FINANCIAL RESOURCES. 363 The temper of the new Congress was, with the exception of a few of the members, decidedly warlike. After the mani to the whole people that a loan distrib- payable in coin on demand, completed uted among themselves should be made the recommendations of Mr. Chase's So advantageous to the takers as to in- financial budget, which certainly had the spire satisfaction and hopes of profit ra- merit of presenting a difficult subject ther than annoyance and fears of loss; with equal ingenuity and clearness. His and if the rate of interest proposed be report, reviewing the difficulties of the somewhat higher than that allowed in situation, concluded with a few words of ordinary times, it will not be grudged to hopeful augury. "The energies of a the subscribers when it is remembered great people," he wrote, " will, as he that the interest on the loan will go into firmly believes, surmount all the troubles the channels of home circulation, and is and calamities of the present time, and, to reward those who come forward in the under the good hand of the God of our hour of peril to place their means at the fathers, out of these very troubles and disposal of their country. The conveni- difficulties build a future which shall surence of calculation incident to the rate pass the whole glorious past in the richproposed is quite obvious; for, the inter-ness of its blessings and benefits." est being equal to one cent a day on fifty dollars, it is only necessary to know the number of days since the date of a note or of the last payment of interest to de-fold experience of the previous session in termine, at a glance, the amount due that direction, there was little disposition upon it. To increase still further this to look into the grounds of political acfacility of calculation, it is proposed also tion or contrive profitless schemes of conto issue the Treasury notes of this loan ciliation or adjustment. in sums of fifty, one hundred, five hun- changed all that. The representatives dred, one thousand and five thousand of the people now met to deal practically dollars, with the amount of interest for with rebellion in arms, and they promptspecified periods engraved on the back ly devoted themselves to the business of each note. The facility thus secured before them. There were not, however, to the holder of determining the exact wanting occasional discussions which amount of the note and interest, without gave the opportunity for free criticism any trouble of computation, will materi- on both sides of the cause and conduct ally enhance its value for all purposes of of the war. A running debate on the investment and payment." A further joint resolution of approval of the Presiissue of a hundred millions of seven per dential acts, such as the proclamation cent. thirty year bonds was recommend- calling out the troops, declaring the ed—a bid for foreign capitalists-the in-blockade, and his orders suspending the terest being payable in London or at the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, Treasury of the United States, with ex- which were thought to require a certain change at such rate as will make the sanction or absolution at the hands of payment equivalent to the payment in Congress, brought up many interesting London. An issue of $50,000,000 of matters of discussion which will well Treasury notes, of ten or twenty dollars repay the reader in a study of the reeach, exchangeable for the 7% notes, or ports. Senator Baker of Oregon, spoke Sumter had on several of these occasions. His people of this country--all its treasure, speech of the 10th of July is noticeable all its arms, all its blood, all its enthusifor its unhesitating confidence in the ap-asm, kindled, concentrated, poured out peal to arms. "I approve," said he, into one mass of living valor upon any foe-will conquer." I am as a personal and political friend of the President, of every measure of his ad- In his concluding remarks he struck ministration in relation to the rebellion upon a vein of thought which might then at present raging in this country. I have been regarded as a random specupropose to ratify whatever needs ratifi- lation, but which, in the strange experication. I propose to render my clear [ences which the country was soon to and distinct approval not only of the undergo, became familiar enough as a measure, but of the motive which practical necessity-that of providing an prompted it. I propose to lend the intermediate government for States subwhole power of the country-arms, men, jugated by the Union arms. "I bemoney-and place them in his hands, lieve," said he, "with most gentlemen with authority almost unlimited, until the that the Union sentiment will yet preconclusion of this struggle. He has ask- vail in the southern States. Bayonets ed for $400,000,000. We propose to are sharp remedies, but they are very give him $500,000,000. He has asked powerful. I am one of those who befor 400,000 men. We propose to give lieve that there may be reverses. him half a million; and for my part, not quite confident that we shall overrun if, as I do not apprehend, the emer- the southern States, as we shall have to gency should be still greater, I will overrun them, without severe trials of cheerfully add a cypher to either of these our courage and our patience. I believe figures. But, sir, while I do that, I de- they are a brave, determined people, sire, by my word and my vote, to have filled with their enthusiasm, false in its it clearly understood that I do that as a purposes, as I think, but still one which measure of war. As I had occasion to animates almost all classes of their popusay, in a very early discussion of this lation. But, however that may be, it question, I want sudden, bold, forward, may be that instead of finding, within a determined war ; and I not think any- year, loyal States sending members to body can conduct war of that kind as Congress, and replacing their Senators well as a dictator. But, as a Senator, I upon this floor, we may have to reduce deem it my duty to look forward to re- them to the condition of Territories, and turning peace. I do not believe that it send from Massachusetts or from Illinois will be longer than next February Governors to control them. It may be; and, sir, if need come, I am one of those who would be willing to do it. I would do that. I would risk even the stigma of being despotic and oppressive, rather than risk the perpetuity of the Union of these States. I repeat, and with that repetition I close: fight the war through; accomplish a peace; make it so perfect "Till danger's troubled night is o'er, Whether that peace shall be conquered MILITARY CALCULATIONS. 365 men recognized as men of talent, and they have given them important appointments; but when those men seceded from the Army of the United States they did not take all the talent or all the experi and so permanent that a boy may preserve it; and when you have done that, you have no more need for a standing army. Patch up a peace; if you make it before you are ready; if you imagine them conquered before they really sub-ence from the army. Far more talent mit; if you treat with rebels and confederate States, you may need a standing army forever; but if you really conquer a peace; if your bayonets gleam in every city in this Union; if you hold them by the strong hand of power; if you tell them, 'Gentlemen, you have been regardless of the great blessings of free government under which you lived and rejoiced for over seventy years; now as you have sought the despotism of arms, we will show you what arms are when you really do that, and break their spirit, when Toombs and Davis are wandering in exile, despised and almost forgotten among men, except by the enormity of their crime, then, sir, you want no standing army." and far more experience were left in the Army of the United States than those gentlemen took away with them. In regard to these appointments generally, men have everywhere been sought who have heretofore served in the army, or who have had a military education. In spite of all our shortcomings-which are great, and I admit them to be greatthe Senator will find, if he consults men who know very well the condition of the confederates in the field, that they have men of inexperience; men of as little experience in regard to field duties as can be found in the regiments that have been raised to support the Government of the country. The truth is, that, in bringing into the field-as we have today-two hundred and forty-odd thousand men, brought in in less than ninety days, we must necessarily have a great many men of inexperience; but in spite of that, and of the suddenness of this movement, we have many men of a great deal of experience and ability; and there never was a time in the history of the country when men of talent, men of culture, men of experience, men of fortune, men who have mastered all that could be mastered in the colleges and institutions of learning of the country, are seeking, as they are now seeking, admission into the army. There are today pending before the War Office many As the time rapidly approached, the memorable trial of arms between the two divided portions of the country in the fatal day at Manassas, it is curious to note the speculations of prominent members in reference to the military conditions of the war. On the 13th of July Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, in a discussion on the appointments for the army, said, "The Senator (Mr. Nesmith | of Oregon) talks about the policy of the Southern confederacy. I say to that Senator that there is no comparison whatever between the officers of the Southern confederacy and the officers now in the service of this Government. They cannot compare a moment in talent or ex-hundreds, and I may say many thousands, perience. They have some ten or a dozen officers formerly of the Army of the United States who are men of talent, of applications; I have seen it estimated as high as seven thousand. I know that from my own State, where men generally have avoided seeking the army, we have from one to two hundred men who are asking for admissions; who would take a second lieutenant's commission and rejoice over it; some of them men who are distinguished for their scholarship, for their attainments, for personal character; men who do not go into the army for any other purpose than to serve the country; men who have fortunes of hundreds of thousands of dollars to live upon. Why, sir, some gentlemen of that kind have been appointed; men who do not go in the army for pay, but who go into it because they want to serve the country in this great crisis; and they prefer to go into the army rather than to go into the volunteers; and I must confess, myself, that I sympathize in that; for, if I had to be pressed into the service, I would rather go into the army and serve five years than into the volunteers and serve three years, at the same pay, for the comforts of life, for safety, for everything connected with a soldier." Two days after, on the eve of the advance of the Army of the Potomac, Senator Dixon of Connecticut seconded the demand for action, and glancing into the future saw all obstacles rapidly yielding to the one indomitable principle of the territorial integrity of the Union. "Men and money," said he, "in any number and to any amount it is our business to grant to the Administration. That being done—no halting, no delay, no thought of peace, till the supremacy of the Government of the United States shall be an acknowledged fact throughout our entire domain. I rejoice at the signs which indicate early and energetic action on the part of the Government; for of all things, in my judgment, delay is most to be dreaded. Temporary defeat may not be fatal; but the slow canker of tardy inaction will rust into the very heart and spirit of the people. This war is to them a serious and costly business. They de mand that it be short, decisive, terrific and overwhelming; and if in any quarter they are thwarted of this purpose, their indignation will be proportioned to their disappointment. The events of the day are marked by rapidity of movement. At the commencement of the last session of Congress, little more than six months ago, the great rebellion which has now reached its height, involving no less than eleven States, was only threatened. To-day, whatever may be its continuance in point of time, we may feel assured that, if the popular will shall be carried into execution, it is already more than half suppressed. That it cannot, if properly treated, grow from a rebellion into a successful revolution, is already decided. Its end is certain, though its length of duration may be uncertain. The United States of America are to remain one nation. The territorial integrity of the Union is to be preserved inviolate. This is what the people of the United States mean by the immense sacrifices they are now making—this and nothing less. Whatever stands in the way of this, whether it be a political creed or a vested right, whether it be democracy or slavery, must go down and perish. And this is true, not merely because twenty millions of people have so determined, but because, in the nature of things, a great nation like this cannot be overthrown and destroyed, without, in its dying struggles, if die it must, overwhelming all the institutions created by its laws in a common ruin. How, then, can the peculiar institution ADVANCE OF THE ARMY. 367 of the South escape destruction, when Yet, in utter blindness to this obvious it shall be found to stand in the way of idea, the maddened South is rushing the preservation of the Government? upon its fate." CHAPTER XX V. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MANASSA S. At the beginning of July, six weeks after the first formal entrance of the national army upon the soil of Virginia, there were indications at Washington and the camps in its vicinity of the expected grand attack upon the enemy, and loudly called for advance toward the seat of the rebel government at Richmond. It was one of the striking circumstances of this early period of the war that all its movements were watched with a jealous impatience, and a demand for immediate action quite disproportioned to the means and opportunities for preparation. If it had been simply a border foray which had been determined upon, the issue of which would have decided the questions at stake, the cagerness of the public would have been better justified; but they had yet to learn, notwithstanding the alarming symptoms which had shown themselves, the enormous magnitude of the rebellion, and the necessity of taking corresponding means for its suppression. It was only by slow degrees that the majority of the people at the North could be brought to contemplate the real nature and spirit of the great conspiracy suddenly attacking the national Constitution and liberties. Accustomed to freedom of debate and the license of electioneering oratory, they had grown indifferent to the language of treason, and could hardly be brought to believe in its realities till they were forced upon their attention at the point of the bayonet. "Fearing no evil because they meant none," they made no preparation for a struggle for which their assailants, strong in their inveterate purpose of alienation, were fully equipping themselves; and when the conflict was commenced it seemed an easy matter, in the name of Justice and Freedom, to overcome an enemy pronounced essentially weak in the utter unreasonableness and futility of his cause. When it was understood, therefore, that the safety of the capital was provided for, and that an army of fifty thousand men was gathered at Washington, the cry was urgent that they should be at once led against the enemy. This must be a short war, said the politicians and moneyed men who would avoid the hazard to their cause and the public welfare of its gigantic expenses. The statesmen also felt the importance of bringing to a speedy termination a struggle which in its interruption of the commerce of the world was fast endangering the peace of the nation with foreign countries. Strike a prompt and decisive blow at the rebellion, or it will gain its ends simply by time, was the advice of disinterested spectators of the position. These and other general considerations of the kind were now enforced with additional spirit |