PROCLAMATION OF NEGRO FREEDOM.

that the political resentment is overwhelming and unconquerable.”

It was not very remarkable that Mr. Gladstone should in August, 1862, have spoken of the Southern States as though they were already independent. Injudicious it might have been, but it was an indiscretion shared with the great majority of the most prominent men of the country, and, as he explained five years afterwards, though he confessed that he was wrong and took too much upon himself in expressing such an opinion, the motive was not bad. His sympathies were with the whole American people. He probably, like many Europeans, did not understand the nature and working of the American Union. He had imbibed conscientiously, if erroneously, an opinion that twenty or twenty-five millions would be happier and would be stronger (of course assuming that they would hold together) without the South than with it, and also that the negroes would be much nearer to emancipation under a Southern government than under the old system of the Union, which had not at that time been abandoned, and which always appeared to him to place the whole power of the North at the command of the slaveholding interests of the South. As far as regarded the special or separate interest of England, he had always contended that it was best for our interest that the Union should be kept entire.

139

ward in putting in looms and preparation. Profits were known to be so great that both landlords and machinists could wait without anxiety for the first twelve months, knowing that much of their debts would be paid out of profits in that space of time. Having hired a shed and received credit for his looms, any penniless man could then go with assurance upon the Manchester exchange; and in the days when "long terms" were accorded to all who asked for them, could buy his yarns, take orders for cloth, make, deliver and get paid for it in time to meet his accounts, and this

without much difficulty. In a couple of years a manufacturer commencing thus would often be clear of all liabilities, and on the highway to making a fortune.

These remarks refer to the decade from 1850 to 1860, and that state of things was, it is said, almost entirely changed, and the small manufacturers swept away by the cotton famine. Without entirely endorsing such representations it may safely be said that not only did the large mill-owners suffer deeply, but that the business of many of them was crippled for years afterwards, while the struggling men were ruined and the whole population of operatives might have perished but for the energetic action of those who administered the relief funds, or organized schemes for providing sewing for the women and other occupations for large numbers of the men.

Meanwhile the war continued. It was evident that the battle would be fought out to the bitter end, for the issues of it had changed; and though the Confederates continued to defeat the Federal troops, the determination of the North was aroused, and people began to discern that the result of the conflict was only a matter of endurance and of superior resources. The Northern troops soon began to acquire, by experience, the knowledge and the firmness which was necessary to enable them to cope with antagonists, considerable bodies of whom had entered on the first cam

Mr. Cobden's letters to Mr. Sumner may be taken fairly to represent the prevailing feeling in England, and to indicate the growing disposition to recognize the true position of the Federal government, though, as he pointed out, there were considerable interests in favour of supporting the demands of the South in the early period of the struggle. A writer in a trade journal has recently stated that traditions yet linger in our manufacturing towns of the days when any speculative builder would run up a weaving-shed for Dick, Tom, or Harry, who had, or said he had, the slightest knowledge of manufactur-paign already well drilled and accustomed to ing, or for any grocer, draper, currier, shoemaker, or publican who had saved up a couple of hundred pounds. Having become the tenant of a shed, machinists were never back

act together at the word of command.

On the 22d of January, 1862, President Lincoln had issued a proclamation that at the next meeting of congress he would recommend

EFFORTS OF THE NORTHERN STATES-GRANT.

141

The proclamation of emancipation, defective | the enormous resources and the numerical as it was in its expression of intention, was a serious blow to the South. It changed the aspect of the war from that of an effort on the part of the North to maintain the Union to that of a struggle by the South to maintain negro slavery, and it can scarcely be denied that this was the true origin of the conflict. A new element of enthusiasm seemed to have been roused among the Federals, at the same time that they were profiting by the reverses that had been inflicted on them by the superior military skill of their opponents; while the South was already preparing for efforts which would necessitate the abandonment of the plantations from which they had derived their wealth, and the slave labourers on which, were now invited by the Federal government to migrate into free states, or to refuse to work except under entirely new conditions.

On the 10th of April (1863) Jefferson Davis issued a manifesto warning the people of the Confederate States against too sedulously cultivating their usually valuable cotton crops; to lay aside thoughts of gain and to devote themselves to securing their liberties, without which those gains would be valueless. The wheat harvest, which would be gathered in the following month, promised an abundant yield; but even if that promise should be fultilled, the difficulty of transportation, enhanced by the previous rainy winter, would embarrass military operations and cause suffering among the people should the crops in the middle and northern portions of the Confederacy prove deficient. No uneasiness might be felt in regard to a mere supply of bread for men. It was to the supply of the large amount of corn and forage for live stock, and for the animals used in military operations that efforts should be directed. The fields should be devoted exclusively to the production of food for man and beast, and corn should be sown broadcast in proximity to canals, rivers, and railroads, while every endeavour should be directed to the prompt supply of districts where the armies were operating.

The Confederates were already beginning to feel that all their determination and courage would be needed to sustain the struggle against

superiority of the North. A few months afterwards they also became aware that the Federal government was discovering the weak points of its military organization, and had appointed more efficient generals to take command of its forces. Early in 1862 the large army which General M'Clellan had been occupied in organizing and disciplining was making ready to advance, and some successes had attended the Federals-one of them being the important operations of Commodore Farragut on the Mississippi, which led to the surrender of New Orleans, but in the first considerable battle General Sidney Johnston succeeded in surprising and defeating the Federal General Grant at Pittsburg Landing. Grant had, with his army and river fleet, taken some forts, and though he was beaten and a part of his camp was captured, he was able to hold his own by the assistance of some gun-boats which forced the Confederates to retire to their lines after losing their general. For some time after this a series of disasters occurred, apparently the result of the timidity and incompetency of some of the Federal commanders, and though some advantages were gained and the Confederates evidently could not hold the line of the Ohio, and on the Mississippi retained only the strong position of Vicksburg, the balance of the actual war appeared to be against the North, even their naval superiority having been rendered doubtful by the exploits of the Confederate Merrimac, a vessel which had been coated with iron rails and re-named the Virginia. This vessel destroyed two or three wooden men-of-war, scattered terror into a fleet of transport and store-ships, and threw shells into the lines of the Federal army in the neighbourhood of Norfolk. Being met by the iron-clad Monitor, which arrived on the scene of action from New York, a naval duel ensued, both vessels had to retire to repair damages, and the Virginia was so much injured that she was abandoned and blown up by her

crew.

The efforts of the Federals were directed to the capture of Richmond, the Confederate

capital, but the delays of General M'Clellan and the inefficiency of General Pope enabled

advancing with his army. Grant still threatened Richmond. On the 14th of January, 1865, Wilmington was taken, and the last communication of the Confederates with the sea was cut off. No more vessels could run the blockade, and Sherman had turned his victorious march northward, wasting the country as he went as one of the means of forcing the South to submission by depriving it of resources. The end was near. On the 1st of April, Petersburg and Richmond both capitulated to Grant. Lee was defeated in bs last battle, and was allowed to surrender. The officers were placed on parole, and th troops were permitted to return to their homes on condition of submitting to the Federal authority. General Johnstone entered int similar conditions with Sherman, who had carried the war successfully through Georgia and North and South Carolina. There were no longer any Confederate forces in the Atlanti States, and the Southern commanders on either side of the Mississippi gave in their submis sion. Jefferson Davis, who had left Richmond when it capitulated, was arrested and placed in confinement in Fortress Monroe, from which he was allowed to depart when the war was at an end. The commanders of the Confede rate armies were permitted to remain at liberty. and a few civilians who were for a short time imprisoned were soon released. Mr. Lincol had prosecuted the war to the end for the purpose of restoring the constitution of th United States, and had effected it at enormous cost; but he had more than once endeavoured to negotiate a peace, and it was well known that the conclusion of hostilities would be fllowed by an amnesty if he had his will. Now that the war was really over there was no dis play of animosity. Not a single execution took place for political offences; not one victim was claimed for the purpose of satisfying vengeance against those whose crime had been that of secession, though secession had been designatesi treason to the state. The humanity and generosity of the American nation again assortest itself, and was displayed even after the pet petration of a horrible crime might have l made an excuse for measures of retaliation For the man who throughout that long nation.

the Confederate Generals Lee and Stonewall Jackson to frustrate their movements, and the latter took Harper Ferry, where the garrison of 12,000 men surrendered, giving up an enormous quantity of artillery and stores. M'Clellan was removed from the command and was succeeded by General Burnside, who sustained a severe defeat at Fredericksburg. General Hooker then took his place as commander of what was called the army of the Potomac, and he also was defeated. The Confederates gained some minor advantages until General Grant, who had displayed far greater military talent than his colleagues, laid siege to Vicksburg on the land side, and, with the assistance of the flotilla of Admiral Farragut, reduced the garrison to such extremities that it capitulated, and General Meade, who had succeeded General Hooker, took up a position at Gettysburg, from which the Confederates vainly endeavoured to dislodge him.

It is unnecessary to follow the changing fortunes of the combatants, "the vulgar and unscientific and senseless butchery" as Cobden had called it. The skill and daring of General Sherman, the calm pertinacity and determination of General Grant, began to tell on the side of the North. The Federal forces were concentrated against their opponents, and Grant was made lieutenant - general with the entire command of the forces. He appointed Sherman to the command of the western army, and himself kept the direction of the Virginian campaign with a determination to take Richmond at any odds. It became a struggle to the death, in which numbers added to improved generalship ultimately gave the victory to the North after another year of movements and counter-movements, and of battles, in which the number of the slain was appalling.

In 1864 Mr. Lincoln was re-elected as president by an overwhelming majority, and this meant the prosecution of the war. It was computed that at the end of that year the North had nearly a million men in arms. while the Southern forces probably amounted to not more than 200,000. Sherman had received the capitulation of Savannah, and was

ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

crisis had kept in view what he believed to be his duty without animosity and without presumption; the man who had grieved over the rebellion, even while he set himself to suppress it; the man who had abstained from invective against England, and had understood better than his colleagues how little the noisy declamations of a violent and ignorant multitude really represent genuine national convictions, was not spared to see the complete restoration of the Union. On the 14th of April, 1865, Abraham Lincoln fell by the hand of an assassin while he was witnessing a dramatic performance at Lord's theatre in Washing