THE PRIVATEER JEFF. DAVIS. photographers, and might be seen exhibited in the shop windows in Broadway, and somewhat less faithfully presented in the rude wood-cuts of the "illustrated papers" on the sidewalks. Negro Tillman was in fact, with a wide circle, the lion of the hour; thousands had eyes to gaze upon him, and ears to listen to his story, the facts of which he narrated with the utmost coolness and directness, softening the horrors of the description, at the cue of his visitors, with the most exhilarating patriotic emotions. Indeed, his audience was likely to prove so great that sad inroads would have been made upon his time, had he not hit upon an expedient tending to relieve him of a portion of his company, and by the same process make the society of the rest profitable and satisfactory. By an arrangement with the eminent showman, Mr. Phineas T. Barnum, he was enabled to hold his court with some degree of public privacy, on the usual terms of admission at the Museum, opposite the Park, where, the large class with whom seeing is believing, might, according to the promise of the advertisement, hear him relate "his experiences with the Southern chivalry," and behold, with their own eyes, "the secession flag which the rebels made out of the schooner's American flag, also a rebel cutlass, and the identical hatchet with which he killed the ocean robbers." It was the sight of this outrage to the stars and stripes on board the vessel, he was encouraged to say, which, above all other motives, had moved him to his deed of violence. Tillman became also quite a prominent personage by the illustration which his case afforded of maritime law. An interesting question immediately arose as 489 to his rights of salvage. The Board of Underwriters took it into consideration, and distinguished counsel volunteered to defend his claims. It was said that, as one of the hands of the vessel, he had done no more than his duty, and was hardly entitled to this legal privilege; but it was at the same time admitted that his conduct had been so meritorious that he was entitled to the amplest remuneration generosity could dictate. When the question was brought before the Courts, it was decided that Tillman was entitled to salvage, and a large sum thus passed into his hands. The privateer Jeff. Davis, the captor of the Waring, we may here mention, was, several weeks after, on the morning of Sunday, the 19th of August, wrecked in attempting to cross the bar at the entrance to the port of St. Augustine. Her heavy guns were thrown overboard in the fruitless effort to relieve her and save the supplies which she had captured. The crew however, escaped, and were received with triumph by the people of St. Augustine. The ladies threw open their houses with every demonstration of joy in congratulation of the safety of the privateersmen, enhanced by the relief which their arrival afforded, from the dread of a visit from a Yankee cruiser, for which the Jeff. Davis had been at first mistaken, her Confederate flag, it was supposed, having been hoisted for purposes of deception.* The Charleston Mercury tells us how "the town bells rung out a joyous peal of welcome, and the people vied with each other in their courtesies to the shipwrecked ones," adding, as an obituary of the venturesome craft: "The name of the privateer Jeff. Davis had * Statement of F. C. Dutneux, one of the crew of the Jeff. Davis, to the Richmond Enquirer. 7 become a terror to the Yankees. The Davis herself had a characteristic prenumber of her prizes and the amount of merchandise which she captured has no parallel since the days of the Saucy Jack." This notable Jeff. Davis was commanded by Captain Coxetter of Florida, described as "a gentleman of large experience upon the sea, having been in the merchant service in various capacities until the Mexican war, when he was master of a transport vessel in the Gulf of Mexico, and became thoroughly conversant with the ports of Mexico and the West India Islands, as well as the coast of the United States. After the war, he took charge of a steamer running from Charleston, S. C., to Jacksonville and Pilatka, East Florida, in which capacity he became extensively known to the travelling public as the polite and popular captain of the Carolina, and afterwards the Everglade." Her First-Lieutenant, Portell, was at one time a midshipman in the United States navy, and had held a position in the Savannah Custom House. The Jeff. * Port Byron (N. Y.) Gazette, ed. by B. W. Thompson, a refugee from Florida. New York Tribune, Sept. 3, 1861. vious history. She was formerly the slaver Echo, which had been captured about two years previously and condemned in Charleston harbor. She was a full-rigged brig, having a general resemblance to a whaler, and mounted a long 18-pound pivot-gun amidships, two short 18-pound guns in the waist, and two short 12-pounders on the top-gallant forecastle. The month before she was wrecked she had made a dashing and highly successful cruise along the Eastern shore, running in as near as Nantucket shoals, whither the sloop-of-war Vincennes was sent in haste to look after her. Her last adventure, previous to her destruction, was the capture of the ship John Crawford from Philadelphia, bound to Key West, with arms and coal for the United States forces. The officers and crew, twenty-two in number, were taken on board the privateer, and the captured vessel, drawing too heavily to be brought into any of the accessible Southern ports, was fired, and holes being bored in her sides and bottom, she quickly sank in flames. CHAPTER XXXI. EXTRA SESSION OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. THE extra session of Congress closed at Washington on the 6th of August. Its legislation was almost exclusively confined to acts bearing immediately upon the prosecution of the war-the maintenance of the army in the field and provisions for its enlargement and efficiency, the increase of the navy, the financial measures and adjustments required for meeting the necessary expenses, and the determination, to a certain extent, of the policy to be pursued toward the rebellious States. The most ample resources of men, money and material were placed in the hands of the Government for the prosecution of the war. APPROPRIATIONS OF CONGRESS. 491 The President was authorized to for the enlargement and support of the accept the services of volunteers "for navy, and the general efficiency of the the purpose of repelling invasion, sup- department. The Secretary was authorpressing insurrection, enforcing the ized to hire, purchase or contract for laws and preserving and protecting the such vessels as might be necessary for public property," to the number of five the temporary increase of the service, hundred thousand, to be called for as, and furnish them with the requisite mufrom time to time, he might think neces-nitions, and for this purpose and "to sary, for a term of service not less than suppress piracy, and to render more şix months nor more than three years. effective the closing of the ports of the Nine regiments of infantry, one regiment insurgents," three millions of dollars of cavalry, and one regiment of artillery were specially appropriated. A million were authorized to be added to the reg- and a half of dollars were appropriated ular army. Ten millions of dollars were for the construction of one or more arset apart for the purchase of arms in ad-mored or iron or steel-clad steamships dition to other appropriations of the or floating steam batteries, to be expendkind. A section in the "act making ap-ed by the Secretary of the Navy, on the propriations for fortifications and other purposes," provided the abolishment of flogging as a punishment in the army, a similar enlightened enactment having been made some years before for the regulation of the navy. The pay of the privates in the regular army and volunteers was fixed for three years at thirteen dollars per month. A section of the act securing this increased remuneration, legalized all the acts, proclamations and orders of the President respecting the army and navy, and the militia and volunteers after his inauguration, and before the meeting of Congress, "to the same intent and with the same effect as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States." This met the most important of the provisions of the joint resolution for the approval and confirmation of certain acts of the President which was discussed at various times during the session without a final vote being taken.* Liberal appropriations were also made ers, but by his general efficiency as a * Ante, p, 363. report and approval of the plans and specifications of a board of three skillful naval officers. Twelve small side-wheel steamers of light draught and great speed were ordered to be built with the least possible delay, and twelve hundred thousand dollars were appropriated for the purpose. Enlistments were to be made by the Secretary for the term of three years or during the war, of "such number of able seamen, ordinary seamen and boys as he might judge necessary and proper to place the entire navy of the United States, and all vessels that may be added to it, in a state of the utmost efficiency for active service." To assist the Secretary in the labors of the department, the President was directed to appoint an Assistant Secretary of the Navy. This office was conferred upon Lieutenant G. V. Fox, a gentleman of great practical experience, not only by his early duties as an officer in the United States navy and the mercantile service of the Atlantic and Gulf steam man of business. Since his employment by the Government in the attempted relief of Fort Sumter, he had held the post of Chief Clerk in the Navy Department. His promotion was hailed with pleasure as a promise of increased vigor in the service. * 3 To meet the financial requirements of the war, the Secretary of the Treasury, in general accordance with his recommendations, was authorized to borrow the sum of two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, for which bonds and treasury notes were to be issued, as might be expedient. The bonds were to be irredeemable for twenty years, and were to bear interest not exceeding seven per cent. ; the treasury notes of a denomination not below fifty dollars were to be payable three years after date, with annual interest at the rate of 7% per cent., while to facilitate the disbursements of the Government and the payment of revenues, lower denominations of treasury notes, not below five dollars, to the extent of fifty millions of dollars, were authorized to be used for these purposes. The exclusive use of the Sub-Treasury was modified by allowing the Government to deposit its funds with solvent banks, a measure which, taken in connection with the issue of the bills receivable for specie, greatly relieved the financial pressure of the day. For the payment of the interest on this debt, and for the supply of other public needs, new duties were imposed on various articles of luxury and necessity, including tea and coffee, which had been hitherto exempt. On the former a duty of fifteen cents was imposed; on the latter of four cents. Another section of the same Act of August 5, laid a direct tax of twenty millions of dollars on all real estate of the country, to be appor * Ante, p. 362. tioned among the several States, loyal and insurgent. Property, belonging to any individuals residing thereon, to the amount of five hundred dollars, was to be exempted from taxation. A tax was also provided to be levied on the excess of all annual incomes above eight hundred dollars. The latter was to be calculated on the incomes of the year 1861. The power of appointment of officers to carry out this system of taxation was placed in the hands of the President, but was not to be exercised by him till the ensuing February. When the day came, a new and more comprehensive bill, superseding the present one, was found to be necessary by Congress to meet the exigencies of the times. Mr. Chase's suggestion of excise duties and other taxes on special articles of personal property, legacies, etc., was not adopted in the act of 1861. 3 Within a month after the adjournment of Congress, when the preparations for the issue of the national loan were completed, Mr. Chase sent forth an appeal to the citizens of the United States in behalf of the subscription. He called for purchasers at par of one hundred and fifty millions of Treasury notes bearing 7 per cent. interest, according to the plan already described. Subscriptions promptly flowed in from individuals, and large amounts were taken by the banking institutions. As the benefits of the loan became known, the first and second issues of fifty millions each were generally absorbed for investment. The Secretary's circular or appeal is of interest beyond the immediate occasion which called it forth, for the calculations which it presented of the resources of the country, and the probable cost and duration of MR. CHASE'S CIRCULAR. 493 Union will benefit as largely the States in insurrection as the States which have remained loyal? However this may be, the duty of the National Government, as the constitutionally constituted agent of the people, admits of no question. The war, made necessary by insurrection and reluctantly accepted by the Government, must be prosecuted with all possible vigor until the restoration of the just authority of the Union shall ensure permanent peace. The same good Pro the rebellion. "The real and personal values in the United States," he represented, "reach the vast aggregate of sixteen thousand millions of dollars, and in the States now loyal to the Union this aggregate is eleven thousand millions. The yearly surplus earnings of the loyal people are estimated by intelligent persons conversant with such investigations, at more than four hundred millions of dollars; while the well-considered judgments of military men of the highest rank and repute, warrant a confident vidence which conducted our fathers expectation that the war, prosecuted with energy, courage and skill, may be brought to a termination before the close of the next spring; in which event, the cost, beyond the revenue, will hardly exceed the amount of the two hundred and fifty millions' loan, authorized by Congress. With due economy in all branches of the public service, the total expenditures for all objects, military, naval and civil, in this year of war, need not exceed the ordinary expenditures of Great Britain or France in years of peace. through the difficulties and dangers which beset the formation of the Union, has graciously strengthened our hands for the work of its preservation. The crops of the year are ample. Granaries and barns are everywhere full. The capitalists of the country come cheerfully forward to sustain the credit of the Government. Already also, even in advance of this appeal, men of all occupations seek to share the honors and the advantages of the loan. Never, except because of the temporary depression, caused by the rebellion and the derangement of business occasioned by it, were the people of the United States in a better condition to sustain a great contest than now." The passage of a bill confiscating the property of persons actively engaged in the rebellion, was thought to be demanded by the country, and was evidently "And is it," he adds, "unreasonable to hope that the auspicious result of peace may be hastened by the reflections of the citizens of the States in insurrection? That they will review their action; weigh their own welfare; consider the disposition of the people of the whole country to recognize all their constitutional rights, and to allow them their full share in the benefits of the common predetermined in the policy of the maGovernment, and renew that allegiance to the Union which, in an evil hour, they have been tempted to throw off? Will they not reflect that the war, into which the Government of the Union has been constrained, is not a war for their subjugation, but a war for national existence, and that an auspicious result to the jority. Mr. Trumbull, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on the 15th of July, introduced the bill into the Senate, which, with an amendment from the House, became the law of the land. As finally passed and approved on the last day of the session, it was as follows: "An Act to Confiscate Property used for |