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QF THE
Southern History Association.
COLYER MERIWETHER, Editor.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Dr. Coi,yer Meriwether.
VOLUME IX.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
THE ASSOCIATION. 1905.
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OFFICERS/1905,
PRESIDENT: General Marcus J. Wright.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
Colonel George A. Porterfield. President Woodrow Wilson.
Mr. Thomas Nelson Page. Honorable S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: Colyer Meriwether, Ph. D., Washington, D. C
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the above-named Officers) :
Professor Kemp P. Battle. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Professor R. Heath Dabney. Professor John R. Ficklen. Professor Chas. Lee Smith. Professor W. C Stubbs.
Mr. Alexander Summers. President Geo. T. Winston. J. B. Killebrew, Ph. D. Mr. B. F. Johnson. Prof. George P. Garrison.
3 99 41
CONTENTS.
No. i. January, 1905.
Vice-President Johnson (continued), by D. M. DeWitt, 1
Vice-President Johnson and Senator Doolittle, by D. Mowry, 24
Joseph Martin and Cherokees — Documents (concluded) 27
Benedict Arnold's Family, by M. J. Wright, 42
Mexican War Documents, 45
American Negro Academy, by W! L. Fleming, 49
Reviews, 52
Notes and News, 70
No. 2. March, 1905.
Vice-President Johnson (continued) , by D. M. DeWitt, 71
Texas Revolution Documents, Taking of Auahuac, (to be continued), 87
McHenry Letters, 99
Letter of Admiral Lee n 1
Death of Alexander Gaston, 121
Two Biographic^ Skbtchks, { j££8 ™$J,h°mP™' } '*
Reviews, 130
Notes and News 150
No. 3. May, 1905.
Vice-President Johnson (continued), by D. M. DeWitt, 151
Texas Revolution Documents, Taking of Anahuac (continued), 160
Doolittle Correspondence, Admiral Paulding's Letters, 174
Lenoir's Rangers Documents, Contributed by Mrs. P. H. Mell, 183
Elizabeth Marshall Martin, Letters, contributed by Mrs. J. A. Perry. 187
Reviews, 189
Notes and News, 210
No. 4. July, 1905.
Vice-President Johnson (concluded), by D. M. DeWitt, 213
Texas Revolution Documents (concluded), 226
Lafayette's Campaign in Virginia (to be continued), by M. J. Wright, 254
Doolittle Correspondence, 24 1
Reviews, -
Notes and News 255
No. 5. September, 1905-
Lafayette's Campaign in Virginia (concluded), by M. J. Wright,. . . 261
Making of Confederate Constitution, by A. L. Hull, 2:2
French Refugees to New Orleans, by L. M. Perez, 293
McHenry Papers, 311
Reviews, ' 3*1
Notes and News, 34*
Necrology 35a
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013
http://archive.org/details/publicationsofso09sout
No. 6. November, 1905.
Whiting Diary, by W. H. C. Whiting, 361
Maryland Politics in 1796— McHenry Letters, 374
Revolutionary Politics— Duane Letters, 893
Negro Colonization — Doolittle Correspondence 401
Biographical Sketches, 411
Reviews, 417
Notes and News, 439
Vol. IX. JANUARY, 1905. No. 1
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
Southern History Association.
COLYER MERIWETHER, Editor.
ISSUED BI-MONTHLY.
CONTENTS :
Page
Vice-President Johnson (continued), by D. M. DeWitt, I
Vice-President Johnson and Senator Doouttle, by D. Mowry, 24
Joseph Martin and Cherokees — Documents (concluded) 27
Benedict Arnou>'s Family, by M. J. Wright, 42
Mexican War Documents, .' 45
American Negro Academy, by W. L. Fleming, 49
Reviews, 52
Notes and News, . . ., 70
Corcoran Building,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by the Association.
January, 1905.
Entered at the Post Office, Washington, D. C, as Second Class "Matter.
93.00 p*r annum; 91. OO per number. No responsibility assumed for opinions of contributor*.
OFFICERS, 1905.
PRESIDENT: General Marcus J. Wright.
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
General M. C. Butler. Mr. Thomas Nelson Pace.
Colonel George A. PortereiEld. President Woodrow Wilson.
Honorable S. Pasco.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: Colyer Meriwether, Ph. D., Washington, D. C
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL: (In addition to the above-named Officers) :
Professor Kemp P. Battle. Stephen B. Weeks, Ph. D.
Colonel R. A. Brock. Mr. Alexander Summers.
Professor R. Heath Dabney: President Geo. T. Winston.
Professor John R. Ficklen. J. B. Killebrew, Ph. D.
Professor Chas. Lee Smith. Mr. B. F. Johnson.
Professor W. C. Stubbs. Prof. George P. Garrison.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE:
Gen. M. J. Wright. Dr. Stephen B. Weeks.
Dr. Colyicr Meriwether.
Pursuant to a call signed by nearly a hundred representative persons of the South, the Southern History Association was organized at the Columbian ' University, Washington, D. C, on the evening of April 24, 1896, for the pur- pose of studying the history of the Southern States. In carrying out this aim an annual meeting is held, and a Bi-monthly Publication issued. The Association also desires contributions of journals, letters, manuscripts and other material towards the beginning of a collection of historical sources. It will gladly accept papers based on research and documents on all subjects touching the South.
All persons, as well as libraries, interested in the work are eligible for membership, without initiation fee; annual dues $3.00, life dues $30.00. There is no other expense to members, who receive all current publications of the Association free of charge.
The publications alone can be had, postpaid, at $3.00 per volume, un- bound, or $1.00 per number.
All communications should be addressed to
COLYER MERIWETHER, Secretary. P. O. Box 65. Washington, D. C
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
SOUTHERN HISTORY ASSOCIATION.
Vol. IX. January, 1905. No. 1
VICE-PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON.
By David M. DkWitt. Kingston, N. Y.
(Continued.)
The man who became Vice-President under the cloud of a national scandal and, after so brief an interval, became President under the cloud of a national calamity, was in his fifty-seventh year and had but ten years more to live. Be- hind him lay a career which, starting" from the bottom of the social order and mounting- with steady movement, step by step and grade by grade, to the topmost height, is with- out a parallel in the history of his own and, perhaps, of any other country, ancient or modern. His inner life had been one long struggle between a native intellect of no ordinary calibre and those hampering deficiencies entailed by the lack in youth of even the rudiments of culture. His outer life had been one series of hard-won victories over the well- nigh insurmountable obstacles with which, one after an- other, the society into which he was born blocked his path.
Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the twenty-ninth day of December, 1808, he was, strictly speaking, the only representative of the poor whites of the South that rose
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to preeminence in the history of this country. In his fifth year he lost his father and in his tenth he was appren- ticed to a tailor, whom he served six years, when in c< qnence of a youthful piece of mischief he fieri to Laurens Court House, South Carolina, where for two years he worked at his trade. He then went hack to Raleigh, made his peace with his master for his offense and his flight, and, in September, 1826, with his mother and step- father, set out over the mountains for East Tennessee. One dark- night, in a cart drawn by a blind pony, the travelers reached the village of Greeneville and camped out in a field near the spot where the Johnson mansion now stands. As was said in the Senate of this youth of eighteen, "a tailor's kit, his thimbles and his needles were probably the sum-total of his earthly possessions." School, he had never known and never was to know. Dur- ing his apprenticeship, he had taught himself to read by laboriously learning the letters and then spelling out the words and sentences in a book which a kind friend, after coming to the shop and reading aloud to him for some time, bestowed upon him as a gift. This memorable volume — religiously kept by its owner until his dying day — was a school text-book entitled : ''The American Speaker : a selec- tion of Popular Parliamentary and Forensic Eloquence," published at Philadelphia in the year 181S. So deeply were its contents engraved on his memory, that the more striking passages became a part of the student's own vocabulary — the mould into which his thoughts on kindred subjects naturally ran ; his speeches being interlarded with words, phrases and even whole sentences consciously or uncon- sciously taken from these specimens of classic eloquence. In the May following his advent in the village, the young tailor married a girl of respectable family, a native of the neighborhood and two years younger than himself. She it was who urged him to learn to write, and. in the shop dur-
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt. 3
ing the day and at home at night, lie taught himself under her guidance the rudiments of learning — all that his wife had been able to acquire in that secluded region. When his elder daughter, who was but twenty years younger than her father, began to attend school — by which time he had be- come a prosperous and leading citizen — he contracted the habit of joining her in her studies at home, and until she had completed an academic education father and daughter, lean- ing over the same book, followed the quest of knowledge together; this favorite child being in one sense her father's schoolmistress in the days of her youth and becoming his most intimate counselor in the days of his greatness. Still, it should be borne in mind, that the discipline and develop- men of his intellect and the bent of his mind were due in great measure to his own unwearied efforts. In his boy- hood, the daily conning over of printed words cast in a par- ticular mould — exemplified in his one book — generated an exalted estimate of the powers of public speech and a con- suming desire to wield them himself. In the early days of his manhood, his real school was the political issues of the times. Old Hickory — the idol of Tennessee — being Presi- dent, the impending war on the United States Bank and. more particularly, the nullification threats of South Carolina furnished rich topics for debate. His shop soon became the centre of political discussion and the figure sitting cross- legged on the bench, plying his needle and joining in the talk, the presiding genius and oracle of the circle. Later on he organized a debating society which met every week in the school-house, mingling in the homely debates with extraordinary zest and becoming distinguished in the neighborhood as a very paragon of eloquence. In this shop, twelve feet square, in this debating society hidden in the mountains, were sown in the heart of the young tailor the seeds of that fondness for controversy, of that persever- ance in retort as the only escape from acknowledged defeat
4 Southern History Association.
— the belief that to have the last word was the sole test of victory — so noticeable in the public man. And, here, also, were developed qualities still less agreeable. The preemin- ence so early and so freely accorded him i^d a self-esteem, large enough as it -was by nature, that made him opiniona- tive, intolerant of opposition and at times unreasonably re- sentful against an adversary of equal power and superior culture. But, on the other hand, this rough nnacademic education made him what he most emphatically was — the leader of his own class — the low-born, the poor, the illiterate, the unrefined ; and it was of this class he remained the leader to the end. These humble followers always recog- nized him as one of their own men; always put trust in him as their heaven-accredited and all-sufficient champion. The poor whites of Tennessee were the clan of which An- drew Johnson was the beloved chieftain.
Herein consists the principal distinction between him and the two self-taught men who were Presidents before him. Like him, they too sprang from the poor and uneducated, but, unlike him, soon emancipated themselves from the class of their origin; and neither in any strict sense was ever its representative. Andrew Jackson early in life joined the landed and governing class in which he took his place as though born to it; and his military career elevated him to a social rank far above the common soldiers he led. Abra- ham Lincoln, in his youth, bore the burden of the rough sons of toil, but his study and pursuit of the legal profes- sion soon lifted him into intimate association with the pros- perous and the, learned. But Andrew Johnson never lost touch with the unlettered comrades of his prime — never, while engaged in trade at all, became anything higher than a mere working tailor; owed nothing for his advancement to the landed interest, to military glory, to the profession of the law; these three main stepping-stones to political eminence. As his public career widened and he mingled
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt. 5
more and more in affairs of state, he of course came in con- tact with the scholarly statesman and the polished man of the world; but the contact was never so close and continu- ous as to draw him permanently from his native sphere. However high he rose he was always most at home among the ununiformed — the yeoman, the workingman, the small trader, the hard-handed tiller of the soil — the plain layman as contra-distinguished from the cleric, the professional man. the college graduate.
In a democratic republic, we need not wonder that the rise of a representative of that class which can say of the Third Estate what Louis XIV said of the State itself — "I am that," was steady and resistless. Alderman of his village at twenty and until at twenty-two he became its mayor; member of the lower house of the legislature oi Tennessee at twenty-seven ; after an intervening defeat reelected at twenty-nine, and senator at thirty-three, he emerges from the limits of his State as representa- tive in Congress at thirty-five. After a service of ten years in that body he is recalled to be chosen governor, and after serving two terms in that capacity, in the year 1857 — at the age of forty-nine — he is sent to the Senate of the United States. Every step in this upward course, however was gained only through contests of the hottest kind. His first field being in the neighborhood in which he lived, his first conflict was with the landholders of the vicinage, whom the constitution of the state gave a monopoly of certain privi- leges of office ; and his faithful championship of the cause of the landless won for him supremacy in the municipal gov- ernment and eventually led to the desired amendment, to secure the adoption of which he devoted his whole energy. The field widened for his next battle, carried on in the lower house of the legislature, as well as in the district lie represented, against a mania for lavish internal improve- ments; in which final victory, won at the cost o\ a first de-
6 Southern History Association.
feat, strengthened him all the more with his constituents. The arena still widening, he next engaged in the political controversies which at this time shook the State. In the revolt of Tennessee against the decree of her great son naming Martin VanBuren his successor, he took part but he stubbornly remained behind in the broken ranks of his party when Hugh L. White and John Bell carried their following into the camp of the Whigs almost to a man. As a presidential elector, he led a forlorn hope against Harrison and Tyler, addressing the people in every part of the State — and establishing a reputation as a singularly persuasive public speaker, which was never afterwards shaken. He was one of the "immortal 13" in the state senate that blocked the election of a Whig United States senator. As soon as the Democrats recovered their ascend- ency, he announced himself as a candidate for representa- tive in Congress and his entrance into the councils of the nation was signalized by the overthrow of William G. Brownlow, called "the fighting parson." His ten years in the House were chiefly distinguished by his persistent advo- cacy of the Homestead Bill — a bill giving one hundred and sixty acres of the public lands to every actual settler. As he once stated with arithmetical precision, "the House of Rep- resentatives passed it six years, two months and fifteen days after its introduction." His campaign for reelection as governor was characterized by himself as "the most bitter, vindictive and (he might say) malignant ever conducted in any State of this Confederacy." It was waged against the combined forces of old Whigs and so-called Americans just after the repeal of the Missouri compromise. He "can- vassed" (to use his own words) "the State from the moun- tains of Johnson county to the Chickasaw Bluffs." He had a competitor who was eloquent — "who was with him on every stump in the State." And, notwithstanding the oppo- sition party carried both houses of the legislature, he was
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt. 7
elected by three thousand majority. In a word, from the beginning up to the point we have now reached, his life had been a succession of appeals and counter-appeals to the one supreme tribunal he recognized — the common people.
Let us look at the man as he enters the Senate in the first year of the administration of President Buchanan.
A thick-set sturdy figure of middle height clad in con- ventional black, — broad-cloth coat, velvet vest, ample stock encircling an old-fashioned standing collar — a large head, the broad and deep-furrowed front just over-balanced by the massive development behind ; a clean-shaven face with something of the American Indian cast ; complexion florid ; hair dark ; cheek bones high ; long upper lip ; heavy lower jaw; motionless firm-set mouth; and smallish hazel eyes, so dark as to be scarcely distinguishable from black, peering from under overhanging brows witli a steady straight for- ward heavy-laden gaze ; a stern and melancholy visage in repose. Signs, not to be mistaken by a close and competent observer, testify to the obscurity of his origin and the wild- ness of his growth ; yet the native bearing of the man is stately and full of the confidence of power. When engaged in debate, his voice is low and sometimes insinuating in tone, his manner unperturbed, his gestures few and never violent. No matter how strong and even vehement the language, there is no screaming, scarcely an elevation of the key. While he is not frequent in debate, when he does take part he throws himself into the arena with all the ardor of youth and with something of youth's single aim to carry off the prize.
His speech it was, more than anything else, that betrayed his lack of early training and culture. Awkward often, now and then, it was even incoherent ; and he had a fashion of hammering away at a single thought until by repeated variations of language he at last got it out. When he had once caught the phrase or verbal expression that suited him,
8 Southern History Association.
the same collocation of words would occur again and again, sometimes in the same speech, always in subsequent speeches on related subjects. Despite these draw-backs, however, there was a singular impressiveness about the man as a speaker. His dead-earnestness was manifest notwithstand- ing the absence of loudness. The determination never to submit or yield was graven on his brow. Although at mo- ments the tone of his voice seemed to carry too much of "whispering humbleness," and his manner might appear af- fectedly obsequious ; the impression soon fled before the glare with which he encountered a presuming interrupter and the manifest joy with which he girded himself for con- troversy. If not always "armed/' he was always "eager for the fray." Andrew Johnson looked what he was — the very incarnation of pugnacity. Nature had endowed him with a fondness for fight. Circumstances had directed the predis- position into the forensic field. A tumultuous career had developed it into a ruling passion. He devoutly believed in the reliability of the common people. He devoutly be- lieved in the limitless power over them of public speech. And he had come not less devoutly to believe in his own skill and efficiency as a public speaker. It was this skill and efficiency, he believed, that had brought him to the height where he now stood, and he took an exultant pride in at- tributing his long series of victories before the people to this source. When he came at last to try his powers with the keen debaters of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the result was not so exhilarating. In such en- counters, he seemed at times uncomfortably conscious of his disadvantages, and nonplussed at the sudden failure of his favorite weapon; yet under no penalty would he acknowl- edge a weak spot in his armor. He pressed on For victor)', apparently insensible to the sharp wounds, the swift blades of his dexterous adversaries, shrewdly searching the rude gaps he unwittingly left, were able to inflict.
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt. 9
These encounters with the accomplished debaters of the forum, while really shaking the solid basis of self-confidence his past successes had built up, at the same time made him the more egotistic on the surface and the more sensitive to any inimical allusion to the circumstances of his early career. Over and over again he ostentatiously numbered the steps of the ladder by which he had mounted, that he might stand the more securely on the top. In some pending struggle he kept his courage up by crowing over his former victories. And, yet, with all this seeming boastfulness — at bottom, but the outgrowth of an underlying self-distrust — there was a total absence of those eccentricities by which the unlettered representatives of the back districts often made themselves conspicuous. There were no disheveled locks; no long un- kempt whiskers ; no shrieks ; no clawing the air ; no shirt without a collar. To the wild prophets of the prairie, the Tennessee senator bore still less resemblance than he did to the stately planters of the Old Dominion. In personal ap- pearance, he presented much more of the smugness of the well-to-do-trader than of that mixture of slovenliness and bravado in which the rough men of the border seemed to take pride.
This life of controversy, moreover, had not passed with- out its mellowing influences. It has made him. for one thing, an extremely reticent man ; in conversation a patient listener, but slow, cautious, and chary of speech. "President Johnson," so testifies one of his provisional governors, "never signifies * * whether he approves or disapproves of what you say * * * He listens to what you have to say and withholds whatever may be his own views." For another thing, it had transformed the instinctive bravery with which he was born into an open-eyed courage — moral as well as physical — staunch in every crisis, proof against every peril and detecting a coward at sight. It had forced him, furthermore, to store his mind with heaps o\ infonna-
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tion upon particular subjects for the time being absorbing his attention; in this way contracting- a habit of consulting the masters of modern literature and learning, who could not fail to lay a training hand, though late, upon the undisci- plined play of his powerful understanding. And so it came to pass, singular as it may appear, that whenever he took his pen and sat down to put into writing the finished product of his silent cogitations, every vestige of egotistic allusion, rough phrase, false syntax ; every indication of incoherence in idea and inadequacy of expression — features that invari- ably disfigured his impromptu speeches — dropped from his style; and his thoughts flowed out like a clear smooth stream, keeping well within its bounds, transparent to its depths, and steady in its course.
This single accomplishment, having been but seldom em- ployed by its possessor hitherto, was as yet unknown to the world. The rising statesman and orator seemed to have re- lied upon his capabilities for extemporaneous debate where- in his native deficiencies appeared side by side with his native strength, to the neglect of his acquired ability of pre- meditated composition wherein his native strength displayed itself, if not with so instant an effect, yet freed by self- culture from the deformities of its growth.
A glance at his carer in the Senate will illustrate the fore- going observations.
His first difference of opinion arose, singularly enough, with Jefferson Davis over a bill for an increase of the army in view of the impending war with Brigham Young. John- son opposed the increase on the ground that citizen soldiers either as militia or volunteers were adequate to the emer- gency and even preferable on general grounds to regulars. His economical notions having been disparaged as narrow and demagogical, he let fall the following defence, which may serve as illustrative of his style of speech :
"I came into the Senate of the United States as a Democrat and, if I know myself, I intend to be one in practice as well as in theory.
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt. 1 1
I know it is against the taste, the refined and peculiar notions of some men who get into high places, to talk about curtailing or reducing the expenditures of the government. That, with them, is all cant ; that is all for Buncombe ; that amounts to nothing ! * * * * * * It may be said 'Oh!' he is a pence-calculating politi- cian; he talks about the pence; he talks about the shillings; and consequently he is not to be regarded as being a statesman expanded in his views, liberal in his feelings, that grasps and takes in the scope of his mind all the nations of the earth and 'the re^t of man- kind.' "
Davis, on the contrary, favored the enlistment of regular soldiers on the ground that the material from which volun- teers were drawn was too precious for such expeditions as the one contemplated. Johnson's reply is characteristic :
"What is the material of which European armies are composed? There is a broken-down and brainless-headed aristocracy, members of decaying families that have no energy by which they can elevate themselves, relying on ancestral honors and their connection with the Government. On the other hand there is a rabble, in the proper acceptance of the term — a miserable lazzaroni, lingering and hang- ing and wallowing about their cities, that have no employment; and they are ready and anxious to enter the service of the Government at any time for a few six pences to buy their grog and a little clothing to hide their state of nudity. Such is the material of which their armies are composed — the rabble on the one hand and the broken- down decaying aristocracy on the other. Where does the middle man stand? Where does the industrious bee that makes the honey stand, from whose labor all is drawn? Where is he? He is placed between the upper and the nether millstone and is ground to death by the office-hunter on the one hand and the miserable rabble in the shape of soldiery on the other. 1 want no rabble here on the one hand and I want no aristocracy on the other. Let us elevate the masses, and make no place in our Government for the rabble, either in your Army or the Navy; but let us pursue those great principles of government and philanthropy that elevate the masses on the one hand, and dispense with useless offices on the other. Do this and you preserve the great masses of the people on whom all rests; with- out whom your Government would not have an entity."
But this encounter may be considered amicable compared with the pitched battle that took place a few days after be- tween the new senator and his venerable colleague. John Bell was a statesman of the old school, having long ago achieved a national reputation. An old line Whig; Speaker of the House of Representatives in the days of Van Buren :
12 Southern History Association.
Secretary of War in the days of Tyler ; for the last ten years, one of the senators of Tennessee representing the Whig- party until its downfall, and then the so-called Native- American ; destined yet to he head of the Bell and Everett ticket in the momentous presidential contest to come. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, with its incidental repeal of the Mis- souri Compromise, he had opposed ; and consequently was now under a cloud in his own State. Johnson, on the other hand, had been sent to the Senate as the first fruits of the reaction in Tennessee in favor of the Democratic party, re- sulting from the adoption of the policy embodied in that measure. The cautious, methodical old public functionary seems to have regarded the advent of his young colleague with disquieting apprehensions ; for we have it from his own words that he "supposed him capable * * of carrv-
ing the torch of domestic discord from Johnson county in the east to Shelby county in the west whenever he shall he tempted by his ambition to do it"; capable, "whenever tempted to it by being thwarted in his career" of becoming "an incendiary on this question" (the dissolution of the Union) "in my own State"; he "looked upon his colleague as a man with that sort of temper, disposition and princi- ples who would not hesitate to bring the question home in Tennessee, whatever might be the consequences."
Friendly intercourse between the two was tending to soften this prejudgment, when there arrived resolutions of the legislature of their State instructing her senators to vote for the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitu- tion, and condemning Bell's course on the Kansas-Nebraska bill nearly four years before. The senior senator before presenting the resolutions sought out his uncensured col- league with the request to allow any remarks he might see fit to make to pass without reply; to which request Johnson responded that his course in that respect would depend upon their tenor. The remarks that followed were respectful in
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt. 13
tone, Bell claiming that the legislature of Tennessee at the time of the passage of the Nebraska Act had expressed no opinion on the subject, that the people of Tennessee had not passed upon the merits of that measure at any election since and that therefore the present legislature had no jurisdic- tion to condemn his course so long past; while, concerning the instructions which he stated he did not consider binding, he left his compliance somewhat in doubt. To Johnson this treatment of the subject being unsatisfactory, he deemed it his duty to defend the action of his State. Coming into the Senate, as his angry adversary complained, "with books all marked down, with earmarks accompanying them, he most unexpectedly made one of the bitterest, one of the most in- sulting and most personal replies in every respect that malice, premeditated malice and determination, could in- vent"— "a three hours' speech bringing forward ornamental passages which he had been in the habit of reciting on the stump from Johnson to Shelby, when canvassing the State — all his studied views of the philosophy of government and the philosophy of slavery — all his notions of the rights of the people and squatter sovereignty.'' This severe criticism, Johnson's reply, which followed directly after the close of Bell's first remarks, did not deserve, at least so far as the first part of it was concerned. Johnson, at the outset, en- deavored to refute Bell's statement that, at the time of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, neither the legislature nor the people had expressed their approval of that measure — a measure which, in passing, he justified on the following somewhat original grounds :
"The people are the source of all power; and when they come to form their organic law, it is for them to determine the character of their institutions. * * * The Kansas-Nebraska hill proclaims the great principle which was incorporated into the Declaration of Inde- pendence." *****
"The idea of a man who can reason from cause to effect talking about sovereignty being vested in the Congress o\ the United States strikes me as very singular. * * * Can we by any process oi reasoning convert the derivative into the primitive' Can we convert
14 Southern History Association.
the creature into the creator? Whence does this Government derive its power? From the States. * * * Where do the States derive their power? From the people. The people are the source, the origi- nal lodgment of power. Power is inherent in man now as in the Revolution. When a State is to be formed you must go back to the original power. Congress cannot impart it. * * * Congress may admit new States, but it has no power to make one. * * It must
be a State before. Congress cannot admit anything but a State; but it is not the act of admission that makes the State. * * *
"Man carries sovereignty with him into the Territories; and sovereignty is the essential necessary to constitute a State. When the people in a Territory come to form their organic law, it is for them to combine their will in the shape of a Constitution. * ; Government emanates from them. * * * A government might be itinerant yet it would be with the people though it might have no abiding place. All that is necessary is the assent of Congress, the fee being here."
So far there was, certainly, nothing offensive. But at this point the two senators fell into a colloquy. Not compre- hending the position of his colleague concerning the in- structions of the legislature, Johnson asked him to restate it. An interlude of explanations on one side and con le- sions of inability to fully comprehend on the other end< with Bell's confident: "Now I hope my colleague under- stands me," and Johnson's "Not quite,'' which carries a note of coming storm. The elder senator enters into a further explanation and makes matters worse by alluding to his own "large interest'' in slaves, and to the danger of all agi- tation of the slavery question which the course of the Demo- cratic party tended to keep up. His antagonist, now ironical to the danger line, acknowledges his own "obtuseness" in not being able yet to understand.
Beix. "I am sorry for it."
Johnson. "It is an unfortunate condition to be in. In the firs! place I understand my competitor" —
JBErx. "I am no competitor of my colleague."
This over-prompt correction hurt Johnson's sensitive self- esteem, and from now on his language grew more and more personal. He taunts his antagonist with truckling to the North while he votes with the South; quoting the dog he "used to hear when a boy":
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt.
"He wires in and wires out,
Leaving the people all in doubt Whether the snake that made the track Is going North or coining back."
As for himself, he declares his intention to vote for the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution be- cause he believed "it is right and the most effectual means" to settle the agitation now pervading- the whole country. If he had been a member of the territorial convention he would have voted to submit the whole constitution to the people — "but the people were present in the convention and they de- termined that point for themselves." His exposition of what Bell called "his studied views on the philosophy of slavery" will be found interesting:
"I avow my sentiments here; I have avowed them in the other end of the Capitol; I have avowed them at home in reference to the great question of slavery; and I will say, as my honorable colleague has lugged it in or thrown it in, that I think I understand the basis on which the institution of slavery rests. We may make our speeches to please the North or please the South, as may suit us best, and sub- serve our interests most; but just so long as men are organized as they are, physically and mentally, one having more brains and more intellectual power than another, there will be different classes in society. * * *
"Let me illustrate my meaning by example : Here are two men one of whom has double the physical strength of the other. Let us talk about things plainly and homely. I know this may be consid- ered in bad taste by some ; but sometimes the simplest similes best explain a subject. Take these two men, the one having twice the physical strength of the other, and put them to making rails. I know that is not a senatorial term, but it is a common thing in this country. The man of double physical strength will make twice as many rails in the course of a day as the other. Is not that a dif- ference between men? The man of double the physical strength will increase in wealth, in anything to which you apply his labor, twice as rapidly as the other man. So it is with the exercise of the brain. This grows out of the organic structure of mankind. When you form a community out of individuals they commence the work of production, intellectual and physical ; and, as society moves on through time, we find some occupying the lower places ami some occupying the higher places. I do not care whether you call it slav- ery or servitude; the man who has menial offices to perform is the slave or the servant, I care not whether he is white or black. Servi- tude or slavery grows out of the organic structure of man. All the talk which we hear in deprecation of the existence of slavery is idle, and a great portion of it mere twaddle. Slavery exists: it is an in-
1 6 Southern History Association.
gredient of society growing out of man's mental and physical organi- zation; and the only question for us to discuss is what kind of slav- ery we shall have; not the existence of slavery for it is in society; it is an element, an ingredient that you cannot get rid of so long as man's organic structure is what it is. Will you have white or black slavery? Shall it be voluntary or involuntary? These are the only questions. As to the great thing itself, about which there seems to be so much difficulty, it exists beyond the reach and the control of man, unless he can reconstruct society, and after he has done that, reorganize the material of which society is composed."
Shortly after this argument, whose force rests on a mani- fest confusion of terms, he was unlucky enough again to designate his colleague as his "competitor" ; and Bell, now thoroughly indignant at the charge of duplicity, repudiated the epithet with a scornful emphasis which stung Johnson to the quick.
"My colleague says he is not my competitor in any respect.
"Having had a good many competitors to contend with, the term has become familiar to me in speaking in opposition to another, and when one gets in the habit of using such terms they are repeated un- consciously."
Bell hastened to exclaim that he excused it; that he did not mean any offense ; but Johnson was beyond the reach of appeasement. He launched into a reminiscence of a cam- paign in Tennessee when it was declared beforehand that "Hon. John Bell was going forth trident in hand ; that he was going to put down everything before him and smaller aspirants had better get out of the way."
"He was in the field with his armor on; and it was given out in a boasting and taunting manner that it made no odds whom he met, whether it was Richard or Saladin, whether it was Saxon or Sara- cen; if he came in contact with the Hon. John Bell his casque was sure to be crushed." And when it was over — "Who was crushed? * * * *
"A gentleman and well-bred man will respect me and all others I will make do it."
" "Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great?'
"Is he beyond the reach of popular sentiment? In rather a taunt- ing and sneering manner he says he is not my competitor in any sense. If you have never been my competitor, your equals have; and in the conclusion of their contest they adjusted their robes and
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt. 17
prepared themselves for their fate; and * * fell like honorable men. 1 stand here to-day not as the competitor of any Senator but I stand here in a senatorial sense the compeer of any Senator. I know my rights, and I intend to try to learn the proprieties of the Senate, and in compliance with those proprieties, my rights and the rights of the State which I have the honor in part to represent, shall be maintained (to use terms very familiar with us) at all hazards and to the last extremity. So much for 'competitors.' "
The venerable statesman of Tennessee felt so outraged by this onslaught that, despite the efforts of other senators to dissuade him, he persisted in replying on the instant, and did go on at some length and with great heat until his friends succeeded in forcing an adjournment. The next day he returned to the attack in a more tranquil humor and completed his rejoinder, which is now interesting to us only in so far as it furnishes traits of character and traces of the opinions of his colleague. For example, he affirms that he could not "trace in any speech or letter'' of Johnson's that he had taken any ground in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, "except in his usual course of declaration in behalf of the fundamental right of the people always to govern them- selves, and to ride down and overslaugh all who should pre- tend to smother their voice, and level all who should have any pretentions as 'aristocrats' — 'slaveholding aristocrats.' ': Again :
"Governor Johnson has a potent influence in Tennessee, even if >mi have not heard of him before, and in his own parly particu- larly. He controls his party on many questions. If their opinions and views do not correspond with his generally, he lets them under- Hand that they shall conform to his views. This is magnifying him greatly; but not unduly."
lie arraigned Johnson on account of the course he had taken in the legislature of 1842 in contending that the ap- portionment of the congressional districts should be based upon the number of qualified voters, so that Hast Tennessee, where there were but few slaves compared with the middle and western sections, should have her just share. In con- dusion he alluded to the threat of his adversary : j
18 Southern History Association.
"I say to my colleague that, after his speech yesterday, I cannot respect him until he gives proper explanation of it; and now or at any time, let him attempt to make me respect him."
When the distinguished senator ceased and Johnson rose. the presiding officer manifested a wish to stop a controversy which was growing unseemly; but, after a moment, the younger senator was allowed to proceed. He retracted nothing. His strokes on the contrary were uglier than ever.
"My colleague tells the Senate and the country that until I with- draw certain expressions in reference to his public course or opin- ions, he will not respect me. I repeat that in all that intercourse that brings man in contact with man 1 will make' him respect me. I will leave that right there, making a full period."'
In defence of his course in the legislature of 1842, he said :
"I introduced a resolution that if the State were laid off into dis- tricts, the districts shall be composed of the several counties in the State, without regard to slave population. Another resolution was that the one hundred and twenty thousand qualified voters of the State should be divided by eleven, and that each eleventh of the qualified voters of the State should elect one Representative. I was for it then, and I am for it now. It is right and it is correct. In the States, we hold that slaves are property. We hold, in laying our States off into senatorial and representative districts, that prop- erty is not an element of representation."
"I was attacked upon it, and it was discussed from one extreme of the State to the other. I had to discuss the question in the strongest slave-holding county in the State of Tennessee — Fayette. I dis- cussed it with Augustus Henry, who is called the eagle orator — the lineal descendant of the forest-born Demosthenes. Patrick Henry."
These were his last words:
"I feel now that I have pursued my colleague almost too far: for. from the contortions and restlessness manifested by him. I am not mistaken about the result. 1 know (and 1 say it not in the spirit of boast) when I have issues that will hold; 1 know when I have my victim that I can grip; I know when T have got the argument, and the fact that will sustain me, and upon which I rely; and I have no disposition to pursue my colleague still further.
I look, politically speaking, on my honorable colleague as now being down. He is now out of power and he that is down can fall no lower. I am a humane man. I look upon him in his prostrate condition with all the tender sympathies of humanity. 1 wilt
not mutilate the dead, nor add one additional pang to the tortures oi the already — condemned.'"
Vice-President Andrezv Johnson. — DeWitt. 19
This altercation, besides abounding- in significant glimpses of character and disposition, is deserving- of particular no- tice on account of the revelation it makes of the mental atti- tude of Andrew Johnson towards that great bone of con- tention— the institution of African slavery. That attitude was peculiar and, in view of the conspicuous and excep- tional stand on the secession question he subsequently took. liable at the present day to be misunderstood. On the one hand, he did not occupy the position of the statesmen of the early days of the Republic — Jefferson's for example, nor that of the conservative statesmen of the South of the middle period (which was substantially the same as Jeffer- son's,) viz: That slavery, although, abstractly considered, a personal wrong to the negro, yet, because of its congeni- tal lodgment in, and its ramification through, the whole- fabric of southern society, was of necessity to be upheld in its legal status until such time as it might be gradually and quietly displaced. On the contrary, Johnson, like the poor white he represented, was troubled with no compunc- tions of conscience concerning the rightfulness of holding a negro in bondage. He had come to be a slaveholder himself on a small scale and, as he always plead, by the toil of his own hands; yet he still shared the views on this subject of the non-slave holding class which regarded the negroes as a race inferior to its own, specially fitted by na- ture for slavery and themselves content with that condi- tion. The non-slaveholding whites looked upon negro slavery from a standpoint the reverse of sentimental. Be- tween them and the blacks there was no room for even / that reciprocal affection so often springing up between mas- ter and slave. In its stead, there existed a reciprocal con- tempt. The non-slaveholder despised the negro as a slave ; the negro despised the non-slaveholder as too poor to buy him. To the non-slaveholders, African slavery was simply an institution interwoven with the social structure in which
20 Southern History Association.
they were born, regulated like any other by the laws of their state, protected by the constitution of the United States, identified with the material prosperity of the section in which they lived, and without any moral quality whatever. Somehow it had come to be the subject of attacks by a set of furious fanatics of the North who seemed bent on stir- ring up slave insurrections in the South and on that account, were regarded with peculiar detestation. Untouched by pity for its victims and devoid of the scruples engendered by modern humanitarianism, they simply acquiesced in a system of labor long established by law ^and tradition, and saw no reason why their southern neighbors should not be suffered to go to the common territory of the Union and take their slaves along with them. The Kansas-Xebraska Act was considered a fair enough solution of the question ; and, unaffected by the philanthropic sentiments surging in the breasts of the Northern people, they had no hesitation in standing by their section and its peculiar institution. And, it is hardly necessary to add, their opinions and incli- nations in this respect were accurately reflected by their junior senator.
But, on the other hand, so unemotional a toleration was a very different feeling from the passionate attachment which a combination of interest, state pride and sectional antagonism had kindled in the bosoms of the slaveowners on a large scale. Johnson and his constituents were as far from partaking of the sensitiveness of the votaries of King Cotton on behalf of the peculiar institution, as they were from sympathizing with the enthusiasm of the preachers of the rights of the black man. In fact, they found frequent occasion to regard the system of slave labor with dislike, as the chief prop of the landed aristocracy under whose rule they were often discontented and sometimes in open revolt. To state their position in brief ; upon issues concerning the institution of slaverv arising between the non-slaveholding
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt
21
and the slaveholding sections of the Union, such men as Andrew Johnson felt no difficulty, either of principle or conscience, in siding with their own ; but, upon issues aris- ing between slaveholders and themselves in their own com- munities incidentally affecting the stability of that institu- tion, they cared little or nothing for its fate.
This peculiar two-fold state of mind finds further ample illustration in Johnson's career as senator. His Homestead Bill — that darling project so perseveringly pressed in the House — he did not neglect now that he had risen to the Senate. It encountered so much opposition, especially from the South, that it was postponed from one session to an- other, from one Congress to another, and, finally, after he had at last effected its passage, was vetoed by the President. In his first speech on this bill in the Senate, he took notice of a remark of Senator Hammond of South Carolina, ad- dressed to the Northern people, which spread such intense exasperation in that quarter; viz: That the "menial class constitutes the very mudsill of society and political govern- ment," "the man who lives by his daily labor," "your whole hireling class of manual laborers and 'operatives,' as you call them, are essentially slaves."
Such a doctrine as this, although hardly distinguishable from Johnson's own "philosophy of slavery," quoted above, in its present connection touched him too near home ; and • he accordingly took the stately senator to task as follows :
"Will it do to assume that the man who lahors with his hands, every man who is an operative in a manufacturing establishment or a shop, is a slave? No, sir; that will not do. Will it do to assume that every man who does not own slaves, but has to live by his own /labor, is a slave? That will not do. If this were true, it would be very unfortunate for a good many of us, and especially so for me. I am a laborer with my own hands, and I never considered myself a slave, in the acceptance of the term slave in the South. I do own SOine; I made them by my industry, by the labor of my hands. In that sense of the term I should have been a slave while 1 was earn- ing them with the labor of my hands.'*
"'The argument cuts at both ends of the line, and these kind of doc- trines do us infinite harm in the South. There are operatives there;
22 Southern History Association.
there are laborers there; there are mechanics there. Are they slaves? _ Who is it in the South that gives us title and security to the institution of slavery?" * *
"The operatives in South Carolina are 68,549. Now take the 25.- 000 slave-owners out, and a large proportion of the people of South Carolina work with their hands. Will it 'do to assume that in the State of South Carolina, the State of Tennessee, the State of Ala- bama and the other slave-holding States, all those who do not own slaves are slaves themselves?"
In his speech on the John Brown raid (in 1859) he pays his respects to Seward's famous enunciation :
"The doctrine here proclaimed" (as he perhaps too hastily as- sumes) "is an irrepressible conflict between slave labor and free labor.
It is a mistaken application of an old principle to an improper case. There is a conflict always going on between capital and labor; but there is not a conflict between two kinds of labor. *
Labor is always trying to get as much capital for labor as it can ; on the other hand capital is always trying to get as much labor for capital as it can. * *
Is the slave who is cultivating the rice fields in South Carolina, is the slave who is following the plow in the rich and fertile plains of Mississippi, in competition with the man who is making boot> and shoes in New York and Massachusetts? * *
In stead of there being an irrepressible conflict between slave labor and free labor, 1 say the argument is clear and conclusive that the one mutually benefits the other; that slave labor is a great help and aid to free labor as well as free labor to slave labor. *
Capital at the North is the oppression of the laboring man. There is where the oppression is; there is where the irrepressible conflict exists. It is between the dollars and cents of the North and the free labor of the North, not between slave labor and free labor.
The reason why Great Britain is so deeply interested in the aboli- tion of slavery in the United States is plain. 11 er capital exists in money and stocks, as the capital of the non-slaveholding States does. Capital in Great Britain is arrayed against oppressed and down- trodden free labor. In the United States, what do they behold? Three thousand two hundred million dollars invested in labor. Put the four million slaves of the South at $Soo apiece, and the result is $3,200,000,000 invested in labor. Do you not see that that amount of capital is identified with labor, trying to extort from the moneyed capital of the world high prices for the product of that labor: If Great Britain could succeed in diverting the investment or abolishing it altogether, what would she do? Suppose that $3,200,000,000 should go into dollars and cents, do you not see that those who own the cap- ital would take sides with Great Britain, sustaining the moneyed aristocracy of the world against free labor, and extorting it at the lowest prices possible?"
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt. 23
He gives a table presenting- a comparative view of the wages of workmen and mechanics in the slaveholding and non-slaveholding states, carefully compiled by a St. Louis editor, claiming that "it shows that, not only in theory, but in fact, is the slaveholder the best friend of free labor."
Later in the same session, in correcting a statement that he had said the planters in Tennessee, in 1858, were on the point of driving all the slaves out of the state, he spoke for the non-slaveholders of the South as follows :
"I say that if the day ever does come when the effort is made to emancipate the slaves, to abolish slaverv and turn th$m loose on the country, the non-slaveholder of the South will be the first man to unite with the slaveholder to reduce them to subjugation again; and if one would be more ready to do so than the other it would be the non-slaveholder. And that if their resistance to subjugation were obstinate and stubborn, the non-slaveholder would unite with the slaveholder, and all this abolition sympathy, when pressed to its ultimatum, would result in the extirpation of the negro race."
(Continued.)
PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON AND SENATOR JAMES ROOD DOOLITTLE.
By Duane Movvry, Milwaukee, Wis.
In reading the 'Life" of President Johnson prepared by his townsman, the Rev. James S. Jones, I have been induced to ask myself if historians and biographers, like republics. are sometimes ungrateful? Or is the absence of what ap- pears to be "the truth of history" and exact justice to the individual, the result of thoughtfulness, the want of a proper historical perspective, or excessive admiration for the principal character which engages the interest and energy of the historian's pen? It is not easy to give a com- prehensive answer to the questions propounded. And I am not intending to do so now. But the following para- graph in the Rev. Mr. Jones' biography, which, I doubt not. will be generally regarded as excellent, has attracted my attention, and I cannot escape the conviction that it is not the whole "truth of history," and, by omitting the name of Senator Doolittle from the list of senators who opposed the impeachment of Mr. Johnson, fails to do him that justice which the facts and the record warrant.
The paragraph referred to is found on page 278. The author, in discussing the failure of the Congress to impeach the President, begins a new paragraph with this language : "Of the fifty-four senators voting on this momentous issue. seven received more public notice than did all the rest. These were Senators Ross, of Kansas; Fowler, of Tenn- essee; Fessenden, of Maine; Trumbull, oi Illinois; Grimes, of Iowa; Henderson, of Missouri; and Van Winkle of West Virginia. These seven Republican sena-
President Andrciv Johnson. — Mowrv.
tors were impaled upon the pens of a violent party and sec- tional press, and held up to the contempt of the opposers of the Administration."
Why was Senator Doolittle, of Wisconsin, not included in the above list? He had been elected to the Senate as a Republican and had opposed impeachment with both his voice and vote. And he was most certainly "impaled upon the pens of a violent party and sectional press, and held up to the contempt of the opposers of the Administration." More than that was his portion from his constituents. The Legislature of Wisconsin actually passed resolutions de- nouncing- his support of President Johnson and his policy, and demanded his resignation as a Senator. These resolu- tions were subsequently presented in the Senate by his col- league, Senator Timothy O. Howe, and were thereafter made the subject for a personal explanation and vindica- tion by Judge Doolittle on the floor of the Senate. And most powerfully and eloquently did he justify his course and put his political traducers on the defensive.
As I have always understood that Senator Doolittle was regarded as one of President Johnson's most trusted and influential advisers and friends, both in the Congress and at the White House, this apparent omission of proper recog- nition of the great commoner, in the only authentic "Life" of his superior officer extant, seems quite unaccountable to me. It does not impress one who has had the opportunity to examine much of the personal correspondence and private papers of Judge Doolittle, as doing justice to the memory of a publicist preeminent in his time, in power, in character and in positive influence.
The following letter from President Johnson to Judge Doolittle, found among Mr. Doolittle's private papers, tends to establish the intimate relations and good feeling existing between the two :
26 Southern History Association.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 26th, 1863. Hon. J. R. Doolittle,
U. S. Senator, Racine, Wisconsin. Sir:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of vour let- ter of the 23d instant. I thank you for the suggestions and kind expressions of confidence therein contained. Anything that can consistently be done to comply with your wishes in reference to the appointments requested by you, T assure you will be done.
I am, Very truly yours,
Andrew Johnson.
President Johnson's letter, while actually -saving little of historical consequence, emphasizes the manifest cordial re- lations existing between himself and Senator Doolittle. That, too, is the generally accepted understanding of all persons who are at all familiar with the events of the re- construction period of our national existence. It is almost as well understood that no public man of the period men- tioned, was made to suffer more at the hands of his con- stituents for what was charged against him as his political apostasy, but which was, in fact, his patriotic policy of pacification toward the stricken South, than was the late ex-Senator James R. Doolittle. Naturally, therefore, one who has had an opportunity to see something of the per- sonal side of the great publicist, would feel constrained to dissent from the conclusions of the historian which are im- plied by silence, when discussing a particular historical event, an event, too, in which Judge Doolittle formed a prominent and important part.
GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN AND THE CHERO-
KEES.
(Continued from November, 1904, but concluded in this
issue. As usual, summaries and bracketed matter by the Editors.)
Martin to Campbell, Ap.out tiik Chicomacga and Cher- okee Indians.
Battle Ground, near Long Island, Sept. iStli. '82. Dear Colonel —
1 this moment returned from the towns, & have the pleas- ure to inform you that the Chicomagga Indians have given up all the prisoners except three, which could by no means be got to Chota by the day appointed ; but they promise to bring them in very shortly. I believe that never were people more desirous of peace than the Cherokees ; but I hear the forces from this State are now starting. I shall set oft this evening to see Col. Sevier. Col. Hardin went with me to the Towns, & got his son who was a prisoner. He thinks peace by all means is best. If opportunity offers, please write to the Governor & inform him what I am doing. I should write much more to you, but I have no ink — am forced to make use of gun powder.
Your most obt. Servt.,
Jos. Martin. To Colonel Campbell.
Martin to Henry About Lands ix Tennessee.
Smiths river ye 21 May 1733 Sir
I am now on my way to hold son wheare 1 shall make my- self acquainted with every valuable place on that River
28 Southern History Association.
thats to take up the office is opened as far as the french Broad River from thence Down the Northside to chica- magga from thence across the Tennessee to the Mississippi without Takeing any notice of those that has settled over the Old Indian Boundary — the Island ceeded to the Indians the Governor Impowed to Treat for the other Lands no entry to be made before ye 20th Day of October next the special certificates to be taken ten pounds pr hundred, could you get some safe hand to Go over to the Carolina line I make no Doubt but you can have any quantity purchased at a moderate when I first went to hillsborough certificates could been purchased for Two Shillings prock pr. pounds I have Just given you amemorandom of what has been Done on opening the land office you can pursue what meas- ures you think best between now & October
The commissioners for laying off the officers and soldiers lands made their report at the assemble they say on Trying the latitude in that country find that all the lant of Tenesse is in Georgia they say it is the finest country on the conte- nant & being so far from Georgia & several Indian nations between it is thought policy to purchase the sd lands from the Indians Gen1 Caswell with three other Gent" have agreed to Join with Colo Donaldson & myself in sd purchase they furnish the goods Donaldson & Myself are to make the pur- chase the whole Jointly concerned & intend to Take posses- sion Immediately leting the same out on such reasonable Terms as will make that part so strong in a short time that they cannot be ousted if you should after consideration in- cline to be an adventurer in that scheme you will please to let me hear from you as soon as possible the lands on hold- son shall most certainly attend to
I am with Great Respect
your humble & most
Jos. Marti x.
To Patrick Henry, Richmond. Favored by Colo. Hars- ton.
General Joseph Martin. 29
Martin and Donelson to Governor ok Y.\. About Mak- ing Treaty with Indians.
[Abstract printed p. 548, Vol. 3, Cal. Va. Stale Papers.]
Long- Island, December 16th, 1783. Sir:
After a long- fatigue we returned to this place from the westward last evening, & knowing it to be our duty to in- form your Excellency as early as possible what progress we had made in Indian affairs, which trust your Excellency had deposited in us.
Agreeable to Maj. John Reids appointment, we met the Red King of the Chickasaws nation, & his chief warriors, at the French Lick on Cumberland river ; & when met in treat}-, we have the pleasure to inform your Excellency we found them altogether for peace with the American States, and did conclude a firm treaty on the principals of friend- ship & justice. The papers relative thereto we shall forward to you as soon as they can be put in order for your Excel- lency's inspection.
We ought to have first informed you that we had an ap- pointment with the Chicamaggas, agreeable to the commis- sion & instructions we were honored with. We found them well inclined for peace with us. In which treaty the chiefs of Chota & other peaciblc towns did assist to make them- selves 'sponsable. The Creeks did not appear according to expectation, & we fear are for war. A small town of the Dellaways who live on the Tennessee in the Chickasaws country refused or neglected to come into the treaty. The Red King of the Chickasaws says he will drive them out of the country, or compel them to treat with us.
We are also informed by the King of the Chickasaws that some traders from the Spanish dominion on the Missis- sippi have come up to the Tennessee river as far as the mouth of Bear Creek and are making houses of reception
30 Southern History Association.
for their goods; & that they are using- all such prevailing arguments with the Indians to secure the minds of the people against the interest of the United States. Whether it would not be advisable to make further inquiry into the real intentions of those traders before they make too deep impressions into the minds of the Indians, or otherwise we shall leave it to your Excellency's determination.
By favor of Major Walls, commanding officer at Fort Nelson, we sent an express to the Showneys, requesting them to meet at the Falls of Ohio, at which time & place we attended, & found a letter from that nation informing us that their principal chiefs were gone to a treaty at the Falls of Niagara. It seems they expressed every willingness for a peace with those States.
We must also beg leave to fulfill a promise we are under to the King of the Chickasaws — which is, that a certain Captain Dodge at the Illinois did send a message to their nation that he could secure the interest of the Kickapoosi nation of Indians to go to war against them ; & that he had a quantity of goods to employ them for that purpose, which the King says is quite opposite to our pretentions, & wishes government to put a stop to those intermeddling threats made by a man whom we do not know has any such direc- tions from your Excellency. We shall not trouble you far- ther at this time, than only to assure you that we have the honor to be,
Your Excellency's Most obt. & humble Servts.,
Joseph Martin, John Donelson. To the Governor of Virginia.
Martin to Henry About Treaty with Chickasaws.
Augusta, 5th February 1786.
Sir,
The Commissioners of Congress Finished their troatees with the Chickasaws Indians the 15th of Last Month, tho
General Joseph Martin. 31
could not Settle all their accounts without meeting at this place — I take the earliest opportunity of Transmitting their
proceedings to your Excellency — Have also Inclosed a Spanish Commission — the Choctaws had a number of them with Spanish Medals — which they were very desirous to exchange for Virginia Medals, a few of which T could pre- cure but the Commissioners would by no Means agree to it — Saying it would be Establishing the arms of Virginia in the Nation in place of the United States. The Person who is to be the bearer of this Moment inform'1 Me that he was Setting out for Virginia and will not agree to wait more than two hours that I can not send the papers in such dress as I could wish — which 1 Hope your Excellency will excuse I have not the treaties by me otherwise would send them on — tho they are Similar to the Cherokee treaty — Which I sent on in December —
Only with the addition that the Choctaws Have given up the United States three trading posts where they shall Think most proper — Six miles Square each — the Chicka- saws — one five Miles opposite to the bent of Tennessee — 1 intended to start on Monday in pursuit of Some Cherokee prisoners which are in North Carolina and return them to their people — Shall then take a tower through the Cherokee Country — and transmit every occurrency to your
Excellency as soon as possible With Respect I have the
Honor to be your Excellency His Excellency Most Humb- & Most obd- Servant
Patrick Henry. Jos. Martin.
Martin to Hfnry on Kentucky Affairs.
[Already printed in full, pp. 151-2, Vol. 4, Cal. Va. State Papers ]
Smiths River, of 25th Tune, 1786. Sir:
I have enclosed your Excellency a letter from Anther Campbell, also one from Wm. How, which contain greatest
32 Southern History Association.
part of intelligence from the Westward — with some addi- tions from James Parberry, who returned last evening from Kentucky. He informs me that a Mt Ewing whom I am well acquainted with, and believe to be a man of veracity, over took him on New River, directly from Cumberland, & said that several days before he left Cumberland, a Cher- okee half breed came into the French Lick, and informed that there were a large number of Creeks embodied near the Bent of Tennessee, and had laid in a stock of provis- ions there, & were determined to cut off that quarter ; that advance parties had actually arrived there before he left it. He further says, that another company came in before he left New River, who informed that the main body of Creeks arrived within a few days after Mr. Ewing left Cumber- land ; that they brought cannon with them and cannonaded the forts several days ; that the settlers at length turned out and fought them, that several hundred were killed and forced to retreat into the garrison. * Mr. Parberry says the Indians have done a great deal of mischief on all the frontiers in the Kentucky country, that it is certain that the Shawanees have joined the other Indians.
I am truly distressed on account of the poor settlers in Powells Valley. I had positive orders from Governor Har- rison to settle that Station, who promised them protection ; and without immediate aid, I fear they will all be cut off. * * *
To Governor Henry. Jos. Martin*.
Martin to Henry on Cherokee Indians.
[Printed in full, p. 162, Vol. 4, Cal. Va. State Papers.l
Holston, Aug. 7th, 17S6. Sir:
In my absence from the Long Island, some Cherokee In- dians killed two white men ; a number of men from the
*This is all error.— L C. D.
General Joseph Martin. 33
State of Franklin have pushed into their towns, to demand, as they say, the murderers, when one man could do that business. Should they make a stand on these people, your Excellency will know what a situation the people in Pow- ell's Valley and on Chinch will be in.
By the time I arrive at the Long Island, which will be tomorrow, I hope I shall have some certain accounts; if anything unfavorable, I will send and express. In the in- terim I will endeavor to stand fast at Powell's Valley.
The Chiefs of the Cherokees have offered to deliver up the murderers, but must have some time to do it, in which time they would give up any number of hostages.
As it will be absolutely necessary to have a meeting with the Indians immediately, I beg you will order me a hogs- head of good rum on my own account — I will not ask it on the public's.
I am, &c,
Jos. Martin. To Gov. Henry.
Martin to Henry on Indian Affairs.
Smiths river ve 20th Janr 1787 (Dear Sir)
I returned from Feattsville y° iolh Instant & all that I was able To Do for the Indians was to have a Resolve passt. Directing the Governor to Issue his proclamation ordering all the people off their lands that have settled South of French broad river which will not answer the purpose.
1 wrote to Govenor Harrison by Colo Marston for the meddles promised the Cherokees & Chickasaws but reed no answer from him, I set out ye 13th of next month to the nation am sorry to Go without them as the Indians Expect them by me.
I reed a letter from you by Air. Andrews tho have heard
34 Southern History Association.
nothing of the letter you mentioned by Ford by a letter from Govenor Telfair of Georgia to Genl. Savier we are in- formed that the Legeslature of Georgia have confirmed our Title to the Bent of Tennessee Colo Glasgow the Secre- tary of State of North Carolina has Gone on to the assemble of Georgia which is now about to sett to have the neces- sary Conveyances made.
T Expect to hear from them as soon as it rises by my son William who is a member and will Take care to Transmit Every thing that Respects the Bent to me Immediately.
I am sent for by the Chickasaw Indians To come Down Early in the Spring but mention nothing of their business — tho by what I can find out by the Cherokees its in Conse- quence of some preposials made by the Spaniards to them Respecting Trade.
I propose seting out in april next
I find that Congress have appointed Porter white to Su- perintend the Southern Indians he waited on the assemble of North Carolina tho they seemed to pay little Respect to contenantal measures. He seemed rather to decline the busi- ness & offered himself as a Candedate in the Delegation to Congress & was elected tho Told me he would Go on to the Creek nation and Do some Business & be Back in Time to Take a seat in Congress Colo Benc' Hawkins who was one of the Continental Commissioners & now a Delegate in Congress informs me that nothing was wanting on my part to be appointed but a Recommendation from Virginia, that if you would write to Some of the Dilagates, he on the part of North Carolina would settle the Business.
In the latter End of Session Some of the members was about to enter a protest against the Continental Commis- sioners in very 111 natured Language notwithstanding a Committee on that Subject had Reported, which the other> thought was Too favourable.
The perpert of the protest was that the Commissioner
1760823
General Joseph Martin. 35
had actually Given up to the Indians lands that North Caro- lina had purchased of Sd Indians that in consequence of s'1 Treaty the Indians have been more Desperate than before even if I could Get So far in your favour to write a True State of the Case To Congress in my name you will Lay me under lasting obligations
What I want Congress to Know is that in July 1777 Vir- ginia & North Carolina jointly treated with the Cherokee Indians agreeable to Instructions given to Commissioner by the Legislature of Both States for that purpose who Entered into solemn Treaty with Sd Indians wherein the faith of both states was pledged, they fixt the Boundaries which are agreeable to the Boundaries fixt or Rather Renewed by the Contenantal Commissioners which is all the Treaty that has ever been held with that people since only one by order of Gen1 Green in behalf of the united States when the same Bounds was mentioned the Commissioners was from Vir- ginia & North Carolina.
North Carolina when she opened her land office in 1783 agreed to give the Indians lb 2500 worth of goods & Di- rected me to give the Indians notice and to Lay in provisions for the Treaty but before the Treaty Commenced the legislature ceded the lands north of the apelatchean moun- tains to Congress & stopt the Treaty and the Goods I can assure Congress that North Carolina has never Treated for anv lands since 1777 her own commissioners fixt the line from the mouth of Clouds Creek south & the Virginia Com- missioners from the mouth of sd creek north as far as Cumberland mountains tho north Carolina is about to sav- in the protest that the Contenantal commissioners has given up to the Indians lands that North Carolina had purchased of s(1 Indians which is notoriously faulse I speak with Confidence because I have the original Treaties now by me
I must ask your pardon for this Request but I am anxious that Congress should know the facts
36 Southern History Association.
I should be glad yon would let me Know whether you will part with that little spott of land at the ford of the river & what you will ask for Ten acres there I will en- deavor to make out payment Immediately in either Cash or Tobacco
If Georgia have confirmed our Title to the Bent I shall proceed on another speculation in lands which I think will be the Greatest that ever will be in america on the waters of Tombigby & mobeal I shall endeavor to locate the lands from the Spanish Line north 1 have lately fell in with a Mr. Hackett who is a man of character he is lately from there and will Return there with me he gives it a wonderful character, he says as far as the Spanards claim is thick settled with americans under Spanish government the coun- try well watered and healthy well a Dapted for Tobacco he Tells me that they Get eight Dollars pr hundred for their Tobacco by carrying of it 20 miles by water from the many kindnesses I have reed from you I should be exceeding happy if I could be of any service to you in that or any other way, the lands lie in Georgia, the bent I hope is secure any part of that is at your service on the same terms I Get it which is very light tho I fear South Carolinia will run into the bent tho much Depends on the Federal Cort which I expect will be lodged in Philad about the time you will be there if the Key wee river is the line between the two states all will be well
T am with very Great respect your most obfc Serv1
Jos. Martin.
Johnston to Martin on Providing Troops.
Hillsborough 29th July 1788 Brigadier General Martin.
You are to order a sufficient number of the militia of the District of Washington to aid and assist the Sheriff of any
General Joseph Martin. 37
County in the said District, in execution of any Warrant or Warrants for the apprehending- of any person or per- sons, who have been guilty of Treasonable practices against the State and furnish such sheriff with a sufficient guard or escort, to enable him to convey such prisoners to the place of their Destination.
Sam Johnston
Martin to His Son on Family Matters.
Henry ye 2d April 1S02 — My Son
This leaves Myself and familey in perfect health also all friends Except Mr Anthony who has been very bad with Lax ( ?) that has Spread, thro this neighborhood, he is much mended Mr Stokes is Still alive, Tho cannot calculate on his living many days — we have little news in this quar- ter more than the newspapers, inform you Henry Clark offers this year to Represent the county — in your last letter to me you mention that Jacob Burrus had Got out Safe &c but said nothing about your health, I have That greatly at hart, you mentioned nothing about Daniel Hammack nor his familey Wm Cleveland and your Sister famely &c ar- rived from Georgia in the beginning of march all well. They appear well Satisfyed. at which I Greatly Rejoice your Brother Brice has Gone to Albemarle — on my way to Richmond last winter I called on your Grand father, who I found in a low state of health tho as perfect in his Reason as I believe he ever was — I was received with Great Joy by the whole connection, my object was to enquire into the old Gentleman will — which I found very Different from what I had heard — he has left you one hundred pounds also all your Mother's Children. The same is also given me the Same which is more than I deserved or expected — your aunt Waller appears well pleased with her new home your
38 Southern History Association.
aunt Edwards, will move out to Leatherwood this fall two of her Sons, are now living on the place making a Crop Ready for their father's famely — this is all about your Re- lations— now for something for myself. I have Just Re- ceived from a Certain William Hereford, who has once been with me to purchase the land J live on, he writes me that he Will Give me £1350, provided I will take 640 acres of land on Spencers Creek, near the mouth of Stones River Located by John well known to Judge Jackson whose hands the patent is now in either of the Two can give informa-
tion Respecting sd land, if you could with convenience See the land Immediately and enquire into the title and know of Jackson what he thinks it is worth, also your opinion and send by post or otherwise if we trade Judge Jackson is to fix the price. Nothing but that unlucky affair of Kenan [(?) Henan (?)] & Ramseys, would Induce me to move being much Better Settled than I ever can be aGain, but cannot bare the thoughts of being, cast into prison or stript of all property & perhaps both Except Land ; The place on my neck Grows fast but with very little pain — your Brother was very near offering his Service to the county if he had I believe he would not have lost fifty votes in the county, my love to Frankey and your children also Jacob Burrus & his familey Daniel Hammack. and his fam- ily &c I hope They will excuse me for not writing, to them as this contains, all I could Say to them My old Horse porto is dead I am badly off for work horses must Request that if opertunity offers, by any person traviling to this country to send them unless the mares or either of them Should have colts in that case I would Rather they would Stay until the fall, my horses that went to Georgia, will be of very little Service this Summer.
Farewell my Dear child
Your fond Father
Jos. Martin.
General Joseph Martin. 39
Meigs to Secretary oe War on Purchase of Cherokee
Lands.
South West Point, 1st Oct., 1803. Sir,
On the 29th June 1802, I addressed you at the request of the Cherokee Chiefs on the subject of selling the Long Island of Holston, for the benefit of the Cherokee Nation. By the treaty of Holston in 1791 — Governor Blount, Com- missioner on the part of the United States — by the 4th ar- ticles they relinquished all their lands to the right of the line; running from the Currabee Mountain to the River Clinch. This of course included a relinquishment of the Island mentioned. But they say the Island was intended to be reserved for them, and that Col. Joseph Martin, of Virginia, was requested to keep it for them. Perhaps Col°- Martin's testimony would clear up the doubts about the relinquishment of the Island. They declared that the Island is theirs; and, as they are now so remote from it, they wish it sold for cash in behalf of the nation.
I am, Sir, very respectfully,
Yr. obed. Ser.
Return J. Meigs. To the Honble.. & the Secretary of War.
Deposition oe Alexander, Sketch oe His Indian Ser- vice.
The Deposition of Wm. Alexander
* * * That ]ie was born on the 15 day of April 1752, in the County of Cumberland & State of Virginia ; the record of which is entered in a family Bible at that time belonging to his Grand Father by whom he was raised — He
40 Southern History Association.
resided in the said County of Cumberland until be was 23 years of age when he removed to the County of Pittsylvania in the same State, when he settled and lived until the year 1818 when he removed to the county of Rockingham X. C. and then lived until the fall of 1822 when he removed to Wilkes County N. C. where he has lived ever since, and where he now lives. In the month of June 1776 this de- ponent entered the service of the United States in the County of Pittsylvania Virginia as a volunteer for six months, in a company of Malitia commanded by Captain Joseph Martin, and rendezvoued at Elleott's old Store in the said county, and marched from thence direct to the Long Islands of Holstein, where they joined the troops under command of Col. Christee or Christian after being stationed at the Long Islands of Holstein for about six weeks, during which time other troops were collecting — and those that were there were engaged in the erection of a Fort, they marched to the lower Towns of the Cherokee nation of Indians — Upon arriving at the Towns they found them abandoned by the Indians, but after remaining there some days a considerable number of the Indians came in and sued for peace, and surrendered themselves. Those that came in and offered terms of peace were unmolested, and a proposition made and acceded to that a treaty should be formed in compliance with the terms proposed, at the Long Islands of Holstein, in the ensuing Spring, but the Towns of those who refused to surrender or sue for peace, were entirely destroyed together with all their cows. Stock, and other property and committing such depredations upon them as they could, the Troops returned to the Long Islands of Holstein, where they remained some time and then set out for home. This deponent however was selected by re- quest to take charge of one of his mess mates, who was sick, and was sent on ahead of the company a few days, and arrived at home a day or two before Christmas. The
,''
General Joseph Martin.
41
rest of the company not arriving however until a few days after Christmas, as soon as all the company reached home they received discharges from Captain Martin. * * *
[Copy in Draper Collection from original in Pension Office.— S. M. L. W.]
Ramsey to Draper on One oe Martin's Campaigns.
Mecklenburg May 29, 1825. My Dear Sir
I appreciate very highly your favor of 18th int. & still more highly your strict regard to Historical acuracy — We agree fully that Martin took no campaign in Feb. 1781 — there is no authority for it but Haywood — nor that Isac Shelby accompanied the expedition of Nov. 80 & Janry. 1 78 1. I have the Shelby papers & there is no mention of that service by him. — (I say Nov. — because I have the pro- ceedings of the officers who projected it — will copy it & in- close to you herein) — The testimony you adduce is more than sufficient to counterballance that of Haywood & nar- ratives in my possession going to prove two campaigns & tzvo battles on Boyds Creek. Like that of Gist & Pearson as cited by you they must have taken 1779 for 1780 — I am nearly satisfied that it is so — tho — some of my narratives have the battle at Cedar Spring — others the Blue Spring — one 3 miles from mouth of the Creek — the other near its source. Still I think you are right. * * * * * :;; Your sincere friend.
J. G. M. Ramsey.
(To Lyman C. Draper]
(Concluded.)
THE FAMILY OF BENEDICT ARNOLD.
By Gkneral Marcus J. Wright.
Washington, D. C.
Some twenty odd years ago, I was on a visit to London, and went one morning with the Rev. Frederick Harford, a minor canon of Westminster Abbey, on a visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Air. Benson) to whom I had letters of introduction from several Bishops of the Episco- pal church in the United States.
There were as usual a number of English clergymen at Lambeth Palace on visits of business or ceremony to the Archbishop. While I was sitting in the library, 1 chanced to see Rev. Mr. Harford in conversation with a gentleman in clerical attire, whose face seemed to remind me of either some person or picture which I had seen, and when he re- turned to me I enquired who the person was. He informed me that it was the Reverend Mr. Arnold, a grandson ot General Benedict Arnold. This of course quite interested me, and on Mr. Harford's suggestion I called at his resi- dence in Dean's Yard, Westminster Abbey, that evening and heard from him the following account of the family of Benedict Arnold.
The person whom I saw was the Rev. Edwin Gladwin Arnold, of Little Missenden Abbey, and Mr. Harford gave me this account, as derived from the family :
Benedict Arnold married Margaret, daughter of Judge Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia, and on his death left five children. They were Edward Shippen. James Robert- son, George, William Fitch and Sophia Matilda. Edward Shippen Arnold became a lieutenant in the Sixth Bengal Cavalry, of the British Army, and Paymaster at Muttra, India. He died in 1813 at Singapore. James Robertson Arnold became a lieutenant-general in the British Army.
The Family of Benedict Arnold. — Wright. 43
and married Virginia, daughter of Bartlett Goodnick, Esq., of Saling Grove, Essex. He died in 1834, and his wife died in 1852. George Arnold was lieutenant colonel of the Sec- ond Bengal Cavalry and married Anne Brown. He died in India in 1828.
The only one of Benedict Arnold's sons who left issue was William Fitch Arnold. He was also an officer in the British Army, being a captain in the Nineteenth Lancers. He married in 1819 Elizabeth Cecelia, only daughter of Alexander Ruddoch, of the Island of Tobago, a captain in the Royal Navy. Captain Arnold died in 1846. He left six children : Edwin Gladwin, William Trail, Margaret Stewart, Elizabeth Sophia, Georgianna Phipps and Louisa Russell. The second son, Win. Trail Arnold, was a sol- dier and became a captain in the famous fourth regiment of the British line and was killed at Sevastopol in the Cri- mean War.
All of Capt. William Fitch Arnold's daughters married clergymen of the Church of England. Margaret was mar- ried to the Rev. Robert H. Rogers, Elizabeth to the Rev. Bryant Burgess, Georgiana to the Rev. John Stephenson, and Louisa to Rev. G. Cecil Rogers.
Edwin Gladwin Arnold, the first son of Capt. William Fitch Arnold, was the only one of his children who con- tinued the name. He is (or was) a clergyman of the Church of England, and when I saw him was said to be seventy years of age and Rector of Barron in Cheshire. He married in 1852 Charlotte Georgiana, eldest daughter of Lord Henry Cholmondeley, son of the Marquis of Cholmondeley. Nine children have been born to him : Ed- ward Cholmondeley; William Henry, an officer in the Royal Navy; Charles Louther ; Henry Abel; Arthur Seymour; Herbert Tollemache; Maria Elizabeth; Emma Charlotte; Georgiana and Mabel Caroline Frances. The Rev. Edwin Gladwin Arnold by inheritance owns the Canadian posses- sions granted to his traitorous grandfather by the British government.
44 Southern History Association.
Benedict Arnold's only daughter, Sophia Matilda, married Col Powell Phipps of the British East India Army. He was related to the Earl of Mulgrave. She died in 1828.
The estate and seat of the Arnold family is Little Missen- den Abbey, Buckinghamshire, an old estate that belonged to the Church before the reformation.
Mr. Harford told me the following which he heard from some of the Arnold family: General Arnold had met (Doc- tor) General Warren who was killed at Bunker Hill, and had formed a strong attachment for him. After Warren's death it was found that he left no means for the support and education of his four children.
Arnold became interested in the matter and brought it to the attention of the Continental Congress, which however did not result in any action. He then wrote to Mercy Schol- lay who was in charge of the children, their mother having died some time before. Arnold though at that time poor sent an order for five hundred dollars with instructions that he should be drawn upon for more when it was needed.
He then wrote to Samuel Adams and John Hancock ask- ing that they take steps to have the Congress take action, to aid the children Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary and Richard War- ren. In sending some more money Arnold wrote "send Richard who is now old enough, to the best school that can be found, clothe him handsomely, give him all that he needs, and call on me for any future expense.,,
In one of his letters written to Miss Schollav before his act of treason, he writes: "A country should be ever grate- ful to the patriot who lays down his life in its defense, 'greater love hath no man than this,' " Strange that letter was received just as Arnold began his negotiations with Gen. Clinton.
Arnold lived for a long time in St. Johns, Xew Bruns- wick. He engaged there in mercantile pursuits sending out tradinsr vessels to the West Indies.
I
DOCUMENTS ON THE MEXICAN WAR.
[Col. George A. Porterfield, one of the Vice Presidents of the Southern History Association, has a very valuable volume, the offi- cial order book of that division of the American Army which was stationed at and near Buena Vista, Mexico, from November, 1847, to the end of the war with Mexico, and of which Col. Porterfield was the Assistant Adjutant General. This division was commanded by Col. John Francis Hamtramck, Col. of the 1st Virginia Volunteers. He entered the Military Academy 261I1 Sept., 1815, and was an offi- cer of the 3rd Artillery in 1821 resiging from the .irmv in 1822. IIi.-> father, of exactly the same name, a native of Canada, served in the war of the Revolution from November, 1776, to 1785 and remained in the Army until his death in 1803, having attained the rank of Colonel.
As illustrating some of the incidents of the American army life on foreign soil some selections follow. Colonel Porterfield has pre- sented the manuscript material to the Aztec Society of New York City.]
Headquarters Army of Occupation,
Brazos Island, Not: 25, 184J. Order No. 132.
1. . . .Major General Taylor, having received leave of ab- sence from the War Department, relinquishes the command of the Army of Occupation. It devolves upon Brigadier General John E. Wool to whose Headquarters all com- manders and the Chiefs of Staff Departments will in future make their reports.
2.... It is with no ordinary regret that the General now takes leave of his command. A few veteran Companies of Dragoons and Artillery, have served under his eye on fields rendered illustrious by their gallantry and that of their com- rades: Other Corps need but the opportunity to signalize their bravery and their discipline. To all, both officers and men of the line, and of the Staff Departments, the General would express his satisfaction with the present state of in- struction and efficiency and his confidence that under the orders of the distinguished General who succeeds to the com-
46
Southern History Association.
mand, they will zealously maintain the interests and the honor of the country.
By Order of Major General Taylor.
(Signed) VV. W. Bliss,
Asst. Adjt. Gen I.
Official: (Signed)
Official : (Signed)
Irvin McDowell.
Asst. Adjt. Gen'l.
G. A. Port erfi eld,
A. A. A. G. Headquarters Army of Occupation, Monterey, Dec. 10, 184/. Order No. 134.
The President of the United States has directed that a Court of Inquiry be instructed to investigate certain allega- tions and charges contained in a letter signed by John Ash- ton, Jr., George McKeim, John Davis and others, dated Phila., September 1847 m relation to a duel said to have taken place near China, Mexico, on or about the 20th of May 1847 between 2d. Lieutenants Carleton R. Mum ford and Washington L. Mahan of the Regiment of Virginia Volun- teers, which resulted in the death of the parties engaged and to which it is alleged, Captain Smith P. Bankhead John P. Young and 1st Lieutenant Thomas L. Garnett, all of the Virginia Volunteers were accessories.
A Court of Inquiry will therefore assemble at Buena Vista, Mexico, at 10 o'clock A. M., on the 16th inst. or as soon thereafter as practicable for the purpose referred to above.
The Court will report the facts and give an opinion on the merits of the case.
Detail for the Court :
Col. Charles Clarke, Mississippi Reg't. Vols.
Major U. S. Stokes, North Carolina Reg't.
Documents of the Mexican War.
47
Capt. R. M. Henry, North Carolina Reg't. 1st. Lieut. John F. Reynolds 3d. Regiment Artillery is ap- pointed Judge Advocate.
By Command of Brig. Genl. Wool.
Irvin McDowell, A. A. G.
Official: g. a. portlrfield, A. A. A. G.
Headquarters Army of Occupation, Monterey, Mexico, Dec. 17, 1847. Order No. 143.
The War on the part of the United States hitherto has been conducted towards the people of Mexico with great forbearance and moderation. Private property and the re- ligious institutions of the Country have been held sacred, and those who remained neutral and abstained from taking up arms against us have been treated with kindness ; whilst on several occasions we have not only fed their famishing soldiers, but bound up their wounds.
By a series of brilliant victories, one army after another has been defeated and dispersed and the Capitol of Mexico taken ; and yet instead of levying contributions on the in- habitants for the support of our armies, we have continued to pay fair and even extravagant prices for whatever we have received from them ; and what has been our return ? Treachery and cruelty have done their worst against us. Our citizens and soldiers have been murdered and their bodies mutilated in cold blood, by bands of savages and cow- ardly guirrelleros, and the parole of honor, sacred in all civ- ilized warfare, has been habitually forfeited by Mexican offi- cers and soldiers.
Such infamous and nefarious conduct cannot be tolerated whilst it will afford us pleasure to extend protection to the
48 Southern History Association.
innocent and unoffending Mexican; — he that remains strictly neutral, and does not take up arms against the United States: — those who countenance or encourage di- rectly or indirectly the Bandits who infest the country; and who are called guirrelleros, must he made to feel the evils of war. Individuals will be severely punished, and heavy contributions levied upon the inhabitants of all cities, towns, villages and Haciendas, which either harbour or furnish them with supplies, or which do not give information of their haunts or places of abode.
To carry out more effectually this order, the Alcalde and other authorities through out New Leon, Coahuila and that portion of Tamaulipa at present in the occupation of the troops of the United States, will forthwith organize police parties for the purpose of ferreting out, and bringing to the nearest American Military Post, for punishment all offend- ing herein alluded to. On failing to do so, each and all will be held personally responsible for all damages done to either Americans, Mexicans or persons, whilst heavy contributions will be levied upon the inhabitants where the injury or dam- age may have been committed. Merchants, whether Ameri- can, Mexican, Spaniard or of other nations, who may here- after pay tribute to Canales, or any other person in com- mand of Bandits or Guerrilleros parties to insure the safe transportation of their goods, or other property to any part of Mexico, will be identified with those parties and pun- ished with the utmost severity ; whilst their goods will be seized and confiscated for the United States.
Commandants of Districts or Posts belonging to the Army of Occupation, will forthwith adopt measures to have this order carried out promptly and to the fullest extent.
(Signed) John E. Wool,
Brigadier General, Official: Commanding.
G. A. Porterfield, A. A. A. G.
THE AMERICAN NEGRO ACADEMY.
Prof. Walter L. Fleming, West Virginia University.
Since its organization in 1897 tne American Negro Acad- emy of Washington, D. C, has issued ten numbers of its Occasional Papers* as follows: 1. A Review of Hoffman's Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, by Kelly Miller; 2. The Conservation of Races, by W. E. T.iirghardt DuBpis; 3. Civilization the Primal Need of the Race, and The Attitude of the American Mind toward the Negro Intellect, by Alexander Crummell ; 4. A Compara- tive Study of the Negro Problems, by Charles C. Cook; 5. How the Black St. Domingo Legion Saved the Patriot Army in the Siege of Savannah, 1779, by T. G. Steward;
6, The Disfranchisement of the Negro, by John L. Love;
7. Right on the Scaffold, or the Martyrs of 1822, by Archi- bald H. Grimke; 8. The Educated Negro and His Mission, by W. S. Scarborough ; 9. The Early Negro Convention Movement, by John W. Cromwell; 10. The Defects of the Negro Church, by Orishatukeh Faduma.
The Occasional Papers are of value to all who are inter- ested in the peculiar race problems of America. The writers represent, generally, that large class of educated negroes who hold that Booker T. Washington's gospel of work is not sufficient for the needs of the race. In these essays are set forth the negro's view of race problems as distinguished from the white man's view. Most well read whites are fa- miliar with the doctrines of Tuskegee and Hampton, but it is necessary also to be informed by the other side. The
•The Occasional Papers are sold at the uniform price of 15 cents each, except the first number which sells for 25 cents. They may he obtained from the Secretary of the American Negro Academy, Washington, D. C. 4
50 Southern History Association.
writers in these monographs have no practical suggestions
to offer, no expedient compromises to make, but demand theoretical and exact justice for the negro race, but what that justice may be is not clearly defined.
The general characteristics of the series may be noted as follows: (i) When slavery or anything connected with it is mentioned we hear the clank of chains and the cutting swish of the lash; the slaves, we infer, hate the whites with a con- suming hatred, and the cruel masters endeavor to crush out the human feelings of the black ; attempts at insurrections in which white women and children are to be massacred by wholesale are glorified. (2) There is not the slightest sign of an ability to understand why white people North and South usually consider that Reconstruction was a failure; there is the usual argument of the ballot as a protection, of the public school system being founded in Reconstruction, and of the Rights of Man. Consequently, the later disfran- chising movement is believed to be only one manifestation of the peculiar meanness of the Southern people who are be- lieved to be hostile to all that is good for the negro. (3) There is a marked tendency to minimize race distinctions, to treat color as a superficial matter, about equivalent to the difference between a Frenchman and a German. Conse- quently the white man's belief that there are fundamental differences between the races seems to be rejected. (4) In regard to negro education, it is contended that what is good for the white is good for the black, and hence there should not be one kind of training for the white and another for the black. The real meaning of the work of Armstrong and Washington is not understood. (5) The mental attitude of the whites in America is believed to be hostile to manifesta- tions of intellect by negroes. There is undoubtedly much ignorance regarding negro ability especially as displayed in business enterprise, but no negro who poses as a race leader ought to complain of the recognition received. Many
The American Negro Academy. — Fleming. 51
a prominent negro would be considered merely ordinary as a white man.
Cjenerally speaking the writers read lessons of hope from the past history of other races; they reject the doctrines of the modern sociologists; and foretell the final ruin of any people or nation that subjects other races. Platitudes and generalities are as common in these papers as in accounts by white men on the same subject. There is a marked self- conscious feeling, which is quite natural, k is manifested lor instance in the use of "Mr." by certain of the writers, where a white man would never think of using it in speak- ing of the white race. There is much display of half as- similated learning and of a wide, but biased acquaintance, with history. The feeling displayed is in but few cases what is considered characteristic of the negro race; it is rather what white men under similar conditions would feci. The writers, trained in the learning of the white race and perhaps mixed in blood, have ceased to be "negroes" of the "negro problem" as usually understood and, in al- most all respects save color and prospects, have become "white men," and are hence hardly representative of the black race. This is one of the saddest aspects of the "prob- lem,"— it is really a new "problem."
To the historian the most interesting papers are Numbers 5, 7, 9 and 10. The one that shows the best race pride and race respect is that of Professor DuBois. The most practi- cal paper is that on the Negro Church presumably written by a native of Africa. They are all valuable to show what the educated, theoretical, negro or mulatto thinks of the ne^ro race and its difficulties. We do not get the impression that these men are doing as much practical work for the negro race as are Washington and Councill. And we shall probably still believe that the better teachings and the saner feeling and the more practical suggestions are found in "Up From Slavery."
REVIEWS.
Autobiography, Memories, and Experiences of Mon- cure Daniei* Conway. In two volumes. Boston and New
York, Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1904. 451, 4S2 pp.
The time has not vet come when the South can sympa- thize entirely with men of the type of James G. Birney, Cas- sius M. Clay, and Moncure D. Conway, yet we must admire the moral courage which led them to sacrifice home and friends rather than stultify their consciences. Dr. Conway summarizes his career in the statement that he made a "pil- grimage from pro-slavery to anti-slavery enthusiasm, from Methodism to Free Thought." The connection between the two ideas is a most natural one. While the gospel of emanci- pation was being preached by Garrison, Phillips, Emerson, and May, all unorthodox in their religious views, the Trini- tarian clergy refused to open their churches for anti-slavery meetings or to contribute in any way to their success [Rhodes, History of the United States, I, 58-59]. In other words, the abolition of slavery, like many other reforms of the nineteenth century, was a product of the rationalism of Voltaire, of Rousseau, of Bentham, of Mill.
Dr. Conway was born in Stafford County, Virginia, March 17, 1832. As the name indicates, he is related to three of the best known families in the Old Dominion. The suggestion that he inherited his views on the subjects of slavery and religion cannot of course be taken seriously. They were, in point of fact, the result of his education at Northern colleges, Dickinson and Harvard, at a time when abolitionism and Unitarianism were reaching their zenith. Leaving the Harvard Divinity School in 1854, he served for two years as pastor of the First Unitarian Church in Washington, and was then called to a Congregational
I
I
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53
charge in Cincinnati. In 1863 ne was sent abroad by a group of New England abolitionists to instruct tin- people of England on the issues of the war. Lite in London seemed to please him, for he soon accepted the pas- torate of a Universalist society which worshipped in South Place Chapel. Since then he has spent most of his years abroad In addition to preaching and lecturing he has found time to write biographies of Hawthorne and Thomas Paine and several novels and magazine articles.
There are few men now living who have had a larger ac- quaintance with distinguished people than Dr. Conway. The student of literature will be interested in his version of the Froude-Carlyle controversy, of the theft of the Carlye-Emerson correspondence, of the authorship of the Saxe Holm (Helen Hunt Jackson) stories, and of scores of other questions which space forbids me to enumerate. To the historian one of the chief features of the book will be the account of Conway's correspondence with Senator Mason, the Confederate envoy to England in 1863. Conway in- formed Mason that he had authority from the leading anti- slavery men in America to make this proposition: If the so-called Confederate States would immediately and irrevo- cably emancipate their slaves, the anti-slavery leaders would withdraw all support from the United States government in the further prosecution of the war. Mason carried on a short correspondence with Conway and then published all of the letters in the London Times. The result might have been foreseen. The anti-slavery people in America repudi- ated Conway — in fact he cynically admits that he acted without consulting them and that it was a stragetical move. Mason was tactless enough to say in his second letter that the South would not accept such a proposition, however genuine it might be, a statement which the anti-slavery sympathizers seized upon as evidence that the real object of the South was to perpetuate slavery and not to defend
54 Southern History Association.
states' rights. The episode helped the United States gov- ernment in its difficult task of convincing the Northern
people that the war was being waged to save the union, and the English people that its object was the abolition of slavery.
W. Roy Smith.
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
A Bkujv oi< Tine Fifties. Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Ala- bama, covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South. Gathered and edited by Ada Sterling. Cloth, octavo, pp. xxii-f-386. Price, $1.50. New York: Double- day, Page & Company, 1904.
Mrs. Clay, ncc Virginia Tunstall, was one of the many North Carolinians who, in the early ?3o's, moved to the young state of Alabama. She came from a slave plantation in North Carolina to live on another in Alabama. She came when the Indians were still occupying one-third of the state and she saw Alabama grow out of the wilderness ; and now at the beginning of a new century she tells the story of her life to a generation that never saw a slave nor an Indian. Until the Civil War the lines of her life fell in pleasant places, and in her reminiscences we have bright pictures of the social life in the Black Belt and in the small Southern towns. Married when very young to Senator Clement C. Clay, she at once became known as one of the most brilliant women who adorned Washington society in the decade before the war. Of all the ins and outs oi this splendid life we are told in detail, and the story is never dull. There is a chapter on the fashions of the fifties, and the book is illustrated with a dozen or more contemporary portraits of the best known of the stately Washington dames. There are also portraits of American and foreign statesmen whom Mrs. Clay knew, but among them are no "Black Republicans" — Mrs. Clay would know none of them.
f
Reviews, 55
She clearly sets forth the strained relations that existed be- tween the Republican and Democratic sections of society in the Capital. Official society was predominantly Southern until the exodus began in 1859-1860, a year or more before the final rupture, and when the Confederate government was set up in Richmond the society of Washington seemed to have been almost wholly transferred to the Virginia city. The later chapters tell of life in the Confederate Capital, of the gradual darkening of hope, of refugee life when flee- ing before the Federals, of suffering at the hands of the invaders, and of the final collapse of resistance and the dis- persal of the Confederate officials. The less pleasant are the chapters relating to the prison life of Senator Clay and President Davis in Fortress Monroe, where' they were an- noyed by the petty meanness of their jailors. Senator Clay's health was so injured by the treatment received that he never recovered, but died a few years later from the effects of it. In telling of her efforts to secure her husband's re- lease, Mrs. Clay expresses very unfavorable opinions of Stanton and Holt, and gives a rather original characteriza- tion of Johnson. Scattered throughout the book are vivid sketches of politicians, statesmen and other celebrities whom Mrs. Clay has known in her long and active life.
Walter L. Fleming.
IV est Virginia University.
The Declaration of Independence; An Interpretation and an Analysis. By Herbert Friedenwald. Ph. D. New York: The Macmillan Company, L904. O., pp. xii-l-299. Cloth, $2.00.
In his preface Dr. Friedenwald calls attention to "the close inter-relation between the development of the author- ity and jurisdiction of the Continental Congress and the evo- lution of the sentiment for independence." In other words, the Congress, which in its first years was considered as rep-
56 Southern History Association.
resenting the assemblies by whom its members were ch gathered power to itself, strengthened itself, gradually came to tear away from the aristocratic and conservative assemblies and to turn toward the more democratic com- mittees of correspondence and safety and under the leader- ship of a powerful radical minority brought the more con- servative members of its own body to the idea that inde- pendence was the necessary outcome of the contro with England. The king's speech to Parliament in the fall of 1775 was a factor in bringing about this result, while Paine's Common Sense written to order in advance to meet any spirit of conciliation the king might show and published just as the speech reached America was a still stronger fac- tor in advancing the schemes of a boltf and extremely radi- cal minority.
Perhaps the most interesting chapter is on adopting and signing the Declaration. It is shown that most of the sig- natures were. affixed on August 2, instead of July 4, that it was not signed by seven persons who became members of Congress on July 4 and was signed by seven who were not then members. It is also shown that the so-called Liberty Bell wdiich has been carted around the Union and shown at World's Fairs to gaping multitudes, but which the pro- fane hands of the multitudes are not so much as allowed to touch, has no connection with the events of the day.
There are chapters on the Declaration and its critics, the purpose and philosophy of the Declaration and a summary of the "Facts submitted to a candid world," showing the historical foundations on which Jefferson based his indict- ment of the English king.
There seems to be a few errors. On page 220 Governor Josiah Martin, of North Carolina, is assigned to Virginia and in the index he is called Alexander: on p. 143 by a cu- rious psvchological oversight "forty-rive" is written for "four." There is a verv full index.
Reviezvs. 57
The: Administration of- the American Kkvolttion- ary Army. By Louis Clinton Hatch, Ph. D. New York:
Longmans, Green & Co.
'Plie author says that "This monograph was originally
prepared as a dissertation for the decree of Doctor of Phi- losophy in Harvard University. It has since been revised, some matter omitted, and some additions have been made."
It is a handsomely bound and well printed book of 215 pages, with a very good index. The author cites three au- thorities consulted in its preparation.
The first chapter is a statement of the formation of the army. The second shows the relations between Congress and the commander-in-chief. The third shows the methods of appointment and promotion. The fourth a sketch of foreign officers taken into the service. The remaining chap- ters, of which there are nine in all, set out the rates of pay and half pay, the manner of supplying the army, an account of the mutinies of 1781, the celebrated Newburg address, the mutiny of 1783 and the disbandment of the army. These are followed by appendices containing copies of the New- burg addresses, and papers connected with them ; the two anonymous addresses to the officers of the army, March 10th and 12th, 1783 ; Washington's address to the officers, March x5> l7&3'y draft of a reply to the anonymous addresses, March 15, 1783, and extract of a letter from Armstrong to Gates, April 29, 1783.
It is a most valuable publication, and the author has shown great research and excellent judgment in both the manner and matter of the book. While written in a schol- arly style, and necessarily abbreviated, it is full of interest and furnishes most attractive and instructive reading. It ought to be read by all young army officers, and all others who are interested in the history of our war for independ- ence, and in general American history.
58 Southern History Association.
The September, 1904, installment of Dr. S. Weir Mitch- ell's Autobiography of Washington in the Century deals with the beginnings of the Braddock Campaign. There is clear proof of that officer's unfitness for the work assigned him. His self-sufficiency, his obstinacy, his contempt for the colonial troops are clearly shown as is the watchful and fatherly care exercised by Lord Fairfax over the young Washington, now advanced to the rank of aide on Brad- dock's staff. With October, Dr. Mitchell brings to a close his vivid Autobiography of Washington. This chapter takes him through the preparation for the campaign of 1754, the defeat of Braddock and the retreat from Fort Ducjuesnc. The story of Washington's youth as thus told by Dr. Mitch- ell presents all the attractions of romance and all the minute- ness of reality. *"
How the United States Became a Nation. By John Fiske. Boston: Cinn & Company, 1904. Pp. xix — 254. $1.25.
The raison d'etre of this book, which is a reissue of an earlier impression, is hard to discover. Certainly it cannot be found in the title, which is a misnomer. "A Picture Gal- lery of American Greatness" would be a far more appro- priate title, for the book contains nearly one hundred illus- trations. In about 35,000 words the author gives a splendid running summary of the history of the United States from the inauguration of Washington to the close of the Civil War. But when that is said, there is not much more to say. Important events are simply narrated without a hint of their bearing upon the nationalization of the country. The opin- ion of Washington on the French revolution, his private life at Mount Vernon, his illness and death, and the manumis- sion of his slaves are interesting topics, but their bearing upon the subject is difficult to be seen. The same is true of the twenty pages devoted to the military history of the War
Reviews.
59
of 1812 and the fifty devoted to the Civil war. Even this last great tragedy is passed over without a hint of its na- tionalizing influence. Students of French history will he surprised to learn that France was ruled by a "gang of an- archists" (24) in the time of the Terror. The hook is a readable one for young students, as any one acquainted with the author's other works might expect, but its title is mis- leading and never should have been adopted.
Prop. David Y. Thomas. Conzvay, Ark.
Problems of the Present South. By Edgar Gardner Murphy. New York : The Macmillan Company, 1904. O., pp. xxi-f-335. $i-5o, postage 11 cents extra.
As the sub-title suggests this book is ^discussion of cer- tain of the educational, industrial and political issues in the Southern States. As the preface says it is "an effort to con- tribute, from a standpoint within the life and thoughts of the South, to the discussion of the rise of democratic con- ditions in our Southern States."
The principal subjects considered are the public schools; the industrial (manufacturing) revival and child labor and the treatment of the negro. The chapters are general in character, state comparatively few facts and show an in- sufficiency of knowledge of the subjects treated : they are filled with words and seem written from. the standpoint of the orator who will win by sweet harmonious sounds ami not by the logic of facts and reason. The old aristocracy is weighed and found wanting and there are many refer- ences to the new democracy without idling what it is or how it is to be evolved from the old. There is much said of the educational work undertaken by the General Educa- tional Board, the Southern Education Board ami the Con- ference for Education in the South. In fact the book would seem mainly a plea and the mouthpiece of these organi-
6o
Southern History Association.
zations and their work. Like so many other educated Southerners who have let their enthusiasm for the new education get the better of their self-respect Mr. Murphy stands hat in hand pleading for a crumb that may fall from the lap of Northern wealth. He fails to realize that the sturdy self-reliance which carried his people through four years of war and through ten years more of the more terrible reconstruction is the best assurance 'that after 30 years of peace and increasing prosperity that people will not be con- tent to remain ignorant. Dependence on others is worse than poverty; loss of self-respect is worse than ignorance. In the appendix are valuable statistics of education from the census ; on p. 308 the five most illiterate counties of New Mexico are assigned by error to Arizona and on p. 43 South Carolina appears for North Carolina.
The Political History ol- Virginia During Ri:o in- struction. By Hamilton James Eckenrode. The Johns
Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Sci- ence, June-August, 1904. O., pp. 128.
This monograph is a study covering the three years of reconstruction in Virginia, 1867-70. This State had an ex- perience less bitter than other of her Confederate sisters for she had an organized and recognized union government before the war ended. The Alexandria government at the conclusion of hostilities moved to Richmond and under the conservative and conciliatory leadership of Governor Pier- pont sought to heal the wounds engendered by secession.
The author discusses successively the Alexandria gov- ernment, the President's attempt at restoration, the begin- ning of reconstruction, the Freedmen's Bureau and the Union League, the State campaign of 1867. the constitu- tional convention of 1868 and the final restoration of the State by the adoption of the Underwood constitution in a modified form, and the election of Gilbert C. Walker as
■
Reviews. C)i
Governor by the joint votes of conservatives and liberal Republicans.
The study is scientific in form, full and luminous in treat- ment. It seems to be based mainly on sources. It has far more of literary form than is usually found in historical studies of its high grade.
Beneath Virginia Skies. By Georgie Tillman Snead. New York: Scott-Thaw Company, 1904. 12 mo., pp. 343.
The author uses as an historical background the rise of the Baptists in Virginia and their struggle with the author- ities of the Established Church. The hero belongs to a family of wealth and refinement, but is disinherited for em- bracing the Baptist faith and becoming one of the dissent- ing ministers, or "New Lights." Immediately after marry- ing a rich young heiress, whose wealth he does not sus- pect, he sets out for the Revolutionary army to assume the duties of a chaplain. As marriages performed by a dis- senting minister were not then recognized by Virginia law, a worldly parson desiring the girl's wealth attempts, unsuc- cessfully, to have the marriage set aside and to marry the young lady himself. After a long separation, attended with many mishaps, the lovers are reunited and the story comes to a happy conclusion.
The reader will find in this story nothing that is new. The author's Virginia is the conventional land of lordly planters, profligate parsons, vicious indentured servants, scapegraces of the English aristocracy, primeval forests, and marauding Indians, that has been described in historical novels world without end. The book is well worth reading, however, on account of the attractive way in which the author has depicted the development of character in the heroine, who from a timid, unsophisticated girl of thirteen
62 Southern History Association.
evolves into a charming bit of womanhood posse
sweetness, common sense, and withal femininity.
Howard Wilford Bell, New York City, has printed as one of the "Unit Books" The Domestic Manners of the Ameri- cans by Frances M. Trollope. This well known book was first published in 1836 and succeeded in making the Ameri- cans thoroughly indignant at what they regarded as a caricature of things American. But now after seven decades we can estimate the work of the brilliant but super- ficial and bitterly prejudiced English woman at something like its true value. While missing the whole spirit of Amer- ican life, Airs. Trollope, who saw with keen eyes every American weakness and all that was unpleasant, undignified and ridiculous, has preserved for the use of the student of social history many facts that otherwise might have been lost. We do not fully accept her interpretations nor her conclusions, but from her most interesting narrative we get bright sidelights on the American frontier society of the
'3o's.
The plan of the present edition is worthy of note. As in all the "Unit Books" the added material is placed in the back of the volume — preface, sketch of the author, history of the book, notes on the text, and a list of books on Amer- ica written by foreigners. The text is unabridged. There are 402 pages, making 17 "units" of 25 pages each. Each "unit" sells for two cents and the cost of binding is added. The seventeen unit books bound in paper cost 34 cents, in cloth 64 cents, and in limp leather 84 cents. So the price oi a "Unit" book depends upon the number of pages, a very sensible arrangement. The paper and type are good. The series consists principally of reprints of literary master- pieces, but several works of historical interest have been in- cluded, and others are to appear.
Reviews. 63
Tun; Official and Statistical Register of the Stats of Mississippi, 1904. Edited and compiled by Dunbar Rowland. Nashville, Term.: The Brandon Printing Com- pany, 1904. O., pp. 694, many portraits and ills.
This Official Register of Mississippi, the first of its kind, is prepared under an act of 1902 and is to be reissued every four years by the Department of Archives and His- tory. Mr, Rowland has made his first number largely his- torical in character. It contains the organic acts and the constitutions of the State, the last being annotated so as to show the source of each section. There are lists of terri- torial and state officials, a chronological history from 1540 and a list of members of the legislature, 1817-1904, arranged in part alphabetically. It seems to this reviewer that an ar- rangement by counties and an index would have been more useful and valuable historically, especially as these names do not seem to be inserted in the general index. There are a few pages devoted to the resources of the state which seem rather out of place as the work is mainly historical. Part 3 contains many statistics, descriptions of state institu- tions, and lists of county officers. Part 4, which is the most detailed and which will in the future be of the greatest his- torical value, contains many sketches and portraits of the members of the present executive, legislative and judicial departments. There is also a section devoted to the state capitols, with illustrations.
The volume has many excellent features and with an index that included every proper name in its pages would be of the greatest service to the student.
t»j
History of Mecklenburg County [North Carolina 1 and the City of Charlotte from 1740 to 1903. By IX A. Tompkins. Volume two, appendix. Charlotte, X. C. : Ob- server Printing House, 1903. O., pp. xix-f-2i3-f[2l. 2 maps, 11 ports., 2>7 ills., cloth.
64 Southern History Association.
Mecklenburg County, X. C, is 'fortunate in the preserva- tion of her history. A year ago Dr. J. B. Alexander pub- lished a history of the county (reviewed in vol. 7, pp. 300-1). The first volume of Air. Tompkins's work is re- viewed in vol. 8, 65-68 and his second volume is now pub- lished. Jt is intended as an appendix to the first volume and discusses at great length some of the matters which are only touched upon in the first. While there is necessarily some duplication of Dr. Alexander's work,' the two books largelv supplement and complement each other. Alexander leans largely to the personal, genealogical and reminiscent side; Tompkins deals more with institutions and social phe- nomena.
The most important subject discussed in Mr. Tompkins's second volume is the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independ- ence to which the first 56 pages are devoted. The author defends the genuineness of the Declaration of the 20th Mav and while he adds no new evidence to that already known presents his materials in clearer and more logical way than has been done by previous writers. He draws largely from the state pamphlet of 1831 on the subject, prints letters of Governor Swain and adds a bibliography of its literature.
Professor G. B. Hanna furnishes a valuable chapter on mining in Mecklenburg county and on the work of the mint in Charlotte. Some thirty pages are given to biographical sketches of prominent citizens while the remainder of the volume is devoted to miscellaneous matters: Andrew Jack- son's birthplace; customs of the pioneers, the Regulation and the Black Boys of Cabarrus, church affairs and the part of Mecklenburg in the various wars of the United States, with rosters of her volunteers. The latter might have been omitted especially as they have been recently' printed in Alexander's book.
As was sa:d of the first volume of Mr. Tompkins's history this work approaches much nearer the ideal of the social
Reviews. 65
history of the Germans, their culturgeschichte, than local histories are wont to do. It is evident that the author has brought to his task much more intelligent preparation than is usually found in such work. The general plan as indi- cated by the various chapter headings is most excellent, but it must be acknowledged that the plan is far superior to the execution. As was said of the first volume the subjects are not treated exhaustively and there is about the whole an air of scrappiness and incompleteness. There -are also many discreditable blunders which appear to be due mainly to careless proofreading: Hawkes for Hawks (p. 5) ; Walter S. for Walter W. Moon (p. 58) ; 1880 for 1780 (p. 64) ; 1828 for 1878 (p. 72) ; 1768 for 1788 (?) (p. 94) ; 1837 for 1873 (p. 135), and others. Nor can this reviewer sub- scribe to Mr. Tompkins's views as to the "accuracy and im- partiality" of Francis Xavier Martin. Two cases will illus- trate : One is Martin's ignorance of the history of the press in N. C, of which he had the very best opportunity to learn ; the other is his false statements in regard to the early Quakers when authentic facts were actually before him. In matters of accuracy Martin can be ranked no higher than Wheeler!
North Carolina Booklkt, July-October, 1904, vol. iv, Xos. yG. Raleigh, N. C, $1.00 per year.
July. — Historic Homes in North Carolina, Quaker Mead- ows, by Hon. A. C. Avery, deals with the home of the Mc- Dowells of King's Mountain and Revolutionary fame and of this family which has been long prominent in North Caro- lina (pp. 24).
August. — The conventions of 1788 and 1789 and the Fed- eral constitution — Hillsborough and Fayetteville, by Judge Henry G. Connor, pp. 36; based on the Debates and on McKee's Iredell (pp. 36).
September. — Sketches of John Penn and Joseph llewes,
5
66 So utiic in History Association.
signers, by Thos. M. Pittman and Prof. E. W. Sikcs, re- spectively, with portraits (pp. 36).
October. — North Carolina in South America, a popular account of the English expedition against Cartagena in 1740 under Admiral Vernon and the part taken by the 400 Xorth Carolina troops ; also North Carolina in war — her troops and generals, by Hon. Walter Clark (pp. 24, 2 maps).
The Guilford Battle Ground Company, Greensboro, N. C, has printed Judge J. E. Shepherd's address on July 4, 1904. on the Life of Judge David Schenck, the founder of the company and who by his enthusiasm made the site of the Guilford C. H. battle one of the best known historical sites in the South. The company has also printed R. F. Beasley's account of the battle of Elizabethtown and the career of Capt. James Morehead.
Mr. Thomas P. Thompson has compiled for the Louisiana State Commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition a list of Louisiana Writers, native and resident, including others wJiose works belong to a Bibliography of the State (New Orleans, 1904, pp. 64). He gives something like 800 names with perhaps a thousand titles and touches only the more general and better known phases of the intellectual life of the State. Thus there is no mention of State or Fed- eral public documents, of laws or court decisions, or of institutional reports. It has none of those bibliographical details which delight the heart of the bibliophile, such as exact title pages with uprights, collations, enumeration of editions, historical, biographical, bibliographical, critical or illuminating notes. The short title with date and place of publication only are given. It is presumed that the list is intended principally for advertising purposes at the S Louis Exposition. It will also be of service as a preliminary or tentative list preparatory to the exhaustive Bibliography
Reviews.
67
of Louisiana which it is understood Mr. William Beer, of New Orleans, has in preparation. A valuable feature is the list of Louisiana artists, with the approximate date of their greatest activity and the character of their work.
The: Louisiana Purchase and Exploration, Early History and Building of the West. By Ripley Hitchcock. Boston : Ginn and Company, 1904. O., pp. xxi-f-349, map and many illus., cloth.
This is a popular account, based on secondary authorities of the history of the States and territories carved from the Louisiana Purchase. It begins with Spanish and French explorations and discovery, traces the transfer to the United States, gives a brief popular account of Lewis and Clark's expedition drawn from their journals, and sketches the later industrial development of the section. An appendix, "The Louisiana Purchase to-day," gives statistics covering agri- cultural products, with historical facts. There is an index.
Mr. Thomas M. Owen, Director of the Alabama Depart- ment of Archives and History, has issued as Bulletin No. 2 from his department a "History of the First Regiment Ala- bama Volunteer Infantry," the first regiment from the South formally to enter the Confederate service. The author is Edward Y. MacMorries, who served in the regi- ment from 1861 to 1865, and who was in every action in which his regiment was engaged. The nine chapters set forth the record of the regiment at Pensacola in 1861 ; at Island No. 10, and in prison in 1862; at Port Hudson in 1862-1863; at Meridian, Mobile, and in Georgia and Tennessee in 1863-1864; and in the Carolinas in 1865. *n the later chapters are reminiscences of army life by the author and by Col. Studman who led the regiment for four years. There is also a list of the Alabama soldiers buried at Madison, Wisconsin, where the regiment was imprisoned in 1862. This command was one of the best in the western armies; its members were from the most prominent fam-
68 Southern History Association.
ilies of the State. At a reunion in 1898 only twenty mem- bers were present. In spite of the fact that this command was early organized, bore a good reputation, and was charged with important duties, it was armed with flint lock muskets until 1863 — a commentary on the lack of prepara- tion of the Confederacy.
Major Caleb Huse, formerly of the Confederate army, who was sent to Europe by President Davis to purchase military supplies for the Confederacy," has written an inter- esting account of the work he accomplished and the methods he pursued during his four years' service abroad — under the title, "The Supplies of the Confederate Army, How they were obtained in Europe and How paid for." Major Huse was born in Massachusetts, educated at West Point, and in i860 was borne on the rolls at Fort Sumter as a lieu- tenant of artillery. When Alabama seceded Lieutenant Huse was serving as commandant of cadets at the Univers- ity of Alabama. He resigned his commission in the LJ. S, Army to accept a position in the Confederacy. The pam- phlet may be obtained for 25 cents from J. S. Rogers. 1 iS Barrister's Hall, Boston, Mass.
Professor Walter L. Fleming, of West Virginia Uni- versity, is preparing for publication by the Arthur H. Clark Company, of Cleveland, a collection of Documents Relat- ing to Reconstruction. Professor Fleming, in connection with an extended study of Reconstruction, has for several years been collecting contemporaneous data for that period. This collection will not only include the official documents, political platforms and speeches, thus superseding Mc- Pherson's "Documentary History of Reconstruction," but will also draw on many rare private sources for original, hitherto unpublished matters regarding the Ku Klux Klan, the White Camelia, The Union League, churches and schools during Reconstruction, the Freedmen's Bureau, etc
Reviews.
69
State laws and decisions of state courts will also be in- cluded, together with selections illustrating social and eco- nomic conditions during the period covered. Professor Fleming is still unearthing material and has discovered many unique documents owned by private individuals; he would be glad to hear from persons having in their posses- sion material relating to this period, and may be addressed at Morgantown, West Virginia.
During the past year a series of articles by Miss Elizabeth McCracken on "The Women of America" appeared in The Outlook. These articles are to be published in book form by the Macmillan Company. There are several chapters that are of especial interest to students of Southern social conditions, especially the one on "The Southern Woman and Reconstruction."
Miss Howard Weeden, of Huntsville, Alabama, has in press with Doubleday, Page & Company a volume of poems entitled "Old Voices." Like the "Bandanna Ballads" and "The Shadows on the Wall," the present volume describes conditions on the ante-bellum plantations of the South.
The Everett Waddy Company, of Richmond, has issued a second edition of Dr. C. L. C. Minor's "The Real Lin- coln." The book is a protest against the conception of Lin- coln given by the story book and the school histories.
"The Story of the United States" in Putnam's "Stories of the Nations" will be written by Prof. E. E. Sparks, of the University of Chicago.
It is very pleasant to learn that Dr. B. A. Elras has secured enough subscribers to warrant his proceeding with his history of the Jews of South Carolina. Lippincott & Company, Philadelphia, will bring it out this spring, it pos- sible.
NOTES AND NEWS.
President Gilman and the Carnegie Institution. — At the regular meeting of the trustees in December last, President D. C. Gilman announced his desire to withdraw from active management on account of increasing years, and a successor was elected. His relations with the board had been of the most cordial nature. Several lines of learned and fruitful investigations had been started, proving the success of his plan. President Gilman thus closes a unique and extraordinary career in education. He is the only man living to have the wonderful honor of being an organizer and director of two pioneer movefiients into vir- gin and advanced fields of scholastic study. He first showed the New World what genuine university work is, he has pointed out to both worlds how to take the next higher step in the quest of knowledge. Not a teacher himself his was the far rarer and greater gift, he could choose, marshal and command those who had the highest skill and qualities. But executive ability is not his only title to eminence. Fie is the master of a style unsurpassed for clearness, for accuracy, for delicate discrimination. The pedagogical profession among us loses its greatest and foremost leader, but history and literature may gain from this period of mellow leisure.
Historical Interest in New England. — In 1894 the little locality of Nantucket formed a historical association with nearly 200 chartered members, increasing to 300 within four years, at an annual fee of $2.00 or a life fee oi $15.00. Besides a regular publication, the society has bought an old mill to be preserved as a relic, at a cost of $800. It now has property to the value of $3,000. All this wonderful result has been accomplished by a mere handful of people. Perhaps no such energy and interest can be found elsewhere in this country.
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
SOUTHERN HISTORY ASSOCIATION.
Vol. IX.
March, 1905.
No. 2
VICE-PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON.
By David M. DicWitt.
• Kingston, N. Y.
(Continued.)
This champion of "the poor whites'' — originally "a poor white" himself — could not but feel an instinctive antag- onism to the highborn leaders who for the most part rep- resented the Southern States in the Senate. Cradled in case and affluence ; every educational facility afforded them; their hands exempt from labor; endowed with leis- ure to prepare themselves by study for the practice of jx)litics and statesmanship ; courtly yet haughty in bear- ing; having at their tongues' end all 'the graces taught in the schools' and all 'the studied contrivances of speech' : they could not but look askance, with a sort of contemptuous astonishment, at this untrained offspring of the "depths,'' who, though possessed of none of the advantages they had enjoyed, flaunted his own equality with the highest of them, sought out his well-born adversaries in the hurly- burly of debate, yielded not an inch, gave blow for blow, upheld the homely standard of the class he represented against the emblazoned banners of the Southern chivalry. 6
*]2. Southern History Association.
In opposing a grant of lands in aid of the Pacific rail- road on the ground that such wholesale squandering of the property of the Union was an unconstitutional exercise of power, he took occasion to allude to this contrast of opportunities :
"It may be said I am a plebeian and have made my way here from the ranks. Some gentlemen may say I contracted my prejudices there. I am a plebeian and I am proud of it. I know there are others who can boast of more favored circumstances; that they have lived in the midst of affluence; that they have had parents who could extend to them all the facilities, all the comforts, and all the means seemingly necessary to give a man position in society in mod- ern times. I know I. cannot boast of these things; others may boast of them; I have no objection. All I regret isjthat I have not a fair chance with them; but on the other hand, not to be egotistical, I thank God Almighty that he has endowed me with physical power, and with a tolerably healthy brain."
In his final effort to pass the Homestead Dill (session of 1859-60) he encountered opposition of the most irritating character from some of the leading Southern Senators. They seem to have combined to provoke their plebeian associate. As a proof of inconsistency they flung in his face his opposition to the Pacific Railroad grant. They charged him with political heresy, with agrarianism, with loose construction of the Constitution, with making alli- ances with anti-slavery Senators, with demagogism, with truckling to the Northern people with an eye to the Presi- dency. Wigfall of Texas stigmatized his pet measure as "a bill providing land for the landless, homes for the home- less, and leaving out the important matter, in my opinion of negroes for the negroless." Mason of Virginia called his attention to the avowed purpose of the Republicans to make use of the bill to "plant a population" on the public territory "from the free States and excluding the slave population ;" scornfully alluding to the Senator from Ten- nessee: "We have been bred in different schools and reason in a different manner."
Against this band of assailants, Johnson stood with un-
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt.
73
daunted front. An extract or two from his replies may be found characteristic.
"We have been driven round and round upon the slavery ques- tion; round and round the giddy circle of slavery agitation we have gone, until our heads are reeling and our stomachs are sick, and almost heaving."
"It really seems to me that if some member of this body was to introduce the ten commandments for consideration and they were to receive consideration and discussion, somebody would find a negro in them somewhere; the slavery agitation would come up."
"A word as to agrarianism and the Gracchi. There are a few per- sons who have learned to talk about the French Revolution and the Jacobins, and the Red Republicans and the Gracchi, and the agrarians and all that, and they get up a terrific idea, and make everybody fear that there is something terrible in the measure. It is learned and literary and classical to repeat these things, and gentlemen are constantly talking about them and losing sight of the great principle, of the great object to be accomplished, of ameliorating the condition of the great mass of the people. * * * You may talk about Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, but there were never two men more slandered in all the tide of history."
"If being poor was a crime, and I was before you as my judge upon trial, and the charge was read to me, and I was asked to put in my plea, I should have to plead that I was guilty; that I was a great criminal; that I had been born a criminal; and that I had lived a criminal a large portion of my life. Yes, I have wrestled with poverty, the gaunt and haggard monster; [ have met it in the day and night; I have felt his withering approach and his blighting influence; but did I feel myself a criminal? No, I felt I was an honest man and that I would rescue myself from the grasp of the monster."
"Mr. Calhoun was a logician; he could reason from premise to conclusion with unerring certainty, but he was as often wrong in his premises as anybody else. Admit his premises, and you were swept off by the conclusion; * * * and I think Mr. Calhoun was more of a politician than a statesman. Mr. Calhoun never possessed that class of mind that enabled him to found a great party. * * * * His mind was metaphysical and logical, and he was a great man in his peculiar channel, but he might be more properly said to have founded a sect than a great national party."
Buchanan's veto crowned the long series of his vexa- tions. In the depths of his mortification, referring to the wish of Washington and Jackson that every head of a family should have an abiding place for his wife and children, he was provoked to doubt ''whether considerations
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so natural, so humane, so Christian, have ever penetrated the brain of one whose bosom has never yet swelled with emotions for wife or children/'
"If there were forty Presidents," he exclaimed, "with forty assistants to write out vetoes, I should stand by this bill."
He assailed the veto power itself with an argument which he little thought would return to plague him in the future :
"The President of the United States presumes — yes, sir; I say presumes — to dictate to the American people and to the two Houses of Congress, in violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Con- stitution, that this measure shall not become a law. Why do I say this? I ask, is there any difference in the spirit of the Constitution whether a measure is sanctioned by a two-thirds vote before its pas- sage or afterwards? When a measure has been vetoed by the Presi- dent, the Constitution requires that it shall be reconsidered and passed by a two-thirds vote in order to become a law. But, here, in the teeth of the Executive, there was a two-thirds vote in favor of this bill."
Nevertheless, seventeen Senators — everyone of them from a Southern State joined the President; and. in conse- quence, the bill failed to become a law.
The defeat of this measure — the object of his unwearied advocacy from the time of his entrance into the House of Representatives, seventeen years before, during which assistance came for the most part from the North, and opposition for the most part from the South — did more than any other one thing to convert the instinctive antipa- thy, lurking in the bosom of the plebeian Senator towards the patricians of his section, into a state of permanent alienation that wanted but a cardinal occasion to burst forth into open war.
And the cardinal occasion soon came. When the Senate met in December, i860, a President and Vice-President of the United States — each 'from a non-slaveholding State- had been elected by votes from non-slaveholding states exclusively, against the unanimous votes of the slavehold-
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt.
75
ing States and upon the public pledge to prevent the spread of slavery into the common territory. The entire South was shaken to its centre ; the southern tier of States, driving on with headlong haste measure after measure to break away from a people they had come to regard as an enemy bent upon desolating their family hearths and rooting up their social system. At the opening of the session, the Republican Senators sat grouped together on one side of the chamber, and the Southern Senators on the other ; the usual interchange of greetings between members of oppos- ing parties being dropped as a mockery too ghastly in the face of the grim realities of the situation. "Not a solitary man," as was remarked by one of the Southern group, "crossed over from one side to the other." "Two hostile bodies" eyed each other across the floor, one in silence and gloom, the other with the knit brow of hate and the scowl of defiance ; — "a type of the feeling," as was said, "existing between the two sections." During the first few days, one senator after another from the slaveholding States — Cling- man of North Carolina, Iverson of Georgia, Davis and Crown of Mississippi, Green of Missouri, Mason of Vir- ginia and Wigfall of Texas — arose, and, now in mournful, now in solemn, now in defiant tones, and now in tones of levity, announced the dissolution of the Union, affirmed the constitutional right of a State to secede, foretold the speedy exercise of that right, and avowed his own purpose to follow her banner. At length, on Tuesday the eighteenth of December, the day after the meeting of the South Carolina Convention, Andrew Johnson's turn came. Up to this point we have purposely refrained from noting the one principle of his intellectual life and at the same time the one absorbing passion of his emotional nature that govern- ed his whole political career. From his youth up he had been self-imbued with a reverence for the Constitution of the United States, as profound as it was pedantic. The
76
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complex system of State sovereignty and Federal nationality, which was in one aspect the maker, and in another the creature, of the Constitution, he worshiped to the point of idolatry. There was no document he had "conned" (to use his favorite phrase) so often as the Constitution. He had spelled out its historic text on his tailor's bench. He had waxed warm in debate over its clauses in his tailor's shop. lie had carried it with him as his political bible in all the hot canvasses in Tennessee. Upon his hard practical understanding the words of the organic law fell as the oracles of an impersonal fate. The institution of slavery, the rights of his own State, the rights of his own section, the rights of man, the cause of humanity, the march of civilization — all must bring their workings within its august formula, to escape condemnation. _ Moreover, the class he represented looked up to the central government with a far different feeling from that which actuated the ruling class in the South. To the latter, the State was always first, the Union by a long way last. To the former, the Union was always and by a long way first. To the "poor whites," the Federal government, like the king in the old fights of the commons with the lords, was an ally and a shield against the aris- tocracy, and they gloried in the thought of being citizens of a great and powerful nation, where their own humble gifted sons might find a broader and fairer field than in the counties and districts where they were shoved into a corner by an imperious majority. And Johnson, as in all other cases, fully partook of this feeling of the community in which he lived. As a representative, as a senator, in the wide- ruling councils of the Union, he was upborne by the con- sciousness that the plebeian occupied a prouder and more advantageous position there than when he confronted the statesmen of middle and western Tennessee in the councils of his State. To break up the Union was nothing less than to break up his political world. The claim of a right of
Vice-President Andrezv Johnson. — DeWitt.
77
secession like any other claim of right by a State he put to this one supreme test; ''Is it so nominated in the bond?" And, if he could not find it, for him it did not exist. To his mind, it was always an intellectual delight to retrace the marvellous skill with which the limits of the delegated- powers of the common government and the reserved powers of the States had been drawn y and for any man to lay a rude hand upon • the delicate symmetry of the august structure was like touching the ark of the covenant. To him, the creed of creeds was the famous synopsis of prin- ciples in the first inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson. To him, the greatest toast ever drunk was Jackson's : "The Union ! It must be preserved." To him, the most solemn prayer ever lifted up was Webster's peroration in his reply to Hayne. And to him, the greatest blaspheniy ever uttered was the saying: "There is a higher law than the Constitu- tion."
Before such a monopolizing principle of action and such a soul-absorbing passion, it needed no prophet to foretell that in the event of a collision, so languid and every-day an attachment to negro slavery as we have seen Johnson enter- tained, without compunction on the one side or sentimen- tality on the other, must inevitably go to the wall. In his speech, the year before, on the John Brown raid, when his sympathies with his section were excited to a high pitch, he did not fail to define his position on the question :
"For myself, I am no dissolutionist ; I am no madcap on tliis sub- ject. Because we cannot get our constitutional rights, 1 do not in- tend to be one of those who will violate the Constitution. When the time comes, if it ever does come, when it shall be necessary — and God forbid that it ever should come — I intend to place my feet upon that Constitution which I have sworn to support, and to stand there and battle for all its guarantees; and if the Constitution is to be violated, if this Union is to be broken up, it shall be done by those who are stealthily and insiduously making encroachments upon its very foundation."
Still, the preponderance of high motive on the side oi
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the Union did not lessen the moral courage of the declara- tion he was about to titter. During the recent presidential campaign, although it was charged that his heart was not with the extreme movement which split the Democratic party, he had (as he said) "through dust and heat, through wind and rain, traversed his State laboring hard to con- vince the people that Breckenridge and Lane were the best Union men in the country." Buoyed up as he was by the consciousness that he reflected the voice of the moun- tain neighborhood where he lived, and also by the belief that the majority of the people of his State would support him, yet he must have been aware that he was separating himself from the section with which were entwined all his political sympathies and casting his lot with a section with whose dominant party he had always been at war. Never- theless, as he would have enforced the return of a fugitive slave from the North, if necessary with the full force of the government, without compunction of conscience or a gleam of pity — it being so nominated in the bond — so now he was prepared to obey the behests of that sentiment of nationality, in which he and the North alone were at one, even at the sacrifice of State and section.
His sturdy figure and set face stood out in strong relief against the background of his scowling associates. His voice, as usual, was low ; his plea persuasive on the surface, but with an undertone of stubborn purpose. The text he took for his manifesto was a proposed amendment to the Constitution, introduced by him in. the House years before and again a few days ago in the Senate, whose provisions are curiously characteristic of the man. The President and senators were to be elected directly by the people ; the term of the justices of the Supreme Court was reduced to twelve years; President and Vice-President were to alternate (to use the exact words) "every four years between the slave- holding and non-slaveholding States during the continuance
Vice-President Andreiv Johnson. — DeWitt. 79
of the Government ;" and the future appointments of judges regulated, "so that the Supreme Court will he equallv divided between the slavehokling and non-slaveholding States." To this novel remedy he paid but little attention, saying he proposed it only in obedience to a duty which he thought devolved "upon every one who can contribute in the slightest degree to this result to come forward and make some effort to preserve the Union of these States by a pre- servation of the Constitution ;" and he hastened to define his exact position on the great issue at stake :
"I am opposed to secession. I believe it is no remedy for the evils complained of. Instead of acting with that division of my southern friends who take ground for secession, I shall take other grounds while I try to accomplish the same end." * * *
"I think that this battle ought to be fought not outside, but inside of the Union, and upon the battlements of the Constitution itself. * * * We do not intend to go out. It is our Constitution ; and we do not intend to be driven from it or out of the Union. Those who have violated the Constitution either in the passage of what are denominated personal liberty bills or by their refusal to execute the fugitive slave law — they having violated the instrument that binds us together — must go out and not we."
"We deny the doctrine of secession ; we deny that a State has the power, of its own volition, to withdraw from the Confederacy. We are not willing to do an unconstitutional act to induce or to coerce others to comply with the Constitution of the United States. * * *
"I do not believe the Federal Government has the power to coerce a State; for by the nth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States it is expressly provided that you cannot even put one of the States of the Confederacy before one of the courts of the country as a party. As a State, the Federal Government has no power to coerce it; but it is a member of the compact to which it agreed in common with the other States, and this Government has ■ the right to pass laws, and to enforce these laws upon individuals within the limits of each State. While the one proposition is clear, the other is equally so."
As he went on he grew bolder.
"Let us talk about things by their right names. * * * If any- thing can be treason in the scope and purview of the Constitution, is not levying war upon the United States treason? Is not an attempt to take its property treason? Is not an attempt to expel its soldiers treason? Is not an attempt to resist the collection of revenue, or to expel your mails, or to drive your courts from her borders, treason? It is treason, and nothing but treason."
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Again :
"I am opposed to the consolidation of Government, and I am as much for the reserved rights of States as any one; but rather than to see this Union divided into thirty-three petty Governments, with a little prince in one, a potentate in another, a little aristocracy in a third, a little democracy in a fourth, and a republic somewhere eLe ; a citizen not being able to pass from one State to another without a passport or a commission from his Government ; with quarrelling and warring against the little petty powers, which would result in an- archy; I would rather see this Government to-day — 1 proclaim it here in my place — converted into a consolidated Government."
Concerning the attitude of his own State, he declared :
"Tennessee will be found standing as firm and unyielding in her demands for those guarantees in the way a State should as any other State in this Confederacy. She is not quite so belligerent now She is not making quite so much noise. She is not blustering as Sempronius was in the council of Addison's play of Cato, who declared that his 'voice was for war.' There was another charac- ter there, Lucius, who was called upon to know what his opinions were; and when he was called upon, he replied that he must con- fess his thoughts were turned on peace."
Besides, what was there to be alarmed about?
"Have we not got the power? We have. Let South Carolina send her Senators back; let all the Senators come; and on the 4th of March next we shall have a majority of six in this body. * Am I to be so great a coward as to retreat from duty? I will stand here and meet the encroachments upon the institutions of my country at the threshold; and as a man; as one that loves my country and my constituents, I will stand here and resist all en- croachments and advances. Here is the place to stand. Shall I desert the citadel, and let the enemy come in and take posses- sion ?" *****
"Are we going to desert that noble and that patriotic band who have stood by us at the North? Who have stood by us upon prin- ciple? Who have stood by us upon the Constitution? They stood by us and fought the battle upon principle; and now that we have been defeated, not conquered, are we to turn our backs upon them and leave them to their fate? I for one will not."
Such Northern sentiments from one of their own sec- tion drove the Southern members from their propriety. The scene that followed was described by Johnson himself: "As I stood solitary and alone, a bevy of conspirators gathered in from the other House ; those who were here
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt.
8r
crowded around, with frowns and scowls and expressions of indignation and contempt," with "taunts and jeers and derisive remarks.'' On the other side, from the sombre and silent mass of Republican senators there flashed gleams of encouragement, there came murmurs of admiration. The effect of the speech upon both sections of the country was tremendous. Thoroughout the North, it was hailed as the one cheering sign among the war-clouds that lowered on the southern horizon. Throughout the South, it was cursed as the one disheartening betrayal of fraternal ac- cord. An Abdiel of faithfulness in the eye of the North, its author was a Judas of treachery in the eye of the South. In many places there — even in his own State — he was shot, hanged and burned, in effigy.
On Tuesday, the fifth of February, he was heard again. By that day, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi had followed South Carolina, and it was only the day be- fore that the Senate was thrilled by the farewell address of Benjamin of Louisiana. Johnson again describes the scene :
"Yesterday the last of the Senators, who represent what are called the seceding States, retired, and a drama was enacted. The piece was well performed; the actors were perfect in their part-; it was got up to order; I will not say that the mourning auxiliaries had been selected in advance. * * * It was a very affecting scene. * * * It was not unlike the oration of Mark Antony over the dead body of Caesar. Weeping friends grouped picturesquely in the foreground; the bloody robe, the ghastly wounds. Who was there that did not expect to hear the exclamation: if you have tears, prepare to shed them now.' "
In this speech he was still more explicit upon that awful word "Treason."
"Mr. Ritchie" [formerly editor of the Richmond Inquirer], "speaking for the Old Dominion, used language that was unmis- takable, that treason should be punished, springing out of the hot- bed of the Hartford Convention. It was all right to talk about treason then; it was all right to punish traitors in that direction. For myself, I care not whether treason be committed North or South; he that is guilty of treason is entitled to a traitor's fate.'*
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Wigfall assailed him with great bitterness, twitting him of "disjointed utterance,'' of incoherence of speech ; gird- ing at this old trade; charging him with servile compli- ance to win the populace, with collusion with Republican senators ; with having uttered doctrines more wicked than Helper's ; with lying about Jefferson Davis in his absence by denouncing him as a disunionist per se ; with having advocated all his life "the vilest Democracy and the reddest Red Republicanism."
When the Texas Senator closed his harangue and a mo- tion was made to adjourn, Johnson, with ostentatious mild- ness, interposed :
"I see and understand that the Senator from Oregon wants the floor with a view to unite his efforts with the Senator who has just concluded his remarks, in reply to me. I hope the motion will be withdrawn, so that the Senator from Oregon can go on. and when they are both done, all I shall want will be just about thirty minutes."
An adjournment was taken, however ; and Lane, who, as a senator from a Northern state had been pushed for- ward to reply to Johnson's first speech, did not get another opportunity until the second day of March, when he wrought himself up into a towering passion over what he considered a charge of treason Johnson had insinuated against Jefferson Davis as well as himself. "If the word 'treason' was to be applied by him or any other man to me" I "would say you are a coward and cannot maintain it." By way of rejoinder, Johnson quietly said :
"There are men who talk about cowards, courage, and all that description of things; and in this connection, 1 want to say, not boastingly, with no anger in my bosom, that these two eyes of mine never looked upon anything in the shape of mortal man that this heart feared."
As to what should be done with traitors, he was still more outspoken :
1
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DeWitt. 83
"I would have them arrested; and, if convicted, within the mean- ing and scope of the Constitution, by the Eternal God I would exe- cute them. Sir, treason must be punished."
The cheering news had reached him that his own State had voted against the holding of a convention to consider secession, and he was in a most exultant mood, proclaim- ing:
"Tennessee stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled by the exercise of the elective franchise. * * * If the people of our sister States had enjoyed the same privilege of going to the ballot- box, and passing their judgment upon the ordinances of secession, I believe more of them would have stood with Tennessee to-day than now stand with her. But the people have been overslaughed, a system of usurpation has been adopted, and a reign of terror in- stituted."
Flinging Cardinal Woolsey's farewell and Macbeth's last speech at the senator from Oregon, he closed amid the shouting of the galleries, which, repeated attempts to sup- press only changed into hisses of exasperation, renewed clapping of hands, stamping of feet and defiant cheers for Johnson.
On his way home after the first inauguration of Lincoln, he was set upon at one place by a mob and fought his way out with his single pistol ; at another, he was hissed and hooted out of the town. When he made his way back to attend the July session, the war had begun, and Virginia and Tennessee had joined their "wayward sisters." In allusion to this catastrophe, the Senator from the latter state said :
"Since I left my home, having only one way to leave the State, through two or three passes coming out through Cumberland Gap. I have been advised that they had even sent their armies to blockade these passes in the mountains, as they say. to prevent Johnson from returning with arms and ammunitions to place in the hands of the people to vindicate their rights, repel invasion and put down do- mestic insurrection and rebellion." "We claim to be the State. The other divisions may have seceded and gone off; and if this Gov- ernment will stand by and permit those portions of the State to go off, and not enforce the laws and protect the loyal citizens there. we cannot help it ; but we still claim to be the State, and if two-
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thirds have fallen off, or have been sunk by an earthquake, it does not change our relation to this Government. * * * We are a rural people; we have villages and small towns; no large cities. Our population is homogeneous, industrious, frugal, brave, inde- pendent; but harmless and powerless, and rode over by usurpers. You mav be too late in coming to our relief; or you may not come at all, though I do not doubt that you will come; they may trample us under foot ; they may convert our plains into graveyards, and the caves of our mountains into sepulchres; but they will never take us out of this Union, or make us a laud of slaves — no, never. We intend to stand as firm as adamant, and as unyielding as our own majestic mountains that surround us."
Steady in his votes for men and money to preserve the Union, he, at the same time, introduced that famous resolu- tion which, after the Bull Run disaster, pledged the Con- gress that the war was not waged "for any purpose of con- quest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing the estab- lished institutions of the Southern States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and pre- serve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired ; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease."
The advancing Confederate forces swept over his corner of Tennessee. His home was invaded. His wife and daughters were turned into the street. His house became a barrack. One of his sons-in-law became a prisoner of war, another a wanderer in the woods. Yet, during the next session, he still persisted in representing without a colleague his revolted State, the single, solitary Senator that remained from the seceding section. In the streets of Washington, he was stared at by men, women and children, as a monster. To the last, he was consistent. Speaking of the Southern leaders, on the last day of January, 1862, he said :
"They had lost confidence in the intelligence and virtue ami in- tegrity of the people, and their capacity to govern themselves ; and they intended to separate and form a Government, the chief corner- stone of which should be slavery, disfranchising the great m the people, of which we have seen constant evidence, and merging the powers of Government in the hands of the few. 1 know
Vice-President Andrew Johnson. — DcWitt
85
what I sav. I know their feelings and their sentiments. I served in the Senate here with them. I know they were a close corporation, that had no more confidence in or respect for the people than has the Dey of Algiers. I fought that close corporation here. I knew that they were no friends of the people. I knew that Slidell and Mason and Benjamin and Iverson and Toombs were the enemies of free government, and I know so now."
Among- his last words in the Senate were: "I am a Dem- ocrat now; I have been one all my life; expect to live and die one."
On the third day of March, 1863, when his term as sena- tor was about to expire, President Lincoln appointed him Military Governor of Tennessee with the rank of brigadier- general. For two years he devoted the whole force of his iron nature in building up a Union government in that State over the increasing area left behind by the advance of the armies of the North. Assassination dogged his footsteps in the streets of Nashville. Notice was given him that he would be shot if he attempted to speak at a certain meeting in the eastern part of the State. When the day arrived, he passed calmly through the crowd, climbed upon the platform, advanced, laid his revolver upon the table and in a low voice said: "I have been told that I should be assassinated if I came here. If that is to be done, then it is the first business in order, and let that be attended to;" and he stood there some moments looking into the faces of the audience, any person in which might have killed him. After a pause he added: "I conclude the danger has passed by," and proceeded to deliver his speech. In the' midst of these labors, the Republican party nomi- nated him for Vice-President to attract the support of Dem- ocrats of his kidney and to give a non-sectional appear- ance to the ticket; and in his letter of acceptance he called upon the party with whom he had so long associated "to vindicate its devotion to true democratic policy."
When, on the third day of March, 186s, he laid down his
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military governorship to assume the Vice-Presidency, he was greeted by the Secretary of War with the following meed of praise :
"In one of the darkest hours of the great struggle for national existence against rebellious foes, the Government called you from the Senate and from the comparatively safe and easy duties of civil life, to place you in front of the enemy, and in a position of per- sonal toil and danger, perhaps more hazardous than was encountered by any other citizen or military officer of the United States.
With patriotic promptness you assumed the post, and maintained it under circumstances of unparalleled trial, until recent events have brought safety and deliverance to your State and to the in- tegrity of that constitutional Union for which you so long and so gallantly periled all that is dear to man on earth.
That you may be spared to enjoy the new honors and perform the high duties to which you have been called by the people of the United States is the sincere wish of one who, in every official and personal relation, has found you worthy of the confidence of the Government and the honor and esteem of your fellow citizens."
Truly, when, the next day, out of the fire and smoke of thirty-six years of political strife — thirty-four of which had been passed in places of public trust — this man stepped for- ward to take the second office in the gift of the Republic — bearing upon his shoulders, as it were, his reconstructed State as the last trophy of his spear — it must be conceded that the "plebeian boy" had some solid grounds for self- glorification.
(Continued.)
THE FIRST CLASH IN THE TEXAS REVOLUTION —THE TAKING OF ANAHUAC BY TRAVIS- DOCUMENTS, 1835.
(To be continued.)
[As well known, Texas with Coahuila, a province in what is now Mexico, next to the Rio Grande, was a State of the Mexican Union, formed in 1824, after throwing off the yoke of Spain. The inhabi- tants of Texas, both those of American and of Spanish descent and sympathy, were loyal to their republic until 1835, when Santa Anna, after making himself military dictator, became very despotic in his bearing. He especially roused the resentment of his Texas sub- jects by stationing a small body of soldiers at Anahuac. a port on Galveston Bay, no longer existing, to collect duties there. The citi- zens in that section felt this a special hardship on themselves as they believed no other locality was so treated, and because no import tax had been levied there for several years. It also seemed to them a forced payment for troops quartered on them without their con- sent. As seen from the papers following they respectfully protested against such administrative measures, and, getting no relief, after- wards took up arms, when, through intercepted dispatcher they learned of Mexican reenforcements on the way. It was then that the San Felipe meeting of June 22 authorized W. B. Travis to expel the garrison from Anahuac, which he did a week later, June 29-30. The documents succeeding this may be divided into four heads : 1. Mexican official view of affairs at Anahuac, where Tenorio com- manded; 2. The action of the citizens in asking for redress; 3. Intercepted correspondence and preliminary symptoms ; 4. Results and comments. It will be noted that some of these document s have been published, but as this was done chiefly in a newspaper not readily accessible, they seem worthy of republication, especially in connection with others that have not hitherto been olaced before the public.
The Association is indebted to Mr. E. C. Barker, Austin. Texas, for this material. As usual, footnotes, summaries, headings and bracketed matter are by the Editor.]
I. Views, Mexican and American, Before the Event.
A. Mexican Views [i. Ugartechea to Cos1 — Texo-
rio's Situation. 1
Bexar, April 20, iS;;. By the post of Nacogdoches which arrived yesterday I received the correspondence of Captain Don Antonio
1 Mexican commanders, Cos, the superior in charge of whole State of Coahuila and Texas, Ugartechea in command of post of San Antonio.
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Tenorio, copies of which go with this. You will find out the difficulties and inconveniences which occurred before they came to my hands. * * * Said correspondence gives a pretty good and clear idea of the situation and confirms whatever I have said to you concerning the colo- nists and the critical circumstances in which Captain Tenorio now finds himself, without even means for the most indispensable necessaries. In view of all this then, and because, on account of the scanty resources which the cus- tom house at Matagorda gives, I have no means to help him, I have no doubt that you, pitying the misery in which the detachment of Galveston is, will dictate the most active measures so that I may receive help from Matamoras with the promptitude which is demanded for the best service which the urgent necessity indicates.
To this day the officer of the company of the Alamo who went to Matamoras for the funds of that company and those of the company of Bexar has not returned ; and for that reason not only is there no money to help Tenorio, but it has not even been possible to complete the payment of the troops ; even the officers having received only a part of their pay.2
[2. UgaRTECHEA TO COS — OTHER DATA OX TKXORro's SITU- ATION.]
Bexar, May r, 18^. Yesterday the corporals returned, whom, as I have told you, I sent to Brazoria and Anahuac; and since there is nothing new except what I have told you and what you must have learned from the copies of the correspondence of Captain Tenorio, [ will not send this by an extraordinary (express), but by the regular military post which starts to-day for Matamoras.
2 From Sp. MS., Bexar Archives.
The Texas Revolution. 89
The officio which goes with this confirms and corrobo- rates what I have told you of the critical situation in which Tenorio finds himself; and although he says in it that he has sent a Lieutenant, Don Carlos Ocampo, to let me know, and to solicit aid, to this day I have not seen him.
The corporal who went to Brazoria brought the news- papers which I send you and the letters which accompany them. With the translations, I send also the originals.3
[3. Ugartechka to Cos — Bearing ox Ocampo and
Tenorio.]
Bexar, May 13, 1835. Not having been able to help Lieutenant Don Carlos Ocampo who came for that purpose from Anahuac, I dis- posed for him to go and get assistance from the commissary at Matamoras, for which place he started the 8th of this month. Another communication will let you know the in- formation that Captain Don Antonio Tenorio communicated verbally upon matters of the greatest importance to that detachment, and you will take the steps that you think best.4
B. American Attitude.
[4. Ayuntamiento of Liberty:5 Resolutions, Urging Moderation, Respect for Authority, Oredience to Law, Condemning Extreme Views, Demand- ing Suppression of all Unlawfulness. 1
Department of Nacogdoches Jurisdiction of Liberty. We the members of the Ayuntamiento of Liberty having been informed of the difficulties existing between some mer-
3 From Sp. MS., Bexar Archives. * From Sp. MS., Bexar Archives.
6 City Council of Liberty, a small town on the Trinity, about thirty miles from its mouth.
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chants and the Collector of the Maritime Custom House at Galveston in relation to the collection of duties imposed on foreign wares, goods and merchandise, and being de- sirous to put a speedy period to these dissensions, we have therefore in conformity to the 156th article of the State Constitution thought proper to issue this manifesto, indi- cating to all the good people of this jurisdiction that a proper obedience to the laws is the first duty of a good citizen, that every nation enjoys the undoubted right to es- tablish its own system of revenue, that the revenue laws like all other political laws are to be respected by those who come within the legitimate scope of their action, and al- though these laws may be unwise yet to resist them by force is more unwise and illtimed than the laws them- selves: besides it would be criminal. If a few individuals forcibly oppose the collection of the customs what will be its tendency? Will not others fall in their train? which if continued will ultimately produce a state of things the injurious consequences of which are incalculable.
It is not our business to estimate the intrinsic justice or injustice of our system of import duties, yet we might be permitted to give our decided opinion, that when applied to the peculiar condition of these colonists that they are disproportionate in some particulars and oppressive in others and stand in great need of modification. But this modification is only to be effected by the national congress. Our murmuring at home or wrangling with the Collector serves only to fan the flame and augment the difficulties in obtaining the much desired modification of the tariff. The Mexican Congress can have no motive in oppressing the Mexican citizens with burdensome imposts, nor do we believe that they desire it ; yet we believe that the enormous duty on a few indispensable articles and the prohibition of others of equal importance to our wellbeing, has a very per- nicious tendency, when applied to the citizens of Texas, and
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particularly when applied to those who have recently settled here under the colonization law at a time when the great scar- city of the essential means of subsistence (saying nothing about the luxuries of life) is the unavoidable consequence of the great influx of population and which alarming scarcity must continue to increase until the contracts of coloniza- tion be filled and until the new colonists have sufficient time to put their land in a proper state of cultivation. If the general Congress were memorialized on this subject in a proper and respectful manner we have no reason to doubt that they would apply the proper remedy. This measure should be adopted without delay to which we would with pleasure tend our hearty cooperation : in the mean- time let us abandon the introduction of foreign articles burthened with heavy duties and those that are prohibited, let us endeavor to do without them, and depend for a time on our own resources.
This is a more praiseworthy, more patriotic than any recourse to arbitrary measures. We are well aware that the great body of the people in this municipality are too sensible of their duty and allegiance to the Republic of Mexico to be precipitately drawn into collision with its constitutional authorities. Rut perfect subordination ex- tends to something more than to the upright conduct of the citizens ; the respectful deportment of strangers who are not citizens and their obedience to the laws are included. This is the only condition upon which they are permitted to enter our territory or remain within its limits. The sub- ject of having duties or prohibiting Statutes are matters about which they have no right to interfere. Every intel- ligent merchant before he enters into Foreign commerce. takes care to inform himself of the particular laws of the place to which he intends to trade; he ought to know the customs due on importations and exportations. what goods
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are admissible and what prohibited, according to the usages of the tariff and the regulations of the place to which he extends his trade.
If he blindly participates himself into difficulties for want of that necessary information which he might have had, and gets his cargo seized for violation of the prohibi- tory law, which he as a merchant, is presumed to know, what reason has he to complain, the fault is his own, the plea of ignorance will not avail him, he only suffers the penalty of his temerity : to resort to force would only aug- ment the mischief, and all those who might be drawn into the affair would incur heavy penalties. This Ayuntamiento therefore, with great solicitude, caution all persons against using any force, violent threats, or illegal means, aiding or assisting those who may use force, violent or illegal means against the Collector of the Maritime customs of Galveston, in the discharge of his official duties or against any of his officers, or other persons lawfully employed in the custom house department, and we call upon all officers, both civil and military, to lend their aid if required to sustain the revenue officers residing at Galveston and Anahuac, in discharging their respective official duties ; and we more- over enjoin it as a duty incumbent upon the Comisaries and other officers of Police of this municipality, to use their best exertions to suppress all mobs, riots, threats or other disorderly conduct against the good order and public tran- quility, or against any of the public functionaries or other individuals of this municipality, and to give timely notice of any such mal-conduct, together with the names of those who may be engaged therein to the competent authorities.
Ordered that a copy of the foregoing be served on the comisaries of Anahuac, that a copy be furnished to the col- lectors for the custom House at Galveston, that another be sent to the editor of the Texas Republican, for publication,
The Texas Revolution. 93
and that a copy be posted up at the Court house door at this place.
Done in the town of Liberty, this 17th April, 1835. John Williams, President. N. Duncan, 1st Regidor. H. B. Johnson, 2d Regidor. J. N. Mor eland, Member and
Citizen.*
II. Action of Texan Private Citizens.
[5. The Citizens of Anahuac to the Governor of
coahuila and texas — praying for exemption
from the Mexican Duties.]
Department of Nacogdoches. Jurisdiction of Liberty.
To His Excellency the Governor of the free State of Coahuila and Texas:
The people of this Jurisdiction having this day convened in the town of Anahuac to consider the public wellfare have taken into consideration the mode of collecting duties and executing the revenue laws in these colonies, and conceiv- ing themselves most grievously oppressed, do most respect- fully represent:
"'From the Texas Republican, May 30, 1835. This manifesto is published in Edward's Texas, 235-38, under date of June 1. A close examination will reveal some mutual omissions, but there can be no doubt that they are the same documents — even the italics are identical.
The Texas Republican, referred to often as a source of Texas history, was a weekly, issued on Saturdays, at San Felipe, begun in August, 1834, by Gray & Harris, publishers, F. C. Gray, editor: continued, with some intermissions, i\uc to Mexican invasion, till August, 1836, when it lost support and died because of suspicion that the Editor and his wife were intriguing for the release of Santa Anna. Gray then went to California, made a fortune, returned East, committed suicide in 'New York. — Hist, of Texas Press, ScaHPs Yoakum, II— 369.
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That for several years past no duties have been demanded in any part of these colonies, and even now none are de- manded at any port but that of Galveston ; that this Juris- diction is the poorest and least improved of any in all Texas ; that though any part of these colonies are too poor to pay the regular duties according to the Mexican Tariff, this is the least able of any ; that notwithstanding this, some three months since one Martin de Alegria arrived at this place, accompanied by a small party of soldiers, and rep- resented himself as an officer of the Government appointed to collect duties at this place, and since that time he has endeavored to enforce the revenue laws in their fullest rigour; that about the same time one Don Jose Gonzalez arrived at Velasco, representing and signing himself as the Collector of the ports of Galveston, and demanded the tonnage duties only, declaring that he had no orders to col- lect more ; that neither of these officers has in his possess- ion any treaty of commerce between 'this Republic and the United States of the North ; that neither of them has taken the proper steps to inform the Ayuntamiento of the Juris- diction of the nature and extent of his offices ; that none of the authorities of the department have been notified by the Government of the appointment of any such officers ; that a few days since Don Jose. Gonzalez arrived at this place (Anahuac) and pretending to have received fresh orders, pursues the same course of exactions formerly pur- sued by the above mentioned Don Martin de Alegria. de- manding duties on all importations according to the letter of the law ; that the people of this Jurisdiction are very much discontented at these proceedings, and that though they have patiently submitted for so long a time to this injustice, they have at length resolved to pay no more, till custom houses shall be organized and duties collected throughout all the other parts of these colonies ; and your petitioners would further represent that the poverty of the citizens of these col-
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onies and of this Jurisdiction in particular, their increasing population, the scarcity of provisions in the country, and the difficulty of securing supplies make it absolutely neces- sary that all kinds of provisions and groceries, and all other articles of absolute necessity, should be imported duty free, it being impossible to procure these things in a Mexican market, a sufficiency not being made in this country, and there being an insufficiency of money in the country to pay the duty on half the articles of absolute necessity to the existence of these colonies ; moreover, we are here so near the boundary of the United States, and the facilities for smuggling are so great that if this course is persisted in, the commerce of the country will be completely prostrated and the Government not benefitted, for the citizens will be compelled to drive their cattle and hogs across the Sabine, and every one will procure his own supplies from the United States of the North, emigration to the country will be sud- denly checked, and the prospects of the present inhabitants at once blasted.
Therefore, having made this representataion of our grievances and dispositions, we pray of your Ecellency to lay before the General Government this, our humble peti- tion, and to use your Excellency's influence in obtaining for us the exemptions we pray for, including some years further exemption from the duties called for by the general tariff, and your petitioners will ever pray for your Excellency's health and prosperity &c.
Done at Anahuac, May 5th, 1835.7
[6. Anahuac Meeting May 4, 1835 — Resolutions Against Paying the Mexican Duties.]
Anahuac, May .;///, 1835. A respectable number of the citizens of this Jurisdiction convened this day at the house of Benjamin Freeman, of
T From the Texas Republican, August 8, 1835.
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this place according to previous notice. General William Hardin was called to the chair and I. N. More-land was appointed Secretary. The object of the meeting- was ex- plained by Mr. A. Briscoe who presented the following resolutions and Preamble which, after a short discussion, were unanimously adopted :
Whereas there is no Custom House organized in any other part of the colonies of Texas, nor any duty upon im- portations collected, and whereas duties have been col- lected here for the last three months, this being the poorest part of a poor country, there being an insufficiency of money to pay the duties on what importations have been made, trade every day decreasing, Therefore:
Resolved, That the proceedings of the individuals claim- ing to be Custom House officers at this place have neither been reasonable, just, or regularly legal ; it being unreason- able and unjust to demand the whole duties of one small settlement, while the whole coast and border besides is free and open ; and illegal because they have never presented themselves or their credentials to the civil authorities for their recognition, nor have the said authorities ever been notified by the Government that any such officers have been appointed for this port.
Resolved, That the country as we believe is not able to pay the regular duties according to the regulations of the General Tariff. Therefore it is resolved that we send to the Political Chief of this department,- by him to be for- warded to the Governor of the State, the foregoing memor- ial expressive of our opinion with regard to the situation of this part of the country and its inability to comply with the Tariff law, and praying him to intercede with the Gen- eral Government for an exemption for these colonies for five or six years, from the restrictions upon commerce im- posed by the General Tariff.
Resolved, That until the object of the preceding resolu-
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tion can be carried into effect, no duties should be collected in this port unless the collection is also equally enforced throughout the province, nor until then will we pay any duties on importations into this port.
Resolved, That these proceedings be signed by the Chair- man and Secretary and that copies be forwarded to the Judge of the first instance, to the Editor of the Texas Republican, to Don Jose Gonzalez, and to the Political Chief of the Department, to be sent by him to the Governor.
I. N. Morkland.6
[7. Briscoe to the Editor of the Texas Repuducan,
Transmitting the Foregoing Resolutions
of Anahuac Meeting.]
Anahuac, July 11, 1S35.
Mr. Editor :
Sir: In consequence of some remarks in the report of the committee of the Columbia meeting, disapproving the proceedings of a set of individuals at tliis place who should have given the collector, Don Jose Gonzalez a string of resolutions declaring they would not submit to the revenue laws of the government, renouncing these individ- uals as foreigners, and denying any participation in the transaction. In consequence of which remarks I take it on myself to transmit you herewith a copy of those cele- brated resolutions, which will show for themselves. I beg leave also to state for the information of those hasty Colum- bians that there were some twenty or twenty-five men present, of whom but two were strangers or foreigners, and they both own land in the country and intend to bcome
citizens I have only to reply that I have been
followed by a regular persecution since I went to Yelasco to see the real collector, and his mode of proceeding was
' From the Texas Republican, August 8, 1835.
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very different from what it was here. You will sec by these resolutions that we only asked a fair chance with the rest of the colonies. A copy was never furnished Gonzalez, nor anybody else, I believe, in consequence of Gen Hardin (the chairman of the meeting) having- immediately left for the United States before copies could be made out and signed. I have not seen Mr. Moreland (the secretary) since the meeting. He left the memorial in my possession to be copied and took the resolutions home, a copy of which
he signed and sent me. I send the same to you
I do not know who drew those Columbia resolutions but they are certainly a complete non-committal ; they profess the strongest attachment to the government, and im- mediately recommended the formation of a provisional gov- ernment, and (I) beg leave further to state that the busi- ness of Messrs. Grayson and Jack at Anahuac was not made known to any person but Judge Williams, if to him; that it seemed they could get information from no other person ; and further that I believe this same John A. Williams a personal enemy of mine, and a general enemy to the prosperity of the country. Your most obedient servant,
A. Brisco.9 (To be continued.)
From the Texas Republican, August 8, 1835.
McHENRY LETTERS.
[Dr. James McHenry was born in Ireland, November 16, 1753, and died May 3, 1816. He was one of Washington's aids, a member of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, and Secretary of War under Washington and Adams. Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, was named in his honor. The Association is indebted to Dr. Bernard C. Steiner, Librarian of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, of Baltimore, Md., for the following selections from the McHenry papers. As usual, sum- maries and bracketed matter are by the Editor.]
[I. Grove: to McHenry — Davie Appointment; Wil- mington Conditions for War; State Politics; Irish Affairs.]
Fayettville, Aug. 20th, 1798. Sir: General Davie has no doubt written you on the subject of his appointment; lie expressed some embarrass- ments relative to the propriety of his acceptance under the peculiar circumstances of his situation in the state, being a member of the Assembly, a Majr-Genel. of the Militia — and warmly solicited by the Friends of the Government to allow himself to be appointed Governor of North Carolina at the approaching session of the Legisla- ture— many of us in this quarter think he can serve the country more effectually in times like the present, by remain- ing in the service of the state, than by accepting an appoint- ment in the Provisional Army, which would disqualify him from state service, without bringing him into immediate active service in the field, as we presume the Provisional Army may not be called on. — The General however as- sures me he would prefer the service of the United States in the Military line to any state appointment when it is certain active and real seroice will be required, & I have no hesitation in saying that when that day comes he will be found an excellent officer and that he will be readv at
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all times to serve his country in such a manner as is most likely to conduce to the public interest — I am induced to say so much on this subject in consequence of the conver- sation I had the pleasure to have with you before f left Philadelphia on this business, and to hope no disgust may be excited by the General's declining to accept at this time, the appoint, in the Provl. Army.
I must here beg leave to add that from Genl. Davie's knowledge of men & characters in this state, I can with pro- priety assure you if any officers are wanting in this quarter. His recommendation may be useful and relied on, and if ap- plied to he will readily name some that will be an acquisi- tion to the army. — I hope if appointments are making that Martin, Smith & Evans may not be forgotten, the two latter especially — I am not sure the other will accept. — It is with pleasure I find Lieut. Rowan is in a fair way to recover from his Canada Rheumatism, he hopes to be fit for duty in a southern climate.
I enclose you a letter from Capt. Adam of this place who is now at Wilmington and refer you to it for infor- mation of the situation of the Arms deposited at Wilming- ton ; you may rely on his statement, indeed 'tis nothing more than I had heard before, & had given you a hint of — I hope and trust you have ordered some of those arms to this place as you once promised should be done, if they are committed to the care of Capt. Adam and Winslow, you may rest assured proper care will be taken by them & your instructions relative to them or anything else attended to. — We have in this place a large commodious brick house belonging to the town, one of the rooms would make an excellent armory as it stands by itself in a large square of the town & is 15 feet from the ground on arches and can be entered only by one flight oi stops — I cannot omit again entreating you to loan our Independent companies in this neighorhood some of the muskets until
Mc Henry Letter*
101
they can be furnished from some other quarters — We have a few companies of infantry in this Dist. in handsome uniform who want nothing but arms to make them a terror to the enemies of the peace & honour of their country as far as their numbers can produce that feeling, but thank God in this part of the state we have few Grumbletonians, and still fewer Jacobins & I am persuaded you may with safety confide in us so far as to lend us some of those arms which are & must be useless & unsafe in their present situation, and may eventually be wanting in the hands of active citizens to keep a certain class of people in order, that are very numerous in the vicinity of Georgetown & Wilmington, both of which places must be immediately aided from this district in case of any disturbance of a >erious nature.
If you could possibly spare swords & pistols for ioo to 200 horsemen and send them here, I could in ten days raise that number of young men. to equip themselves as Dragoons & to offer their service to the U. States as volunteers — the arms should be as safe as if they were in one of the arsenals, & might be of infinite service in keeping a proper respect & confidence in the Government. — Some of our companies have sent for swords &c, but the difficulty of obtaining them is very great — therefore if they could be got from the U. States for 12 months, it is to be hoped in that time contracts may be made for furnishing ourselves, on our own account.
It seems the Wilmington company is furnished from the public stores, and I am glad of it, for the situation of that place is not the most safe & pleasant from various reasons, and it must give satisfaction and security to the inhabitants to see arms in the hands of those who are interested in preserving the safety of the town & its vicinity.
Our elections for Congress are (.closed & tho' I have
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been disappointed as to a change of the representative from the district of Hillsboro, the changes in other parts of the state are greater than I expected — and in every change of men there is a complete change in their political tenets, and in general a vast increase of weight of character & respectability of talents &c. &c. For Wilmington district— Wm. Hill in place of Mr. Gillespie ; for New Bern — A. D. Spaight in place Bryan ; Edenton — Judge Stone — D. Burges; Halifax — Willis Alston — T. Blount; Salisbury — A. Henderson — Genl. Lock — Morgan Genl. Dixson tis said — Gen. McDonall ;Dan River — Old member R. Williams, War- renton Do Do — N. Mason; Hillsboro — Do Do — Stanford; Fayetteville Balto. Grove. There is no kind of doubt had Stanford's opponent been a more unequivocal Federal char-" acter he would have been elected — there are several Federal men in the division who could have been returnd 4 to one against Stanford, but they would not offer and some people thought if they. were to have a negative character in Con- gress Mr. Stanford would do very well.
We are all here deploring the wretched state of Ireland & fear worse times are approaching that divided & distracted country. — This is a new and awful lesson to the govern- ments & people of the world — I trust in God we in this coun- try may never experience or have occasion for such awful scenes.
If your time will admit it, I shall be much obliged to you for a line on the subject of the arms, and for any political information of importance that may occur. — Wish- ing you & family safety from the fever & a pleasant summer, I am
Sir, with esteem & regard Yr very humbl sevt.
W. B. Grovk. The honorable James McHenry.
McHenry Letters. 103
[2. Adams to Grove — Appeal for Arms.]
Wilmington 16th Aug., 1798. Dear Sir: By last post I have a letter from our mutual friend Mr. John Story fun. of Phila. by which am extremely sorry to observe that no arms are to be bought there, Gov- ernment engrossing the whole that is made or for sale, & that unless our company can be supplied through that channel! there is no other way they can be had. — In conse- quence thereof, I made application to Major McRae this forenoon for to purchase or take in loan giving proper security for their safe keeping & return — 50 of the 500 stand sent round here and which are under his care — & was greatly disappointed on his replying, that tho' anxious to accomodate us, it was entirely out of his power having no orders zvhatever from the Secretary at War respecting them. — They are at present deposited in warehouses by no means secure and which have repeatedly been broke open by ne- groes on former occasions for the sake of plundering goods & without any guard — in this situation the inhabitants of this place instead of considering them of service think their danger is thereby greatly increased and I cannot help