Part 29 (1/2)
So consuming was the solicitude, on all sides, for the fate of this portentous measure, that fully one-half the Representatives kept tally at their desks as the vote proceeded, while the heads of the gathered thousands of both s.e.xes, in the galleries, craned forward, as though fearing to lose the startlingly clear responses, while the roll-call progressed.
When it reached the name of English-Governor English, a Connecticut Democrat, who had not voted on the first motion, to table the motion to reconsider, but had voted ”yea” on the motion to reconsider,-and he responded with a clear-cut ”aye” on the pa.s.sage of the Resolution-it looked as though light were coming at last, and applause involuntarily broke forth from the Republican side of the floor, spreading instantly to the galleries, despite the efforts of the Speaker to preserve order.
So, when Ganson of New York, and other Democrats, voted ”aye,” the applause was renewed again and again, and still louder again, when, with smiling face-which corroborated the thrilling, fast-spreading, whisper, that ”the Amendment is safe!”-Speaker Colfax directed the Clerk to call his name, as a member of the House, and, in response to that call, voted ”aye!”
Then came dead silence, as the Clerk pa.s.sed the result to the Speaker- during which a pin might have been heard to drop,-broken at last by the Speaker's ringing voice: ”The Const.i.tutional majority of two-thirds having voted in the affirmative, the Joint Resolution is pa.s.sed.”
[The enrolled Resolution received the approval and signature of the President, Feb. 1, 1865,]
The words had scarcely left the Speaker's lips, when House and galleries sprang to their feet, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and cheering so loudly and so long that it seemed as if this great outburst of enthusiasm-indulged in, in defiance of all parliamentary rules-would never cease!
In his efforts to control it, Speaker Colfax hammered the desk until he nearly broke his mallet. Finally, by 4 o'clock, P.M., after several minutes of useless effort-during which the pounding of the mallet was utterly lost in the noisy enthusiasm and excitement, in which both the Freedom-loving men and women of the Land, there present, partic.i.p.ated-the Speaker at last succeeded in securing a lull.
Advantage was instantly taken of it, by the successor of the dead Owen Lovejoy, Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois, his young face flus.h.i.+ng with the glow of patriotism, as he cried: ”Mr. Speaker! In honor of this Immortal and Sublime Event I move that the House do now adjourn.” The Speaker declared the motion carried, amid renewed demonstrations of enthusiasm.
During all these uncontrollable ebullitions of popular feeling in behalf of personal Liberty and National Freedom and strength, the Democratic members of the House had sat, many of them moving uneasily in their seats, with chagrin painted in deep lines upon their faces, while others were bolt upright, as if riveted to their chairs, looking straight before them at the Speaker, in a vain attempt, belied by the pallid anger of their set countenances, to appear unconscious of the storm of popular feeling breaking around them, which they now doggedly perceived might be but a forecast of the joyful enthusiasm which on that day, and on the morrow, would spread from one end of the Land to the other.
Harris, of Maryland, made a sort of ”Last Ditch” protest against adjournment, by demanding the ”yeas and nays” on the motion to adjourn. The motion was, however, carried, by 121 yeas to 24 nays; and, as the members left their places in the Hall-many of them to hurry with their hearty congratulations to President Lincoln at the White House-the triumph, in the Halls of our National Congress, of Freedom and Justice and Civilization, over Slavery and Tyranny and Barbarism, was already being saluted by the booming of one hundred guns on Capitol Hill.
How large a share was Mr. Lincoln's, in that triumph, these pages have already sufficiently indicated. Sweet indeed must have been the joy that thrilled his whole being, when, sitting in the White House, he heard the bellowing artillery attest the success of his labors in behalf of Emanc.i.p.ation. Proud indeed must he have felt when, the following night, in response to the loud and jubilant cries of ”Lincoln!” ”Lincoln!” ”Abe Lincoln!” ”Uncle Abe!” and other affectionate calls, from a great concourse of people who, with music, had a.s.sembled outside the White House to give him a grand serenade and popular ovation, he appeared at an open window, bowed to the tumult of their acclamations, and declared that ”The great Job is ended!”-adding, among other things, that the occasion was one fit for congratulation, and, said he, ”I cannot but congratulate all present-myself, the Country, and the whole World-upon this great moral victory. * * * This ends the Job!”
Substantially the job was ended. There was little doubt, after such a send off, by the President and by Congress, in view of the character of the State Legislatures, as well as the temper of the People, that the requisite number of States would be secured to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Already, on the 1st of February, that is to say, on the very day of this popular demonstration at the Executive Mansion, the President's own State, Illinois, had ratified it-and this circ.u.mstance added to the satisfaction and happiness which beamed from, and almost made beautiful, his homely face.
Other States quickly followed; Maryland, on February 1st and 3rd; Rhode Island and Michigan, on February 2nd; New York, February 2nd and 3rd; West Virginia, February 3rd; Maine and Kansas, February 7th; Ma.s.sachusetts and Pennsylvania, February 8th; Virginia, February 9th; Ohio and Missouri, February 10th; Nevada and Indiana, February 16th; Louisiana, February 17th; Minnesota, February 8th and 23rd; Wisconsin, March 1st; Vermont, March 9th; Tennessee, April 5th and 7th; Arkansas, April 20th; Connecticut, May 5th; New Hamps.h.i.+re, July 1st; South Carolina, November 13th; Alabama, December 2nd; North Carolina, December 4th; Georgia, December 9th; Oregon, December 11th; California, December 20th; and Florida, December 28th;-all in 1865; with New Jersey, closely following, on January 23rd; and Iowa, January 24th;-in 1866.
Long ere this last date, however, the Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) had been able to, and did, announce (November 18, 1865) the ratification of the Amendment by the requisite number of States, and certified that the same had ”become, to all intents and purposes, valid as a part of the Const.i.tution of the United States.”
Not until then, was ”the job” absolutely ended; but, as has been already mentioned, it was, at the time Mr. Lincoln spoke, as good as ended. It was a foregone conclusion, that the great end for which he, and so many other great and good men of the Republic had for so many years been earnestly striving, would be an accomplished fact. They had not failed; they had stood firm; the victory which he had predicted six years before had come!
[He had said in his Springfield speech, of 1858: ”We shall not fail; if we stand firm we shall not fail; wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay, but sooner or later the Victory is sure to come.”]
CHAPTER XXIX.
LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
While the death of Slavery in America was decreed, as we have seen; yet, the sanguine antic.i.p.ations of Mr. Lincoln, and other friends of Freedom, that such a decree, imperishably grafted into the Const.i.tution, must at once end the Rebellion, and bring Peace with a restored Union, were not realized. The War went on. Grant was still holding Lee, at Petersburg, near Richmond, while Sherman's victorious Army was about entering upon a campaign from Savannah, up through the Carolinas.
During the previous Summer, efforts had been made, by Horace Greeley, and certain parties supposed to represent the Rebel authorities, to lay the ground-work for an early Peace and adjustment of the differences between the Government of the United States and the Rebels, but they miscarried. They led, however, to the publication of the following important conciliatory Presidential announcement: ”EXECUTIVE MANSION, ”WAs.h.i.+NGTON, July 18, 1864.
”To whom it may concern: ”Any proposition which embraces the restoration of Peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of Slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the Armies now at War against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on substantial and collateral points; and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways.
”(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.”
About the same time, other efforts were being made, with a similar object in view, but which came to naught. The visit of Messrs. Jacques and Gilmore to the Rebel Capital on an informal Peace-errand was, at least, valuable in this, that it secured from the head and front of the armed Conspiracy, Jefferson Davis himself, the following definite statement: ”I desire Peace as much as you do; I deplore bloodshed as much as you do; but I feel that not one drop of the blood shed in this War is on my hands. I can look up to my G.o.d and say this. I tried all in my power to avert this War. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it; but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it would not let us govern ourselves; and so the War came: and now it must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize his musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge our right to self-government. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are fighting for INDEPENDENCE; and that, or EXTERMINATION, we WILL have.”
[The Nation, July 2, 1885, contained the following remarks, which may be pertinently quoted in support of this authoritative statement that the South was ”not fighting for Slavery,” but for Independence-that is to say: for Power, and what would flow from it.]
[”The Charleston News and Courier a fortnight ago remarked that 'not more than one Southern soldier in ten or fifteen was a Slaveholder, or had any interest in Slave Property.' The Laurensville Herald disputed the statement, and declared that 'the Southern Army was really an Army of Slaveholders and the sons of Slaveholders.' The Charleston paper stands by its original position, and cites figures which are conclusive. The Military population of the eleven States which seceded, according to the census of 1860, was 1,064,193. The entire number of Slaveholders in the Country at the same time was 383,637, but of these 77,335 lived in the Border States, so that the number in the Seceding States was only 306,302. Most of the small Slaveholders, however, were not Slave-owners, but Slave hirers, and Mr. De Bow, the statistician who supervised the census of 1850, estimated that but little over half the holders were actually owners. The proportion of owners diminished between 1850 and 1860, and the News and Courier thinks that there were not more than 150,000 Slave-owners in the Confederate States when the War broke out. This would be one owner to every seven White males between eighteen and forty-five; but as many of the owners were women, and many of the men were relieved from Military service, the Charleston paper is confirmed in its original opinion that there were ten men in the Southern Army who were not Slave-owners for every soldier who had Slaves of his own.”]
And when these self-const.i.tuted Peace-delegates had fulfilled the duty which their zeal had impelled them to perform, and were taking their leave of the Rebel chieftain, Jefferson Davis added: ”Say to Mr. Lincoln, from me, that I shall at any time be pleased to receive proposals for PEACE on the basis of our INDEPENDENCE. It will be useless to approach me with any other.”
Thus the lines had been definitely and distinctly drawn, on both sides. The issue of Slavery became admittedly, as between the Government and the Rebels, a dead one. The great cardinal issue was now clearly seen and authoritatively admitted to be, ”the integrity of the whole Union” on the one side, and on the other, ”Independence of a part of it.” These precise declarations did great good to the Union Cause in the North, and not only helped the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln, but also contributed to weaken the position of the Northern advocates of Slavery, and to bring about, as we have seen, the extinction of that inherited National curse, by Const.i.tutional Amendment.
During January, of 1865, Francis P. Blair having been permitted to pa.s.s both the Union and Rebel Army lines, showed to Mr. Lincoln a letter, written to the former, by Jefferson Davis-and which the latter had authorized him to read to the President-stating that he had always been, and was still, ready to send or to receive Commissioners ”to enter into a Conference, with a view to secure Peace to the two Countries.” On the 18th of that month, purposing to having it shown to Jefferson Davis, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Blair a letter in which, after referring to Mr. Davis, he said: ”You may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and shall continue, ready to receive any agent whom he, or any other influential person now resisting the National Authority, may informally send to me, with the view of securing Peace to the People of our common Country.” On the 21st of January, Mr. Blair was again in Richmond; and Mr. Davis had read and retained Mr. Lincoln's letter to Blair, who specifically drew the Rebel chieftain's attention to the fact that ”the part about 'our common Country' related to the part of Mr. Davis's letter about 'the two Countries,' to which Mr. Davis replied that he so understood it.” Yet subsequently, he sent Messrs. Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell as Commissioners, with instructions, (January 28, 1865,) which, after setting forth the language of Mr. Lincoln's letter, proceeded strangely enough to say: ”In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a copy, you are to proceed to Was.h.i.+ngton city for informal Conference with him upon the issues involved in the existing War, and for the purpose of securing Peace to the two Countries!” The Commissioners themselves stated in writing that ”The substantial object to be obtained by the informal Conference is, to ascertain upon what terms the existing War can be terminated honorably. * * * Our earnest desire is, that a just and honorable Peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may, possibly, lead to the attainment of that end.” In consequence of this peculiarly ”mixed” overture, the President sent Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe, to informally confer with the parties, specifically instructing him to ”make known to them that three things are indispensable, to wit: ”1. The restoration of the National Authority throughout all the States.
”2. No receding, by the Executive of the United States, on the Slavery question, from the position a.s.sumed thereon in the late Annual Message to Congress, and in preceding doc.u.ments.
”3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the War and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government.”
Mr. Lincoln also instructed the Secretary to ”inform them that all propositions of theirs, not inconsistent with the above, will be considered and pa.s.sed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality;” to ”hear all they may choose to say, and report it” to him, and not to ”a.s.sume to definitely consummate anything.” Subsequently, the President, in consequence of a dispatch from General Grant to Secretary Stanton, decided to go himself to Fortress Monroe.
Following is the dispatch: [In Cipher]
OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH. WAR DEPARTMENT.
”The following telegram received at Was.h.i.+ngton, 4.35 A.M., February 2, 1865. From City Point, Va., February 1, 10.30 P.M., 1865 ”Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state confidentially, but not officially, to become a matter of record, that I am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that their intentions are good and their desire sincere to restore Peace and Union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express, even, views of my own, or to account for my reticency. This has placed me in an awkward position, which I could have avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. I fear now their going back without any expression from any one in authority will have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize the difficulties in the way of receiving these informal Commissioners at this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview with the two named in this dispatch, if not all three now within our lines. Their letter to me was all that the President's instructions contemplated to secure their safe conduct, if they had used the same language to Major Eckert.