made efforts, which proved vain, to induce the other slave States to join them. No other States passed ordinances of seccession until after the fall of Fort Sumter. the contrary, the people of the States of Tennessee2 and Missouri3 before 'that time voted by large majorities against secession; and in the States of North Carolina and Virginia conventions were called and were in session when some of the events hereinafter referred to took place; and these bodies were known to be opposed to the revolutionary movements in South Carolina and the six States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. A large minority, if not a majority, of the people of the slave States known as Border States, and of the mountainous parts of the South opposed to Six States known as the Gulf States, did not desire separation. They were attached to the Union, which had fostered and protected their interests, and they expressed no dissatisfaction, except with the proposed policy as to the extension of slavery, and *in many cases not even with that. Their feelings were forcibly expressed by the distinguished Alexander H. Stephens, Provisional Vice-President of the Montgomery Government, in a speech made in the Convention in Georgia before that State passed the ordinance of secession, and about two months before he accepted office at Montgomery. He said, ,4 "This step [of secession] once taken can never be recalled; and all the baleful and withering consequences that must follow will rest on the Convention for all coming time. When we and our posterity shall see our lovely South desolated by the demon of war, which this act of yours will inevitably invite and call forth; when our green fields of waving harvest shall be trodden down by the murderous soldiery and fiery car of war sweeping over our land; our temples of justice laid in ashes; all the horrors and desolations of war upon us, who but this Convention will be held responsible for it, and who but him who shall have given his vote for this unwise and ill-timed measure, as I honestly think and believe, shall be held to strict account for this suicidal act by the present generation, and probably cursed and execrated by posterity for all coming time, for the wide and desolating ruin that will inevitably follow this act you now propose to perpe*trate? Pause, I entreat you, and consider for a moment what reasons you can give that will even satisfy yourselves in calmer moments; what reasons you can give to your fellow-sufferers in the calamity that it will bring upon us. What reasons can you give to the nations of the earth to justify it? They will be the calm and deliberate judges in the case, and what cause or overt act can you name or point to, on which to rest the plea of justification? What right has the North assailed? What [41] interest of the South has been invaded? What justice has been denied? And what claim founded in justice and right has been withheld? Can either of you to-day name one governmental act of wrong, deliberately and purposely done by the Government of Washington, of which the South has a right to complain? I challenge the answer." All the facts above referred to in this paper were patent to the whole world, were ostentatiously put forth by the insurgents, and were openly commented upon by the public press throughout the United States. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to presume that the British Government received from its representatives and agents in the United States full information concerning them as they took place. To suppose the [42] contrary would be to ignore the well-known fidelity of those officers. * Inauguration ot Mr. Lincoln entered upon the duties of his office on the 4th of March, 1861. He found the little Army of the United States scattered and disintegrated; the Navy sent to distant quarters Mr. Lincoln. of the globe; the Treasury bankrupt; the credit of the United States seriously injured by forced sales of Government securities; the public service demoralized; the various Departments of the Government filled with unfaithful clerks and officers, whose sympathies were with the South, who had been placed in their positions for the purpose of paralyzing his administration. These facts, which were known to the world, must have attracted the attention of the observant Representa tive of Great Britain at Washington, and must have enabled him to make clear to his Government the reasons why the Cabinet at Washington must pause before asserting its rights by force. The British Gov his purposes. The new Government took an early opportunity to inform the British Government of its purposes.1 On the 9th of March, four days after the installment of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Dallas, the ernment informed of Minister of the United States at London, was instructed [43] to communicate to Lord Russell the Inaugural Address of the President, and to assure him that the President entertained full confidence in the speedy restoration of the harmony and unity of the Government. He was further told that "the United States have had too many assurances and manifestations of the friendship and good will of Great Britain, to entertain any doubt that these considerations will have their just influence with the British Government, and will prevent that Government from yielding to solicitations to intervene in any unfriendly way in the domestic concerns of our country." 2 Mr. Dallas, in complying with his instructions, (April 9, 1861,) pressed upon Lord Russel the importance of England and France abstaining, "at least for a considerable time, from doing what, by encouraging groundless hopes, would widen a breach still thought capa- Lord John Russell ble of being closed." Lord Russell replied that the coming Mr. Adams's arrival of Mr. Adams (Mr. Dallas's successor) "would doubtless be before acting. regarded as the appropriate and natural occasion for finally discussing and determining the question." promises to await The United States therefore had reasonable ground to believe, not only in view of the great moral interests of which they were the [44] exponents, and of the long-standing friendship between them *and Great Britain, but also in consequence of the voluntary promise of Lord Russell, that an opportunity would be afforded them to explain their views and purposes through their newly selected and specially trusted representative; and least of all had they cause to anticipate 1 Seward to Dallas, Vol. I, page 8. 2 Dallas to Seward, Vol. I, page 12. that a Government which they supposed to be in sympathy with their policy as to African slavery, would precipitate a decision as to the insurgents, which was so obviously injurious to the United States, as to almost appear to have been designedly so. Surrender of Fort Sumter. The delay upon which the Government of the United States relied to firmly secure the loyalty of the Border States, and their aid in inducing the peaceable return of the Gulf States, was interrupted by the attack upon Fort Sumter, made by order of the Government at Montgomery. This attack ended in the surrender of the garrison on the 13th of April. This was followed on the 15th of April by a 'Proclamation of the President, calling out the militia and convening an extra session of Congress on the 4th day of the next July. On the 17th of April, Mr. Jefferson Davis gave notice that letters of marque would be granted by the persons who had atof tempted to establish a *Government at Montgomery, by usurping the authority of the United States. The insurgents to issue letters marque. ade. [45] On the 19th of April President Lincoln issued a Proclamation deProclamation giv claring that a blockade of the ports within the States of ing notice of block South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, LouObjects of that isiana, and Texas would be established for the purpose of collecting the revenue in the disturbed part of the country, and for the protection of the public peace, and of the lives and properties of quiet and orderly citizens, until Congress should assemble. That body was summoned to assemble on the fourth day of the following July. proclamation. The full text of this Proclamation will be found in Vol. I, page 21. In the course of the discussion between the two Governments growing out of the war, it has been repeatedly asserted that Her Majesty's Government was induced to confer upon the insurgents in the South the status of belligerents, in consequence of the receipt of the news of the President's Proclamation of April 19. The United States are therefore forced to invite the patience of the Board of Arbitrators, while they establish, from conclusive proof, that Her Majesty's Government is mistaken in that respect. Before any armed collision had taken place, there existed an The joint action of Great Britain. understanding between Her Majesty's *Government [46] France invited by and the Government of the Emperor of the French, with a view to securing a simultaneous and identical course of action of the two Governments on American questions. It is within the power of the British Government to inform the Arbitrators when that understanding was reached. The fact that it had been agreed to by the two Governments was communicated to Mr. Dallas, by Lord John Russell, on the 1st day of May, 1861.3 There was nothing in the previous relations between Great Britain and the United States which made it necessary for Her Majesty's Government to seek the advice or to invite the support of the Emperor of the French in the crisis which was threatened. The United States are at a loss to conjecture what inducement could have prompted such an act, unless it may have been the perception on the part of Her Majesty's Government that it was in its nature not only unfriendly, but almost hostile to the United States. When the news of the bloodless attack upon Fort Sumter became known in Europe, Her Majesty's Government apparently assumed that 1 Vol. I, page 16. 2 Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia, 1861, page 137. Mr. Dallas to Mr. Seward, May 2, 1861. Vol. I, p. 33, 34. the time had come for the joint action which had been previously agreed upon; and, without waiting to learn the purposes of the United [47] States, it *announced its intention to take the first step by recognizing the insurgents as belligerents. dent's Proclamation was received in The President's Proclamation, which has since been made the ostensible reason for this determination, was issued on the 19th When the Presiof April, and was made public in the Washington newspapers of the morning of the 20th. An imperfect copy of it Great Britain. was also telegraphed to New York, and from thence to Boston, in each of which cities it appeared in the newspapers of the morning of the 20th. The New York papers of the 20th gave the substance of the Proclamation, without the official commencement and close, and with several errors of more or less importance. The Boston papers of the same date, in addition to the errors in the New York copy, omitted the very important statement in regard to the collection of the revenue, which appears in the Proclamation as the main cause of its issue. During the morning of the 19th of April, a riot took place in Baltimore, which ended in severing direct communication, by rail or telegraph, between Washington and New York. Telegraphic communication was not restored until the 30th of the month. The regular passage of the mails and trains was resumed about the same time. It appears by a dispatch from Lord Lyons to Lord *John Russell that the mails had not been resumed on the 27th.1 [48] It is absolutely certain that no full copy of the text of the Proclamation could have left Washington by the mails of the 19th, and equally certain that no copy could have reached New York from Washington after the 19th for several days. On the 20th the steamer Canadian sailed from Portland, taking the Boston papers of that day, with the imperfect copy of the Proclamation, in which the clause in regard to the collection of the revenue was suppressed. This steamer arrived at Londonderry on the 1st of May, and the "Daily News" of London, of the 2d of May, published the following telegraphic items of news: "President Lincoln has issued a Proclamation, declaring a blockade of all the ports in the seceded States. The Federal Government will condemn as pirates all privateer-vessels which may be seized by Federal ships." The Canadian arrived at Liverpool on the 2d of May, and the "Daily News," of the 3d, and the "Times," of the 4th of May, published the imperfect Boston copy of the Proclamation in the language as shown in the note below.2 [49] No other than the Boston copy of the * Proclamation appears to have been published in the London newspapers. It is not likely that a copy was received in London before the 10th, by the Fulton from New York. 1 Blue Book, North America, No. 1, 1862, page 26. 2 The following is the President's Proclamation of the blockade of the Southern ports: "An insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States cannot be executed effectually therein conformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States; and further, a combination of persons, engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas and in the waters of the United States; and whereas an Executive Proclamation has already been issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist, and therefor Opinion of Law Officers taken on an imperfect copy. [50] It was on this meager and incorrect information that the advice of the British Law Officers was based, upon which that Government acted. On the evening of the 2d of May, Lord John Russell stated in the House of Commons that "Her Majesty's Government heard the other day that the Confederated States have issued letters of marque, and to-day we have heard that it is intended there shall be a blockade of all the ports of the Southern States. As to the general provisions of the law of nations on these questions, some of the points are so new, as well as so important, that they have been referred to the Law Officers of the Crown for their opinions." Her Majesty's Govthe 1st of May to war. on It is with deep regret that the United States find themselves obliged to lay before the Tribunal of Arbitration the evidence that, ernment decide when this announcement was made in the House of Comrecognize a state of mons, Her Majesty's Government had already decided to recognize the right of the Southern insurgents to attack and destroy the commerce of the United States on the high seas. the 1st day of May, 1861, (two days before they could have heard of the issue of the President's Proclamation,) Lord John Russell wrote as follows to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty:2 On "The intelligence which reached this country by the last nail from the United States gives reason to suppose that a civil war between the Northern and Southern States of that Confederacy was imminent, if indeed it might not be considered to have already begun. [51] *"Simultaneously with the arrival of this news, a telegram, purporting to have been conveyed to Halifax from the United States, was received, which announced that the President of the Southern Confederacy had taken steps for issuing letters of marque against the vessels of the Northern States." * * * * * "I need scarcely observe to Your Lordships that it may be right to apprise the Admiral that, much as Her Majesty regrets the prospect of civil war breaking out in a country in the happiness and peace of which Her Majesty takes the deepest interest, it is Her Majesty's pleasure that nothing should be done by her naval forces which should indicate any partiality or preference for either party in the contest that may ensue." On the 4th of May Lord John Russell held an interview with some individuals, whom he described as "the three gentlemen insurgent deputed by the Southern Confederacy to obtain their recogcuss the recognition nition as an independent State." Although he informed them that he could hold no official communication with them, Lord John Russell and the commissioners of Southern independence. calling out the militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon, the President, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protection of the public peace and the lives and property of its orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall have ceased, has further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and the laws of nations in such cases provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted, so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, any vessel shall attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of said blockading vessels, who will indorse on her register the fact and date of such warning; and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave a blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her and her cargo as may be deemed advisable." 1 Vol. IV, page 482. 2 Vol. I, page 33. 3 Vol. I, page 37. |