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[Illustration: ADML. R. SEMMES.
Kelly Piet & Co. Baltimore]
MEMOIRS OF SERVICE AFLOAT,
DURING THE
WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.
by
ADMIRAL RAPHAEL SEMMES,
Of the Late Confederate States Navy,
Author of "Service Afloat and Ashore, during the Mexican War."
Illustrated with Steel Engraved Portraits and Six Engravings
from Original Designs printed in Chromo-Tints.
Baltimore:
Kelly, Piet & Co., 174 Baltimore Street.
New York, L. P. Levy; Louisville, Ky., F. I. Dibble & Co.;
St. Louis, Mo., J. Hart & Co.; Richmond, Va., R. T. Taylor;
New Orleans, La., C. W. Jarratt; San Francisco, Cal., H. H.
Bancroft & Co.
London: Richard Bentley.
1869.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
Kelly, Piet & Co.
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
for the District of Maryland.
PRESS OF KELLY, PIET & CO.
TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE
Sailors and Soldiers of the Southern States,
WHO LOST THEIR LIVES, IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE
STATES IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTIES WHICH HAD
BEEN BEQUEATHED TO THEM BY THEIR FATHERS,
THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
A number of publications have appeared, first and last, concerning the
author and his career, as was naturally to have been expected. The
_Alabama_ was the first steamship in the history of the world--the
defective little _Sumter_ excepted--that was let loose against the
commerce of a great commercial people. The destruction which she caused
was enormous. She not only alarmed the enemy, but she alarmed all the
other nations of the earth which had commerce afloat, as they could not be
sure that a similar scourge, at some future time, might not be let loose
against themselves. The _Alabama_, in consequence, became famous. It was
the fame of steam. As a matter of course, she attracted the attention of
the book-makers--those cormorants ever on the lookout for a "speculation."
A number of ambitious _literateurs_ entered the seductive field. But it
was easier, as they soon found, to enter the field than to explore it, and
these penny-a-liners all made miserable failures,--not even excepting the
London house of Saunders, Otley & Co., to whom the author was induced to
loan his journals, in the hope that something worthy of his career might
be produced. To those who have chanced to see the "Log of the _Sumter_ and
_Alabama_," produced by that house, it will be unnecessary to say that the
author had no hand in its preparation. He did not write a line for it, nor
had he any interest whatever in the sale of it, as the loan of his
journals had been entirely gratuitous. So far as his own career was
concerned, the author would gladly have devolved the labor of the
historian on other shoulders, if this had been possible. But it did not
seem to be possible, after the experiments that had been made. With all
the facilities afforded the London house referred to, a meagre and barren
record was the result. The cause is sufficiently obvious. The cruise of a
ship is a biography. The ship becomes a personification. She not only
"Walks the waters like a thing of life,"
but she speaks in moving accents to those capable of interpreting her. But
her interpreter must be a seaman, and not a landsman. He must not only be
a seaman, he must have made the identical cruise which he undertakes to
describe. It will be seen, hence, that the career of the author was a
sealed book to all but himself. A landsman could not even interpret his
journals, written frequently in the hieroglyphics of the sea. A line, or a
bare mark made by himself, which to other eyes would be meaningless would
for him be fraught with the inspiration of whole pages.
Besides, the _Alabama_ had an inside as well as an outside life. She was a
microcosm. If it required a seaman to interpret her as to her outside
life, much more did it require one to give an intelligible view of the
little world that she carried in her bosom. No one but an eye-witness, and
that witness himself a sailor, could unveil to an outside world the
domestic mysteries of the every-day life of Jack, and portray him in his
natural colors, as he worked and as he played. The following pages may,
therefore, be said to be the first attempt to give anything like a
truthful picture of the career of the author upon the high seas, during
the late war, to the public. In their preparation the writer has discarded
the didactic style of the historian, and adopted that of memoir writing,
as better suited to his subject. This style gave him more latitude in the
description of persons and events, and relieved him from some of the
fetters of a mere writer of history. There are portions of the work,
however, purely historical, and these have been treated with the gravity
and dignity which became them. In short, the author has aimed to produce
what the title of his book imports--an historical memoir of his services
afloat during the war. That his book will be generally read by the
Northern people he does not suppose. They are scarcely in a temper yet to
read anything he might write. The wounds which he has inflicted upon them
are too recent. Besides, men do not willingly read unpalatable truths of
themselves. The people of America being sovereign, they are like other
sovereigns,--they like those best who fool them most, by pandering to
their vices and flattering their foibles. The author, not being a
flatterer, cannot expect to be much of a favorite at the court of the
Demos.
A word now as to the feeling with which the author has written. It has
sometimes been said that a writer of history should be as phlegmatic and
unimpassioned as the judge upon the bench. If the reader desires a dead
history, in other words, a history devoid of the true spirit of history,
the author assents to the remark. But if he desires a living, moving,
breathing picture of events--a _personam_ instead of a _subjectam_, the
picture must not be undertaken by one who does not feel something of that
which he writes. Such a terrible war as that through which we have passed
could not be comprehended by a stolid, phlegmatic writer, whose pulse did
not beat quicker while he wrote. When all the higher and holier passions
of the human heart are aroused in a struggle--when the barbarian is at
your door with the torch of the incendiary in one hand, and the uplifted
sword of diabolical revenge in the other,--_feeling_ is an important
element in the real drama that is passing before the eyes of the beholder.
To attempt to describe such a drama with the cold words of philosophy, is
simply ridiculous. If the acts be not described in words suited to portray
their infamy, you have a lie instead of history. Nor does it follow that
feeling necessarily overrides judgment. All passions blind us if we give
free rein to them; but when they are held in check, they sharpen, instead
of obscuring the intellect. In a well-balanced mind, feeling and judgment
aid each other; and he will prove the most successful historian who has
the two in a just equipoise. But though the author has given vent
occasionally to a just indignation, he has not written in malice. He does
not know the meaning of the word. He has simply written as a Southern man
might be supposed to think and feel, treading upon the toes of his enemies
as tenderly as possible. If he has been occasionally plain-spoken, it is
because he has used the English language, which calls a rogue a rogue,
notwithstanding his disguises. When the author has spoken of the Yankee
and his "grand moral ideas," he has spoken rather of a well-known type
than of individual men. If the reader will bear these remarks in mind as
he goes along, he will find them a key to some of the passages in the
book. In describing natural phenomena, the author has ventured upon some
new suggestions. He submits these with great diffidence. Meteorology is
yet a new science, and many developments of principles remain to be made.
ANCHORAGE, NEAR MOBILE, ALA.,
_December, 1868_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
A Brief Historical Retrospect 17
CHAPTER II.
The Nature of the American Compact 24
CHAPTER III.
From the Foundation of the Federal Government down to 1830,
both the North and the South held the Constitution to be a
Compact between the States 36
CHAPTER IV.
Was Secession Treason? 46
CHAPTER V.
Another Brief Historical Retrospect 52
CHAPTER VI.
The Question of Slavery as it affected Secession 62
CHAPTER VII.
The Formation of the Confederate Government, and the
Resignation of Officers of the Federal Army and Navy 71
CHAPTER VIII.
Author proceeds to Montgomery, and reports to the New
Government, and is dispatched northward on a Special Mission 81
CHAPTER IX.
The Commissioning of the Sumter, the First Confederate States
Ship of War 93
CHAPTER X.
The Preparation of the Sumter for Sea--She drops down between
the Forts Jackson and St. Philip--Receives her Sailing Orders--
List of her Officers 97
CHAPTER XI.
After long Waiting and Watching, the Sumter runs the Blockade
of the Mississippi, in open Daylight, pursued by the Brooklyn 108
CHAPTER XII.
Brief Sketch of the Officers of the Sumter--Her First Prize,
with other Prizes in Quick Succession 120
CHAPTER XIII.
Rapid Work--Seven Prizes in Two Days--The Sumter makes her
First Port, and what occurred there 132
CHAPTER XIV.
The Sumter on the Wing again--She is put wholly under Sail for
the first time--Reaches the Island of Curacoa, and is only able
to enter after a Diplomatic Fight 144
CHAPTER XV.
The Sumter at Curacoa--Her Surroundings--Preparations for Sea--
Her Captain solicited to become a Warwick--Her Departure--The
Capture of other Prizes--Puerto Cabello, and what occurred there 155
CHAPTER XVI.
Steaming along the Coast of Venezuela--The Coral Insect, and
the Wonders of the Deep--The Andes and the Rainy Season--The
Sumter enters the Port of Spain in the British Island of
Trinidad 170
CHAPTER XVII.
On the Way to Maranham--The Weather and the Winds--The Sumter
runs short of Coal, and is obliged to "bear up"--Cayenne and
Paramaribo, in French and Dutch Guiana--Sails again, and
arrives at Maranham, in Brazil 188
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Sumter at Maranham--More Diplomacy necessary--The Hotel
Porto and its Proprietor--A week on Shore--Ship coals and
sails again 210
CHAPTER XIX.
The Sumter at Martinique--Proceeds from Fort de France to St.
Pierre--Is an Object of much Curiosity with the Islanders--News
of the Arrest of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on board the British
Mail Steamer, The Trent--Mr. Seward's extraordinary Course on
the Occasion 232
CHAPTER XX.
Arrival at St. Pierre of the Enemy's Steam-sloop Iroquois--How
she violates the Neutrality of the Port--Arrival of the French
Steamer-of-War Acheron--The Iroquois blockades the Sumter--
Correspondence with the Governor--Escape of the Sumter 252
CHAPTER XXI.
The Sumter pursues her Voyage across the Atlantic--Capture and
Burning of the Arcade, Vigilant, and Ebenezer Dodge--A Leaky
Ship and a Gale--An Alarm of Fire! 268
CHAPTER XXII.
Voyage across the Atlantic pursued--Christmas-day on board the
Sumter--Cape Fly-away, and the Curious Illusion produced by
it--The Sumter passes from the Desert Parts of the Sea into a
Tract of Commerce once more--Boards a large Fleet of Ships in
one Day, but finds no Enemy among them--Arrival at Cadiz 283
CHAPTER XXIII.
Annoyance of the Spanish Officials--Short Correspondence with
the U. S. Consul--The Telegraph put in Operation by the
Officials between Cadiz and Madrid--The Sumter is ordered to
leave in twenty-four Hours--Declines Obedience to the Order--
Prisoners land, and Ship Docked after much ado--Deserters--
Sumter leaves Cadiz 297
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Sumter off Cadiz--The Pillars of Hercules--Gibraltar--
Capture of the Enemy's Ships Neapolitan and Investigator--A
Conflagration between Europe and Africa--The Sumter anchors in
the Harbor of Gibraltar; the Rock; the Town; the Military; the
Review, and the Alameda 306
CHAPTER XXV.
The Sumter still at Gibraltar--Ship crowded with Visitors--A
Ride over the Rock with Colonel Freemantle--The Galleries and
other Subterranean Wonders--A Dizzy Height, and the Queen of
Spain's Chair--The Monkeys and the Neutral Ground 320
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Sumter in Trouble--Finds it impossible to coal, by reason
of a Combination against her, headed by the Federal Consul--
Applies to the British Government for Coal, but is refused--
Sends her Paymaster and Ex-Consul Tunstall to Cadiz--They are
arrested and imprisoned in Tangier--Correspondence on the
Subject--The Sumter laid up and sold 329
CHAPTER XXVII.
Author leaves Gibraltar and arrives in London--Mr. Commissioner
Mason--Confederate Naval News--Short Sojourn in London--Author
embarks on board the Steamer Melita for Nassau--Receives new
Orders from the Navy Department--Returns to Liverpool 346
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A Brief _Resume_ of the History of the War, from the date of
the commissioning the Sumter, to the commissioning of the
Alabama--Secretary Mallory and the Difficulties by which he was
surrounded--The Reorganization of the Confederate States Navy 361
CHAPTER XXIX.
The Legality of the Equipment of the Alabama, and a few
Precedents for her Career, drawn from the History of the War
of 1776 370
CHAPTER XXX.
The Equipment of the Alabama illustrated by that of sundry
Colonial Cruisers during the War of 1776--Benjamin Franklin and
Silas Deane sent to Paris as Chiefs of a Naval Bureau--The
Surprise and the Revenge--Captains Wickes and Conyngham, and
Commodore John Paul Jones 388
CHAPTER XXXI.
Author leaves Liverpool to join the Alabama--Arrives at
Terceira--Description of the Alabama--Preparing her for Sea--
The Portuguese Authorities--The commissioning of the Ship--A
Picture of her Birth and Death--Captain Bullock returns to
England--The Alabama on the High Seas 400
CHAPTER XXXII.
The Alabama a Ship of War, and not a Privateer--Sketch of the
Personnel of the Ship--Putting the Ship in Order for Service--
Sail and Steam--The Character of the Sailor--The First Blow is
struck at the Whale Fishery--The Habitat and Habits of the
Whale--Capture of the Ocmulgee 414
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Capture of the Starlight; Ocean Rover; Alert; Weather Gauge--A
Chase by Moonlight--Capture of the Altamaha; Virginia; Elisha
Dunbar--A Rough Sea, Toiling Boats, and a Picturesque
Conflagration in a Gale 428
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Yankee Colony of the Island of Flores--What the Captains of
the Virginia and Elisha Dunbar said of the Alabama when they
got back among their Countrymen--The Whaling Season at the
Azores at an End--The Alabama changes her Cruising Ground--What
she saw and what she did 445
CHAPTER XXXV.
Capricious Weather of the Gulf Stream--Capture of the
Packet-Ship Tonawanda; of the Manchester and Lafayette--A
Cyclone, the Alabama's First Gale--How she behaved 463
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Physiognomy of Ships--Capture of the Lafayette--Decree of
the Admiralty Court on board the Alabama in her Case, and in
that of the Lauretta--The Criticisms of the New York Press--
Further Evidence of the Rotary Nature of the Winds--The
Lauretta captured--The Crenshaw captured--The New York Chamber
of Commerce cries aloud in Pain--Capture of the Baron de
Castine, and of the Levi Starbuck--Capture of the T. B.
Wales--Lady Prisoners 479
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Calm-Belts and the Trade-Winds--The Arrival of the Alabama
at the Island of Martinique--The Curiosity of the Islanders to
see the Ship--A Quasi Mutiny among the Crew, and how it was
quelled 498
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The Alabama at Martinique--Is blockaded by the Enemy's Steamer
San Jacinto--How she escaped the Old Wagon--The Island of
Blanquilla, the Alabama's new Rendezvous--Coaling Ship--A
Yankee Skipper and his Alarm--How the Officers and Men amused
themselves at this Island--The Alabama sails again--Capture of
the Parker Cooke, Union, and Steamer Ariel 514
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The Alabama is disabled by an Accident, and stops to repair her
Machinery--Proceeds to her New Rendezvous at the Arcas Islands,
and thence to Galveston--Engagement with the United States
Steamer Hatteras, which she sinks 536
CHAPTER XL.
The Alabama proceeds to Jamaica, where she lands her Prisoners
and refits--Her Commander visits the Country--Intercourse with
the English Naval Officers--Earl Russell's Letter--Preparations
for Sea--A Boat Race by Moonlight, in which Strange Tactics are
practised--Captain Blake of the Hatteras complains of "Dixie"
being played by the English Bands--How the Matter is settled 551
CHAPTER XLI.
Departure from Jamaica--Capture of the Golden Rule--Coasting
the Island of Hayti--Capture of the Castelaine--The Old City of
St. Domingo and its Reminiscences--The Dominican Convent and
the Palace of Diego Columbus--Capture of the Palmetto, the
Olive Jane, and the Golden Eagle--How the Roads are blazed out
upon the Sea--Captain Maury 563
CHAPTER XLII.
The Crossing of the 30th Parallel--The Toll-Gate upon the Sea--
How the Travellers pass along the Highway--Capture of the
Washington; John A. Parks; the Bethia Taylor; the Punjaub; the
Morning Star; the Kingfisher; the Charles Hill; and the Nora--
Alabama crosses the Equator--Capture of the Louisa Hatch--
Arrival at Fernando de Noronha 581
CHAPTER XLIII.
Fernando de Noronha--Its Famous Peak--Is a Penal Settlement of
Brazil--A Visit from the Governor's Ambassadors--A Visit to the
Governor in return--The Aristocracy of the Island--Capture of
the Lafayette and the Kate Cory--Burning of these two Ships
with the Louisa Hatch--Prisoners sent to Pernambuco--The Cloud
Ring and the Rainy and Dry Seasons 596
CHAPTER XLIV.
The Alabama leaves Fernando de Noronha for a Cruise on the
Coast of Brazil--Enters the great Highway, and begins to
overhaul the Travellers--Capture of the Whalers Nye; Dorcas
Prince; Union Jack; Sea Lark--A Reverend Consul taken
Prisoner--Alabama goes into Bahia--What occurred there--Arrival
of the Georgia--Alabama proceeds to Sea again--Capture of the
Gildersleeve; the Justina; the Jabez Snow; the Amazonian; and
the Talisman 610
CHAPTER XLV.
The Alabama continues her Cruise on the Coast of Brazil--
American Ships under English Colors--The Enemy's Carrying-Trade
in Neutral Bottoms--The Capture of the Conrad--She is
commissioned as a Confederate States Cruiser--The Highways of
the Sea, and the Tactics of the Federal Secretary of the Navy--
The Phenomena of the Winds in the Southern Hemisphere--Arrival
at Saldanha Bay, on the Coast of Africa 626
CHAPTER XLVI.
The connecting Thread of the History of the War taken up--A
brief Review of the Events of the last twelve Months, during
which the Alabama has been commissioned--The Alabama arrives at
Cape Town--Capture of the Sea-Bride--Excitement thereupon--
Correspondence between the U. S. Consul and the Governor on the
Subject of the Capture 642
CHAPTER XLVII.
A Gale at Cape Town--The Alabama gets under way for Simon's
Town--Capture of the Martha Wenzell--The Tuscaloosa--Her
Status as a Ship of War considered--She proceeds to Sea--The
Alabama follows her--They, with the Sea-Bride, rendezvous at
Angra Pequena 660
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The Alabama on the Indian Ocean--The Passengers questioned, and
contracted with--The Agulhas Current--The brave West Winds--A
Theory--The Islands of St. Peter and St. Paul--The Tropic of
Capricorn--The South-east Trade-Winds, and the Monsoons--The
Alabama arrives off the Strait of Sunda--Capture of the
Amanda--Runs in and anchors under the Coast of Sumatra 674
CHAPTER XLIX.
The Alabama passes through the Strait of Sunda, seeing nothing
of the Wyoming--Burns the Winged Racer just inside of the
Strait--The Malay Boatmen, and their Alarm--Alabama makes for
the Gaspar Strait, and burns the Contest, after an exciting
Chase--She passes through the Carimata Passage--Discharges her
Prisoners into an English Ship--Miniature Sea-Serpents--The
Currents--Island of Pulo Condore--Arrives at Singapore 690
CHAPTER L.
The Alabama at Singapore--Panic among the Enemy's Shipping in
the China Seas--The Multitude flock to see the Alabama--Curious
Rumor concerning a Portion of her Crew--The Author rides to the
Country and spends a Night--The Chinese in possession of the
Business of Singapore--Alabama leaves Singapore--Capture of the
Martaban, alias Texan Star--Alabama touches at Malacca--Capture
of the Highlander, and Sonora--Alabama once more in the Indian
Ocean 708
CHAPTER LI.
The Alabama crosses the Bay of Bengal--The Pilgrims to Mecca,
and how they received her Boarding-Officer--The Burning of the
Emma Jane--The Town of Anjenga, and the Hindoos--The Great
Deserts of Central Asia, and the Cotton Crop of Hindoston--The
Alabama crosses the Arabian Sea--The Animalculae of the Sea--The
Comoro Islands--Johanna, and its Arab Population--The Alabama
passes through the Mozambique Channel--Arrives at the Cape of
Good Hope 722
CHAPTER LII.
The Alabama again in Cape Town--The Seizure of the Tuscaloosa,
and the Discussion which grew out of it--Correspondence between
the Author and Admiral Walker--Action of the Home Government,
and Release of the Tuscaloosa 738
CHAPTER LIII.
The Alabama at the Cape of Good Hope--Leaves on her Return to
Europe--Capture of the Rockingham, and of the Tycoon--She
crosses the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere, and arrives
at Cherbourg on the 11th of June, 1864--The Engagement between
the Alabama and the Kearsarge 744
CHAPTER LIV.
Other Incidents of the Battle between the Alabama and the
Kearsarge--The Rescue of a Portion of the Crew of the Alabama
by the English Steam-Yacht Deerhound--The United States
Government demands that they be given up--The British
Government refuses Compliance--The rescued Persons not
Prisoners--The Inconsistency of the Federal Secretary of the
Navy 761
CHAPTER LV.
The Federal Government and the English Steam-Yacht Deerhound--
Mr. Seward's Despatch--Mr. Lancaster's Letter to the "Daily
News"--Lord Russell's Reply to Mr. Adams, on the Subject of his
Complaint against Mr. Lancaster--Presentation of a Sword to the
Author by the Clubs of England; of a Flag by a Lady 774
CHAPTER LVI.
Author makes a Short Visit to the Continent--Returns to London,
and embarks on his Return to the Confederate States--Lands at
Bagdad, near the Mouth of the Rio Grande--Journey through
Texas--Reaches Louisiana; crosses the Mississippi, and reaches
his Home after an Absence of four Years 789
CHAPTER LVII.
Author sets out for Richmond--Is two Weeks in making the
Journey--Interview with President Davis; with General Lee--
Author is appointed a Rear-Admiral, and ordered to command the
James River Squadron--Assumes Command--Condition of the Fleet--
Great Demoralization--The Enemy's Armies gradually increasing
in Numbers--Lee's Lines broken 799
CHAPTER LVIII.
The Evacuation of Richmond by the Army--The Destruction of the
James River Fleet--The Sailors of the Fleet converted into
Soldiers--Their helpless Condition without any Means of
Transportation--The Conflagration of Richmond, and the Entry of
the Enemy into the Confederate Capital--The Author improvises a
Railroad Train, and escapes in it, with his Command, to
Danville, Va. 807
CHAPTER LIX.
Interview with President Davis and Secretary Mallory--Author's
Command organized as a Brigade of Artillery--The Brigade
marches to Greensboro', N. C.--Capitulation between General
Joseph E. Johnston and General Sherman--Dispersion of
Johnston's Command in Consequence--Author returns Home, and is
arrested--Conclusion 817
MEMOIRS OF SERVICE AFLOAT.
CHAPTER I.
A BRIEF HISTORICAL RETROSPECT.
The disruption of the American Union by the war of 1861 was not an
unforeseen event. Patrick Henry, and other patriots who struggled against
the adoption of the Federal Constitution by the Southern States, foretold
it in burning words of prophecy; and when that instrument was adopted,
when the great name and great eloquence of James Madison had borne down
all opposition, Henry and his compatriots seemed particularly anxious that
posterity should be informed of the manly struggle which they had made.
Henry said, "The voice of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity of our
struggles for freedom. If our descendants be worthy of the name of
Americans, they will preserve, and hand down to the latest posterity, the
transactions of the present times; and though I confess my explanations
are not worth the hearing, they will see I have done my utmost to preserve
their liberty."
The wish of these patriotic men has been gratified. The record of their
noble deeds, and all but inspired eloquence, has come down to posterity,
and some, at least, of their descendants, "worthy of the name of
Americans," will accord to them the foremost rank in the long list of
patriots and sages who illustrated and adorned our early annals.
But posterity, too, has a history to record and hand down. We, too, have
struggled to preserve our liberties, and the liberties of those who are to
come after us; and the history of that struggle must not perish. The one
struggle is but the complement of the other, and history would be
incomplete if either were omitted. Events have vindicated the wisdom of
Henry, and those who struggled with him against the adoption of the
Federal Constitution. Events will equally vindicate the wisdom of
Jefferson Davis, and other Confederate patriots, who endeavored to
preserve that Constitution, and hand it down, unimpaired, to their
posterity.
The wisdom of a movement is not always to be judged by its success.
Principles are eternal, human events are transitory, and it sometimes
takes more than one generation or one revolution to establish a principle.
At first sight, it may appear that there is some discordance between
Patrick Henry and Jefferson Davis, as the one struggled against the
adoption of the Constitution, and the other to preserve it. But they were,
in fact, both engaged in a similar struggle; the object of both being to
preserve the sovereignty of their respective States. Henry did not object
so much to the nature of the partnership, into which his State was about
to enter, as to the nature of the partners with whom she was about to
contract. He saw that the two sections were dissimilar, and that they had
different and antagonistic interests, and he was unwilling to trust to the
_bona fides_ of the other contracting party. "I am sure," said he, "that
the dangers of this system are real, when those who have no similar
interests with the people of this country are to legislate for us--when
our dearest interests are to be left in the hands of those whose advantage
it will be to infringe them."
The North, even at that early day, was in a majority in both houses of
Congress; it would be for the advantage of that majority to infringe the
rights of the South; and Henry, with much more knowledge of human nature
than most of the Southern statesmen of his era, refused to trust that
majority. This was substantially the case with Jefferson Davis and those
of us who followed his lead. We had verified the distrust of Henry. What
had been prophecy with him, had become history with us. We had had
experience of the fact, that our partner-States of the North, who were in
a majority, had trampled upon the rights of the Southern minority, and we
desired, as the only remedy, to dissolve the partnership into which Henry
had objected to entering--not so much because of any defect in the
articles of copartnership, as for want of faith in our copartners.
This was the wisdom of Jefferson Davis and his compatriots, which, I say,
will be vindicated by events. A final separation of these States must
come, or the South will be permanently enslaved. We endeavored to bring
about the separation, and we sacrificed our fortunes, and risked our lives
to accomplish it. Like Patrick Henry, we have done our "utmost to preserve
our liberties;" like him, we have failed, and like him, we desire that our
record shall go down to such of our posterity as may be "worthy of the
name of Americans."
The following memoirs are designed to commemorate a few of the less
important events of our late struggle; but before I enter upon them, I
deem it appropriate to give some "reason for the faith" that was in us, of
the South, who undertook the struggle. The judgment which posterity will
form upon our actions will depend, mainly, upon the answers which we may
be able to give to two questions: First, Had the South the right to
dissolve the compact of government under which it had lived with the
North? and, secondly, Was there sufficient reason for such dissolution? I
do not speak here of the right of revolution--this is inherent in all
peoples, whatever may be their form of government. The very term
"revolution" implies a forcible disruption of government, war, and all the
evils that follow in the train of war. The thirteen original Colonies, the
germ from which have sprung these States, exercised the right of
revolution when they withdrew their allegiance from the parent country.
Not so with the Southern States when they withdrew from their
copartnership with the Northern States. They exercised a higher right.
They did not form a part of a consolidated government, as the Colonies did
of the British Government. They were sovereign, equally with the Northern
States, from which they withdrew, and exercised, as they believed, a
peaceful right, instead of a right of revolution.
Had, then, the Southern States the peaceful right to dissolve the compact
of government under which they had lived with the North? A volume might be
written in reply to this question, but I shall merely glance at it in
these memoirs, referring the student to the history of the formation of
the old Confederacy, prior to the adoption of the Constitution of the
United States; to the "Journal and Debates of the Convention of 1787,"
that formed this latter instrument; to the debates of the several State
Conventions which adopted it, to the "Madison Papers," to the
"Federalist," and to the late very able work of Dr. Bledsoe, entitled "Is
Davis a Traitor?" It will be sufficient for the purpose which I have in
view--that of giving the reader a general outline of the course of
reasoning, by which Southern men justify their conduct in the late war--to
state the leading features of the compact of government which was
dissolved, and a few of its historical surroundings, about which there can
be no dispute.
The close of the War of Independence of 1776 found the thirteen original
Colonies, which had waged that war, sovereign and independent States. They
had, for the purpose of carrying on that war, formed a league, or
confederation, and the articles of this league were still obligatory upon
them. Under these articles, a Federal Government had been established,
charged with a few specific powers, such as conducting the foreign affairs
of the Confederacy, the regulation of commerce, &c. At the formation of
this Government, it was intended that it should be perpetual, and was so
declared. It lasted, notwithstanding, only a few years, for peace was
declared in 1783, and the _perpetual_ Government ceased to exist in 1789.
How did it cease to exist? By the _secession_ of the States.
Soon after the war, a convention of delegates met at Annapolis, in
Maryland, sent thither by the several States, for the purpose of devising
some more perfect means of regulating commerce. This was all the duty with
which they were charged. Upon assembling, it was found that several of the
States were not represented in this Convention, in consequence of which,
the Convention adjourned without transacting any business, and
recommended, in an address prepared by Alexander Hamilton, that a new
convention should be called at Philadelphia, with enlarged powers. "The
Convention," says Hamilton, "are more naturally led to this conclusion, as
in their reflections on the subject, they have been induced to think,
that the power of regulating trade is of such comprehensive extent, and
will enter so far into the great system of the Federal Government, that to
give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its
precise nature and limits, may require a corresponding adjustment in other
parts of the _Federal_ system. That these are important defects in the
system of the Federal Government is acknowledged by the acts of those
States, which have concurred in the present meeting. That the defects,
upon closer examination, may be found greater and more numerous than even
these acts imply, is at least, so far probable, from the embarrassments
which characterize the present state of our national affairs, foreign and
domestic, as may reasonably be supposed to merit a deliberate and candid
discussion, in some mode which will unite the sentiments and counsels of
all the States."
The reader will observe that the Government of the States, under the
Articles of Confederation, is called a "Federal Government," and that the
object proposed to be accomplished by the meeting of the new Convention at
Philadelphia, was to _amend_ the Constitution of that _Government_.
Northern writers have sought to draw a distinction between the Government
formed under the Articles of Confederation, and that formed by the
Constitution of the United States, calling the one a league, and the other
a government. Here we see Alexander Hamilton calling the Confederation a
government--a Federal Government. It was, indeed, both a league and a
government, as it was formed by sovereign States; just as the Government
of the United States is both a league and a government, for the same
reason.
The fact that the laws of the Confederation, passed in pursuance of its
League, or Constitution, were to operate upon the _States_; and the laws
of the United States were to operate upon the _individual citizens_ of the
States, without the intervention of State authority, could make no
difference. This did not make the latter more a government than the
former. The difference was a mere matter of detail, a mere matter of
machinery--nothing more. It did not imply more or less absolute
sovereignty in the one case, than in the other. Whatever of sovereignty
had been granted, had been granted _by the States_, in both instances.
The new Convention met in Philadelphia, on the 14th of May, 1787, with
instructions to devise and discuss "all such _alterations_, and _further_
provisions as may be necessary to render the Federal Constitution adequate
to the exigencies of the Union." We see, thus, that the very Convention
which framed the Constitution of the United States, equally called the
Articles of Confederation a Constitution. It was, then, from a
Constitutional, Federal Government, that the States seceded when they
adopted the present Constitution of the United States! A Convention of the
States assembled with powers only to amend the Constitution; instead of
doing which, it abolished the old form of government altogether, and
recommended a new one, and no one complained. As each State formally and
deliberately adopted the new government, it as formally and deliberately
seceded from the old one; and yet no one heard any talk of a breach of
faith, and still less of treason.
The new government was to go into operation when nine States should adopt
it. But there were thirteen States, and if nine States only acceded to the
new government, the old one would be broken up, as to the other four
States, whether these would or not, and they would be left to provide for
themselves. It was by no means the voluntary breaking up of a compact, _by
all the parties to it_. It was broken up piece-meal, each State acting for
itself, without asking the consent of the others; precisely as the
Southern States acted, with a view to the formation of a new Southern
Confederacy.
So far from the movement being unanimous, it was a long time before all
the States came into the new government. Rhode Island, one of the Northern
States, which hounded on the war against the Southern States, retained her
separate sovereignty for two years before she joined the new government,
not uttering one word of complaint, during all that time, that the old
government, of which she had been a member, had been unduly broken up, and
that she had been left to shift for herself. Why was this disruption of
the old government regarded as a matter of course? Simply because it was a
league, or treaty, between sovereign States, from which any one of the
States had the right to withdraw at any time, without consulting the
interest or advantage of the others.
But, say the Northern States, the Constitution of the United States is a
very different thing from the Articles of Confederation. It was formed,
not by the States, but by the people of the United States in the
aggregate, and made all the States one people, one government. It is not a
compact, or league between the States, but an instrument under which they
have surrendered irrevocably their sovereignty. Under it, the Federal
Government has become the paramount authority, and the States are
subordinate to it. We will examine this doctrine, briefly, in another
chapter.