University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XLIV.

July 3d.—Up early, breakfasted at five, A. M., and left my
hospitable host's roof, on my way to Washington. The ferryboat,
which is a long way off, starts for the train at seven
o'clock; and so bad are the roads, I nearly missed it. On
hurrying to secure my place in the train, I said to one of the
railway officers: "If you see a colored man in a cloth cap
and dark coat with metal buttons, will you be good enough, sir,
to tell him I'm in this carriage." "Why so, sir?" "He is
my servant." "Servant," he repeated; "your servant! I
presume you're a Britisher; and if he's your servant, I think
you may as well let him find you." "And so he walked away,
delighted with his cleverness, his civility, and his rebuke of
an aristocrat.

Nearly four months since I went by this road to Washington.
The change which has since occurred is beyond belief.
Men were then speaking of place under Government, of
compromises between North and South, and of peace; now
they only talk of war and battle. Ever since I came out of
the South, and could see the newspapers, I have been struck
by the easiness of the American people, by their excessive
credulity. Whether they wish it or not, they are certainly
deceived. Not a day has passed without the announcement
that the Federal troops were moving, and that "a great battle
was expected" by somebody unknown, at some place or other.

I could not help observing the arrogant tone with which
writers of stupendous ignorance on military matters write of
the operations which they think the Generals should undertake.
They demand that an army, which has neither adequate transport,
artillery, nor cavalry, shall be pushed forward to Richmond

to crush out Secession, and at the same time their columns
teem with accounts from the army, which prove that it is not
only ill-disciplined, but that it is ill-provided. A general outcry
has been raised against the war department and the contractors,
and it is openly stated that Mr. Cameron, the Secretary, has
not clean hands. One journal denounces the "swindling and
plunder" which prevail under his eyes. A minister who is
disposed to be corrupt can be so with facility under the system
of the United States, because he has absolute control over the
contracts, which are rising to an enormous magnitude, as the
war preparations assume more formidable dimensions. The
greater part of the military stores of the States are in the South
—arms, ordnance, clothing, ammunition, ships, machinery, and
all kinds of matériel must be prepared in a hurry.

The condition in which the States present themselves, particularly
at sea, is a curious commentary on the offensive and
warlike tone of their statesmen in their dealings with the first
maritime power of the world. They cannot blockade a single
port effectually. The Confederate steamer Sumter has escaped
to sea from New Orleans, and ships run in and out of Charleston
almost as they please. Coming so recently from the South, I
can see the great difference which exists between the two
races, as they may be called, exemplified in the men I have
seen, and those who are in the train going towards Washington.
These volunteers have none of the swash-buckler bravado,
gallant-swaggering air of the Southern men. They are staid,
quiet men, and the Pennsylvanians, who are on their way to
join their regiment in Baltimore, are very inferior in size and
strength to the Tennesseans and Carolinians.

The train is full of men in uniform. When I last went over
the line, I do not believe there was a sign of soldiering, beyond
perhaps the "conductor," who is always decribed in the papers
as being "gentlemanly," wore his badge. And, à propos of
badges, I see that civilians have taken to wearing shields of
metal on their coats, enamelled with the stars and stripes, and
that men who are not in the army try to make it seem they
are soldiers by affecting military caps and cloaks.

The country between Washington and Philadelphia is
destitute of natural beauties, but it affords abundant evidence
that it is inhabited by a prosperous, comfortable, middle-class
community. From every village church and from many houses,
the Union flag was displayed. Four months ago not one was
to be seen. When we were crossing in the steam ferry-boat

at Philadelphia I saw some volunteers looking up and smiling
at a hatchet which was over the cabin door, and it was not till
I saw it had the words "States' Rights Fire Axe" painted
along the handle I could account for the attraction. It would
fare ill with any vessel in Southern waters which displayed an
axe to the citizens inscribed with "Down with States' Rights"
on it. There is certainly less vehemence and bitterness among
the Northerners; but it might be erroneous to suppose there
was less determination.

Below Philadelphia, from Havre-de-Grâce all the way to
Baltimore, and thence on to Washington, the stations on the
rail were guarded by soldiers, as though an enemy were expected
to destroy the bridges and to tear up the rails. Wooden
bridges and causeways, carried over piles and embankments,
are necessary, in consequence of the nature of the country;
and at each of these a small camp was formed for the soldiers
who have to guard the approaches. Sentinels are posted, pickets
thrown out, and in the open field by the wayside troops are
to be seen moving, as though a battle was close at hand. In
one word, we are in the State of Maryland. By these means
alone are communications maintained between the North and
the capital. As we approach Baltimore the number of sentinels
and camps increase, and earthworks have been thrown
up on the high grounds commanding the city. The display of
Federal flags from the public buildings and some shipping in
the river was so limited as to contrast strongly with those symbols
of Union sentiments in the Northern cities.

Since I last passed through this city the streets have been
a scene of bloodshed. The conductor of the car on which we
travelled from one terminus to the other, along the street railway,
pointed out the marks of the bullets on the walls and in
the window frames. "That's the way to deal with the Plug
Uglies," exclaimed he; a name given popularly to the lower
classes called Rowdies in New York. "Yes," said a fellow passenger
quietly to me, "these are the sentiments which are
now uttered in the country which we call the land of freedom,
and men like that desire nothing better than brute force. There
is no city in Europe—Venice, Warsaw, or Rome—subject
to such tyranny as Baltimore at this moment. In this Pratt
Street there have been murders as foul as ever soldiery committed
in the streets of Paris." Here was evidently the judicial
blindness of a States' Rights fanatic, who considers the
despatch of Federal soldiers through the State of Maryland

without the permission of the authorities an outrage so flagrant
as to justify the people in shooting them down, whilst the soldiers
become murderers if they resist. At the corners of the
streets strong guards of soldiers were posted, and patrols moved
up and down the thoroughfares. The inhabitants looked sullen
and sad. A small war is waged by the police recently appointed
by the Federal authorities against the women, who
exhibit much ingenuity in expressing their animosity to the
stars and stripes—dressing the children, and even dolls, in the
Confederate colors, and wearing the same in ribbons and bows.
The negro population alone seemed just the same as before.

The Secession newspapers of Baltimore have been suppressed,
but the editors contrive nevertheless to show their
sympathies in the selection of their extracts. In to-day's paper
there is an account of a skirmish in the West, given by
one of the Confederates who took part in it, in which it is
stated that the officer commanding the party "scalped" twenty-three
Federals. For the first time since I left the South I see
those advertisements headed by the figure of a negro running
with a bundle, and containing descriptions of the fugitive, and
the reward offered for imprisoning him or her, so that the owner
may receive his property. Among the insignia enumerated
are scars on the back and over the loins. The whip is not
only used by the masters and drivers, but by the police; and
in every report of petty police cases sentences of so many
lashes, and severe floggings of women of color are recorded.

It is about forty miles from Baltimore to Washington, and
at every quarter of a mile for the whole distance a picket of
soldiers guarded the rails. Camps appeared on both sides,
larger and more closely packed together; and the rays of the
setting sun fell on countless lines of tents as we approached
the unfinished dome of the Capitol. On the Virginian side
of the river, columns of smoke rising from the forest marked
the site of Federal encampments across the stream. The fields
around Washington resounded with the words of command
and tramp of men, and flashed with wheeling arms. Parks
of artillery studded the waste ground, and long trains of white-covered
wagons filled up the open spaces in the suburbs of
Washington.

To me all this was a wonderful sight. As I drove up Pennsylvania
Avenue I could scarce credit that the busy thoroughfare
—all red, white, and blue with flags, filled with dust from
galloping chargers and commissariat carts; the side-walks

thronged with people, of whom a large proportion carried
sword or bayonet; shops full of life and activity—was
the same as that through which I had driven the first morning
of my arrival. Washington now, indeed, is the capital of the
United States; but it is no longer the scene of beneficent legislation
and of peaceful government. It is the representative
of armed force engaged in war—menaced whilst in the very
act of raising its arm by the enemy it seeks to strike.

To avoid the tumult of Willard's, I requested a friend to
hire apartments, and drove to a house in Pennsylvania Avenue,
close to the War Department, where he had succeeded in engaging
a sitting-room about twelve feet square, and a bedroom
to correspond, in a very small mansion, next door to a
spirit merchant's. At the Legation I saw Lord Lyons, and
gave him a brief account of what I had seen in the South. I
was sorry to observe he looked rather careworn and pale.

The relations of the United States Government with Great
Britain have probably been considerably affected by Mr. Seward's
failure in his prophecies. As the Southern Confederacy
develops its power, the Foreign Secretary assumes higher
ground, and becomes more exacting, and defiant. In these
hot summer days, Lord Lyons and the members of the Legation
dine early, and enjoy the cool of the evening in the garden;
so after a while I took my leave, and proceeded to Gautier's.
On my way I met Mr. Sumner, who asked me for
Southern news very anxiously, and in the course of conversation
with him I was confirmed in my impressions that the
feeling between the two countries was not as friendly as could
be desired. Lord Lyons had better means of knowing what
is going on in the South, by communications from the British
Consuls; but even he seemed unaware of facts which had
occurred whilst I was there, and Mr. Sumner appeared to be
as ignorant of the whole condition of things below Mason and
Dixon's line as he was of the politics of Timbuctoo.

The importance of maintaining a friendly feeling with England
appeared to me very strongly impressed on the Senator's
mind. Mr. Seward has been fretful, irritable, and acrimonious;
and it is not too much to suppose Mr. Sumner has been useful
in allaying irritation. A certain despatch was written last
June, which amounted to little less than a declaration of war
against Great Britain. Most fortunately the President was
induced to exercise his power. The despatch was modified,
though not without opposition, and was forwarded to the English

Minister with its teeth drawn. Lord Lyons, who is one
of the suavest and quietest of diplomatists, has found it difficult,
I fear, to maintain personal relations with Mr. Seward at
times. Two despatches have been prepared for Lord John
Russell, which could have had no result but to lead to a breach
of the peace, had not some friendly interpositor succeeded in
averting the wrath of the Foreign Minister.

Mr. Sumner is more sanguine of immediate success than I
am, from the military operations which are to commence when
General Scott considers the army fit to take the field. A
Gautier's I met a number of officers. who expressed a great
diversity of views in reference to those operations. General
McDowell is popular with them, but they admit the great deficiencies
of the subaltern and company officers. General
Scott is too infirm to take the field, and the burdens of administration
press the veteran to the earth.

July 4th.—"Independence Day." Fortunate to escape this
great national festival in the large cities of the Union where it
is celebrated with many days before and after of surplus rejoicing,
by fireworks and an incessant fusillade in the streets,
I was, nevertheless, subjected to the small ebullition of the
Washington juveniles, to bell-ringing and discharges of cannon
and musketry. On this day Congress meets. Never before
has any legislative body assembled under circumstances so
grave. By their action they will decide whether the Union
can ever be restored, and will determine whether the States
of the North are to commence an invasion for the purpose of
subjecting by force of arms, and depriving of their freedom, the
States of the South.

Congress met to-day merely for the purpose of forming itselt
into a regular body, and there was no debate or business of
public importance introduced. Mr. Wilson gave me to un
derstand, however, that some military movements of the utmost
importance might be expected in a few days, and that
General McDowell would positively attack the rebels in front
of Washington. The Confederates occupy the whole of
Northern Virginia, commencing from the peninsula above
Fortress Monroe on the right or east, and extending along the
Potomac, to the extreme verge of the State, by the Baltimore
and Ohio Railway. This immense line, however, is broken by
great intervals, and the army with which McDowell will have
to deal may be considered as detached, covering the approaches
to Richmond, whilst its left flank is protected by a corps of

observation, stationed near Winchester, under General Jackson.
A Federal corps is being prepared to watch the corps
and engage it, whilst McDowell advances on the main body,
To the right of this again, or further west, another body of
Federals, under General McClellan, is operating in the valleys
of the Shenandoah and in Western Virginia; but I did not
hear of any of these things from Mr. Wilson, who was, I am
sure, in perfect ignorance of the plans, in a military sense, of
the General. I sat at Mr. Sumner's desk, and wrote the final
paragraphs of a letter describing my impressions of the South
in a place but little disposed to give a favorable color to them.