WE GO TO WAR TO SETTLE OUR DIFFERENCES.
HERE let me present you, my son, with an exact portrait of the
distinguished general who is commonly accepted as striking the first
blow of this war. He was kindly educated at the expense of the
nation, and was first among its enemies. For a time his fame ran
high enough, and timid people were inclined to give him the
character of a monster. But it turned out in time that he was a very
peaceable gentleman, and not so much of a terrible warrior, after
all.
But I want to tell you, my son, how it was that the people of this
great nation took to swords and cannon, to settle their differences
of opinion.
The people of the great North, and the people of the great West,
were educated to a very different way of thinking on the question of
slavery; and differed with the people of the South as to what
constituted a national blessing. They were willing, for the sake of
peace, to tolerate slavery, as a great evil it were dangerous to
attempt to remove; but it was too much to ask them to accept it as a
great national blessing. These people were energetic, thrifty,
lovers of right and justice, and had grown rich and powerful by
their own industry. They could not see why the whole people of so
great a nation as ours should be required to bow down and worship
what the rest of the civilized world had stigmatized as the greatest
scourge of mankind. Seeing the power this great wrong was obtaining
over the nation, as well as the danger it was causing us by
corrupting the minds of the people, they consulted together and
elected a President after their own way of thinking. And this so
offended the people of the South, who were a brave people, and quick
to anger, that they gathered together from all parts of their
country, gave up their peaceful pursuits, and went to war for what
they called their independence. But I always found, my son, that
independence was an abused phrase, much on the tongues of these
people. Indeed their idea of independence extended only to giving
one class the full and exclusive right to enslave the other. The
Southern idea of independence was so shaped as to contain the very
worst features of a despotism. But you must look with forgiveness on
these people, my son, and seek to forget many of those acts of
vindictiveness which characterized them during the war.
At the same time, my son, you must not lose sight of the lesson
which the result of this war teaches. Let it be a guide to your own
actions that these people went to war to tear down what they could
not build up, to destroy a Government the world had come to respect
and admire, and under which they had found a safe refuge and a
tolerance for their institution of slavery. But the edifice they
sought to build up crumbled to the ground, and they are now left
without even a safe refuge for their pride. Yes, my son, these
people scorned the example of the Christian world, went to war in
defense of a great crime, and ceased only when they had destroyed
themselves.
I have been thus serious while instructing you as to how the war
began, because I am aware that a very large number of writers will
tell you that it began in a very different manner. If the account I
may hereafter give of what took place at the siege may be less
serious, you must charge it to my love for the truth of history.
Indeed much that occurred during that remarkable military event, was
not of so serious a nature as is generally conceded by an
intelligent public. Unless, then, it be written down as it occurred,
we shall not convey a faithful picture of it to the public.
Now that the war spirit was full to the brim, the people of the
South gathered in great numbers on the plains of Manassas. They were
earnest, serious, and even savage in their intentions; and they
brought with them their powder and shot-guns, and a large quantity
of whisky. They also brought with them a great number of negroes,
who were to build the forts, and do all work it would not become a
gentleman to do. And while this work was progressing, the
"gentlemen" soldiers of the South were to talk very loudly and
courageously, and invite all the Yankees round about to come out and
get whipped. These people resolved themselves into a great and
powerful army, with Peter Beauregard, the French gentleman of whom I
have before spoken, for its commander. This gentleman was somewhat
eccentric, and much given to saying things, the true meaning of
which he did not understand. A waggish friend of mine once told me
that this Mr. Beauregard was educated for an apothecary at West
Point, a place where young gentlemen are instructed in the various
ways of getting a living honestly. Being very skillful in the use of
mortars, he was held by Mr. Davis as a most proper person to command
a southern army, inasmuch as he could give the Yankees all the
physic they wanted in the shortest time. And as it is always
expected that a great general will say a great many things that are
neither sensible nor wise, and which afford politicians an excellent
opportunity of picking them to pieces, he is a wise general who
issues his orders and keeps his lips sealed on politics. I say this,
my son, because it is popularly understood that a general who knows
his business bears the same relations to a politician that pepper
does to the stomach.
And it came to pass that the people of the North and the people of
the West became seriously alarmed at the capers Mr. Beauregard and
his men were cutting at Manassas. Indeed, many false reports were
circulated concerning the great power of this Mr. Beauregard; and
our people began to give way to their fears, and to declare that he
might enter the capital any dark night and capture or send the
Government on a traveling expedition. The aged gentlemen at the head
of our Government shook their heads discouragingly, and declared
there was no safety in going to bed at night while Mr. Beauregard
was so near a neighbor. The honest farmers in the country round
about were also very much alarmed at the unruly conduct of Mr.
Beauregard's men, who carried off their pigs and chickens, and eat
up all their vegetables. They also made a great noise, and planted
guns on all the adjacent hills, a proceeding the honest farmers did
not fully comprehend. Then these unruly men became very defiant,
felt like fighting the world, and, in the honest belief that they
could do it, invited all the rest of the nation to come out and get
whipped. Yes, my son, and to show what confidence they had in
themselves, they said we might bring "five for one;" and for that
matter, all Germany and all Ireland. It was considered wisdom with
them to say nothing about England and France. Those two peaceably
inclined nations might, at some future day, be disposed to step in
and help them out--in a quiet way. It was not so much humanity as a
matter of profitable trade with these two great nations, and if
things should take a successful turn, they might see the confederacy
in a strong light, and give it material as well as moral help,
notwithstanding it had slavery for its foundation. In short, these
Southern gentlemen acted on the wise axiom, that it will not do to
make enemies in a direction where you may need friends and
assistance.
Now, my son, the eccentric French gentleman, of whom I have spoken
as capable of administering physic enough to settle the question
with the Yankees, soon became an object of great admiration with his
noisy people. And this so pleased him, that he came in time to
admire himself, and to firmly believe in his own mind that the world
had no greater warrior. Self-confidence, my son, is one of the most
necessary things in war. I have sometimes thought that this element
of an army's strength was not fully understood. It was at least not
understood by us when the war began. If it had been, a much less
number of our people would have shared Mr. Beauregard's opinion of
himself. As it was, our timid people so magnified his proportions as
to see danger in his very shadow. But then, my son, we were very
innocent of the practical part of war when the great rebellion
began; and this innocence led us into the very grave error of giving
our adversary more than his proper dimensions. It was this that led
the Northern mind to over-measure Mr. Beauregard.
I have always had a good deal of sympathy for Mr. Beauregard, and
never believed him anything but a pleasant, harmless gentleman, who
got into bad company by mere accident. Nor do I believe he ever had
any more serious design on the capital of the nation than to look at
it longingly from a distance, and perhaps a desire now and then to
enjoy the hospitality of some old friend. That he would have played
the ruthless invader, if he had got into the city, no reflecting
mind ever believed. But then there were people ready enough to
believe anything in those days--even to believe that there was truth
to be found in the stories told by Mr. Detective Baker.
It was natural enough that Mr. Beauregard should amuse his soldiers
by telling them romantic stories of the pleasant days he had spent
in Washington, as well as the great value of what it contained. It
was necessary also that he should ascertain how far the Government
at Washington could be frightened, and what were the best means to
that end. You must know, my son, that a Frenchman regards it as one
of the first principles in war to find out how far you can frighten
your adversary before proceeding to fight him. This will account for
a good deal that Mr. Beauregard said and did while at Manassas, and
which, at the time, was somewhat unintelligible.
As we were not sure, however, as to what the real intentions of Mr.
Beauregard and his master were, it was concluded that we could
better preserve our respect for them, as well as the peace of mind
of our own people, by applying the proper means to keep them at a
respectful distance outside. Indeed the capital contained a great
many things which would be extremely useful to an ambitious
gentleman resolved on setting up a government of his own, and with
the machinery all working according to his own way of thinking. And
as the honest intentions of these ambitious men (I refer to Mr.
Beauregard and his master) were no more to be trusted than their
loyalty, we set our engineers to work building a cordon of forts,
such as the world had never seen before, and supposed to be strong
enough to keep all our enemies out. And these forts were mounted
with such reasoning powers as the largest cannon in the world were
capable of.
Among the things in Washington so very desirable to a gentleman
about to set up a government of his own was the White House. Mr.
Davis had long regarded this pleasant looking old mansion as a
desirable residence for a gentleman born to rule over a people. Once
comfortably seated in this pleasant mansion, a wonderful change
would be worked in the political opinions of those whose minds were
in doubt. Considered as master of the situation, his friends in the
North would increase fourfold. And there was no knowing the turn
respect for him abroad might take. A gentleman quietly settled down
in the White House, if only for four years, is sure to have a large
increase in the number of his friends, all ready either to accept
his favors or sound his virtues. Even slavery, that had scourged
mankind for so many generations, would have found a great increase
of friends and admirers if Mr. Davis had made a home in the White
House; so prone is weak human nature to bow to power. Indeed, I am
not so sure that, with such a turn in our political affairs, those
preachers who had been asserting the divine origin of slavery would
not then have proclaimed that God himself was its great protector--a
blasphemy the Christian Church will some day be ashamed of.
In addition to the White House being a desirable residence for Mr.
Davis, there were those fine public buildings so much admired by
strangers. They were just what Mr. Davis and his friends wanted in
starting a new government, and would come in very handy. With
Washington in his possession, and our worthy President and his
Cabinet locked up in the arsenal, or sent on a traveling expedition
into a colder climate for the benefit of their health, Mr. Davis's
new enterprise would become a fixture in the history of nations. And
there was a time when Mr. Davis could, with the means in his power,
have accomplished all these things.
The arsenal, too, was full of gunpowder, of great guns, of valuable
military stores and equipments. And these were just such things as a
gentleman resolved to be a ruler and have a government according to
his own way of thinking would stand most in need of. In short, the
powder and big guns might be needed as a means of convincing those
who differed with him that his opinions must be respected. This is a
queer world, my son, and man is the strangest and most
uncontrollable animal in it. Mr. Davis understood this as well as
any gentleman within my knowledge. And if he had kept as keen an eye
on his finances as he had on his political fortune, it would have
been much better for him. He knew that if he could show to the world
that his new government was sound financially, and likely to
continue so, his prospects would be bright indeed. And with
Washington, and what Washington contained, in his possession, he
could set up his claim to the confidence of the financial world with
more than ordinary pretensions.
It was indeed said (but I think in a strain of slander) that Mr.
Beauregard looked with an air of great condescension on our noble
Treasury building, and promised his fighting followers a share of
its contents as soon as it came into his master's possession. Indeed
it was said that Mr. Beauregard promised his men that when they got
Washington they should have luxuries for rations, and fight with
their pockets filled with silver and gold. And with their
expectations firmly fixed on a specie basis, who could doubt as to
what the result would be? This was the golden prize Mr. Davis hoped
to win with Washington. And with it he saw, or rather thought he
saw, England extending to him the right hand of fellowship, and the
Emperor of France making him one of his very best bows, and thanking
him for the liberty he had taken with the freedom of a people.
These, then, my son, are some of the reasons why we concluded to
close the gates of Washington against Mr. Davis and his rebellious
people, and to keep them closed by raising a cordon of strong forts
around the city.